Pray for Rain (poem)

Pray for Rain
by Gerald V. Hern
Johnny Sain and Warren Spahn, c. 1951
Language	English
Subject(s)	Warren Spahn Johnny Sain
Publisher	The Boston Post
Publication date	September 14, 1948

"Spahn and Sain", commonly referred to as "Pray for Rain", is a poem by Gerald V. Hern, published in The Boston Post on September 14, 1948. The poem was an ode to Boston Braves pitchers Warren Spahn and Johnny Sain who were both considered to be the team's best pitchers and who won a combined 212 games as teammates.^[1]

In 1948, the Boston Braves won what turned out to be their final pennant during their tenure at Boston, behind the pitching of future Hall of Famer Warren Spahn and his teammate Johnny Sain.^[2] The remainder of the rotation was seemingly so thin that in September, Boston Post writer Gerald Hern wrote a poem about the pair:^[3]

First we'll use Spahn

then we'll use Sain

Then an off day

followed by rain

Back will come Spahn

followed by Sain

And followed

we hope

by two days of rain.

The poem received such a wide audience that the sentiment, usually now paraphrased as "Spahn and Sain and pray for rain", is now considered a part of baseball lore.^[4]

• Spahn & Sain at Baseball Almanac