Addie Joss
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Addie Joss
| Addie Joss | |
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| Pitcher | |
| Born: April 12, 1880 Woodland, Wisconsin[1] |
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| Died: April 14, 1911 (aged 31) Toledo, Ohio |
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| Batted: Right | Threw: Right |
| MLB debut | |
| April 25, 1902 for the Cleveland Bluebirds | |
| Last MLB appearance | |
| July 11, 1910 for the Cleveland Naps | |
| Career statistics | |
| Win–loss record | 160-97 |
| Earned run average | 1.89 |
| Strikeouts | 920 |
| Shutouts | 45 |
| Teams | |
| Career highlights and awards | |
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| Member of the National | |
 Baseball Hall of Fame |
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| Induction | 1978 |
| Election Method | Veteran's Committee |
Adrian "Addie" Joss (April 12, 1880 – April 14, 1911) was a Major League Baseball pitcher. He pitched his entire nine-year baseball career for the Cleveland Bluebirds/Naps (1902–1910). He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1978.
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Early life
He was born in the unincorporated community of Woodland in Dodge County, Wisconsin,[2] where his father was a cheesemaker.[3] Joss was a star athlete at Wayland Academy in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin. As a minor league ball player for the Toledo Mud Hens of the Western Association, Joss pitched and won the offseason (and unofficial) 1901 Wisconsin state championship game for Racine against Kenosha, who fielded Major League hurler Rube Waddell as a 'ringer'.
Professional career
Joss was an immediate success as a rookie with the Cleveland Bluebirds in 1902, compiling a 17–13 record and 2.77 ERA. He continued to improve over the ensuing decade, posting four 20-win seasons and six sub-2.00 ERAs by 1910. He tied for the league lead with 27 victories in 1907, including wins in his first ten starts. His best season was 1908 when he was 24–11 with a 1.16 ERA and nine shutouts.
Joss pitched the fourth perfect game in baseball history on October 2, 1908 opposite Baseball Hall of Fame pitcher Ed Walsh, accomplishing the feat with just 74 pitches, the lowest known pitch count ever achieved in a perfect game[4]. He hurled a second no-hitter in 1910. Both no-hitters were against the Chicago White Sox; to date, Joss is the only pitcher in Major League history to no-hit the same team twice. He also pitched seven one-hitters, including his major league debut on April 26, 1902 against the St. Louis Browns. The only hit in that game came on a disputed umpire's call in the sixth inning.
Of his 160 Major League wins, an astonishing 45 were shutouts. Joss's 1.89 career ERA is ranked second all-time (behind that of Ed Walsh), while his 0.97 WHIP is the lowest career WHIP in MLB history. His lifetime wins total suffered because he missed portions of several seasons due to injury and illness.
Joss's repertoire included a fastball, a "slow ball," or changeup, and a single hard curve. George Moriarty explained that Joss had only one curveball because "he believed that with a few well mastered deliveries he could acquire great control and success with less strain on his arm." [5] In an era filled with spitball pitchers, Joss achieved his success without ever altering the baseball. Joss threw with a "corkscrew" windup motion. Shortstop Roger Peckinpaugh described his windup:
- He would turn his back toward the batter as he wound up, hiding the ball all the while, and then whip around and fire it in.[6]
Journalism career
Joss was concerned about supporting his family after his baseball career, since many players of the day had little education and few marketable job skills beyond their abilities on the diamond. Joss was a good writer and was hired as a sports columnist for the Toledo News-Bee during the off-season; he also served as their Sunday sports editor. His writings proved so popular that sales of the paper increased and a special phone line was installed in his office to field the large volume of calls he received from fans. [7] He annually covered the World Series for the News-Bee.
Death
Joss' playing career was cut short when he died suddenly from tuberculous meningitis on April 14, 1911[3] at age 31. As late as April 7, press reports had taken note of his ill health, but speculated about "ptomaine poisoning" or "nervous indigestion." His personal doctor had diagnosed an attack of pleurisy.
Benefit Game
The first 'all-star' game was played as a benefit for Joss's family,[3] over the opposition of American League management. League president Ban Johnson threatened punishment for any who participated, but relented.[citation needed] Panoramic photographs from this event are rare and valuable, with one such photo realizing $89,625 in a 2005 Heritage Auction.[8]
Recognition
Joss was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1978.[3] He is the only member of the Hall of Fame whose regular season playing career lasted fewer than ten years. (Other inductees who did not play ten seasons were enshrined for recognition of their work as managers, executives, or pioneers of the game's development.) However, Warren Giles, then-chairman of the Hall of Fame's Veterans Committee, had pointed out to baseball historian Bob Broeg in 1972 that induction to the Hall required "participation in ten championship seasons." Joss had been on the Cleveland roster in 1911 and participated in spring training, falling ill just before regular season play commenced. Hence, he had "participated" in the 1911 season, his tenth.[9]
In 1981, Lawrence Ritter and Donald Honig included him in their book The 100 Greatest Baseball Players of All Time. They explained what they called "the Smoky Joe Wood Syndrome," where a player of truly exceptional talent but a career curtailed by injury or illness should still, in spite of not having had career statistics that would quantitatively rank him with the all-time greats, be included on their list of the 100 greatest players. They believed that Joss' career ERA was proof enough of his greatness to be included.
See also
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- List of Major League Baseball leaders in career wins
- List of Major League Baseball earned run average champions
- List of Major League Baseball wins champions
- Pitchers who have thrown a perfect game
- List of Major League Baseball no-hitters
References
- ^ http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/dictionary/index.asp?action=view&term_id=14716&search_term=joss
- ^ "Birth Record Details". Wisconsin Historical Society. http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/vitalrecords/index.asp?id=2739620&record_type=b. Retrieved 2009-07-23.
- ^ a b c d Coffey, Michael (2004). 27 Men Out: Baseball's Perfect Games. Atria Books. pp. 18–35. ISBN 0-7434-4606-2.
- ^ Baseball Almanac
- ^ "The Greatest Pitcher I Ever Faced." Baseball Magazine, 1911
- ^ Honig, Donald. The Man in the Dugout, 1977.
- ^ Addie Joss: King of Pitchers, by Scott Longert, published by the Society of American Baseball Research, 1998)
- ^ http://sports.ha.com/common/view_item.php?Sale_No=703&Lot_No=19707
- ^ Addie Joss: King of Pitchers, by Scott Longert, published by the Society of American Baseball Research, 1998)
External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Addie Joss |
- Addie Joss at the Baseball Hall of Fame
- Career statistics and player information from Baseball-Reference, or Fangraphs, or The Baseball Cube, or Baseball-Reference (Minors)
| Preceded by Earl Moore |
American League ERA Champion 1904 |
Succeeded by Rube Waddell |
| Preceded by Ed Walsh |
American League ERA Champion 1908 |
Succeeded by Harry Krause |
| Preceded by Al Orth |
American League Wins Champion 1907 (with Doc White) |
Succeeded by Ed Walsh |
| Preceded by Cy Young |
Perfect game pitcher October 2, 1908 |
Succeeded by Charlie Robertson |
| Preceded by Bob Rhoads Addie Joss |
No-hitter pitcher October 2, 1908 April 20, 1910 |
Succeeded by Addie Joss Chief Bender |
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