| King of the Pitchers. His career ERA , 1.89, is second lowest in baseball history. Pitched some of the greatest games in baseball history. Addie was a tall man with long, thin fingers. He would wrap his thumb and next finger around the ball and snap his wrist, as he pitched, making the ball drop as he near home plate. When the drop occurred, the batter would swing and hit the top of the ball, beating in down for a ground out.
Joss pitched 2 no-hitters, won 160 games, lost 97 in his short career. Started 260 games and completed 234, pitching 1888 innings. He struck out over 900 batters and gave up only 19 homers!
On Oct. 2, 1908, Addie pitched a perfect game against the White Sox and pitcher, Ed Walsh, as Cleveland fought for the pennant. The Detroit Tigers beat out Cleve. by 1/2 game. Joss was born in Wisconsin and in his first major league start, he threw a brilliant one-hit shutout. Led the American League in 1904, with a 1.59 ERA. Addie was 27-11; ERA- 1.83 in 1907. Then in 1908, he was 24-11; ERA - 1.16. Joss was ill, between 1903-05, and missed a lot of games. In 1910, at the age of 31, Adrian Joss died of tubercular meningitis. This Hall of Famer; was "The King of Pitchers". |
