Addie Joss and the HOF

[Tomi]

Just wondering how Addie was inducted into the HOF after only playing 9 seasons. I thought you have to have at least 10 years of service to be considered. Was a exemption made for him or is the veterans committee able to make it happen if they choose?

[jingram058]

Because he was lights out for his nine years. And he was so well-liked the first all-star game was played as a benefit for his wife.

[Peter_Spaeth]

The Hall's Board of Directors passed a resolution in 1977 granting him an exception.

[RUKen]

The HOF Board of Directors passed a special resolution in 1977 that made Joss eligible for the Hall. He was inducted the next year. (Peter Spaeth beat me to it.)

[Peter_Spaeth]

Did you know that Dizzy Dean really only pitched nine seasons, the other three he literally pitched in one game each.

[BillyCoxDodgers3B]

^^^
My mind went to Dean as well. And, thanks to those three years...

It sure helps to be liked by the writers and make their jobs easier.

On a somewhat related note, I was looking at Paul Waner's stats recently. Guess he never saw the Seinfeld episode about going out on a high note.

[Fred]

I can remember before he was in the HOF I thought he was more than deserving to be enshrined.

Not to take this thread too far off course but how many other players with less than 10 seasons under their belt do you think belong in the HOF? I can think of another player with 8 seasons that died young and missed it.

[packs]

Dave Orr is in the Old Judge set. He played 8 seasons and has a 342 lifetime batting average with an OPS+ of 162. But in 1890, at the age of 30, he suffered a stroke during an exhibition game and never played again.

[Vintagedeputy]

Every thread…..

[Vintageclout]

Originally Posted by Tomi

Just wondering how Addie was inducted into the HOF after only playing 9 seasons. I thought you have to have at least 10 years of service to be considered. Was a exemption made for him or is the veterans committee able to make it happen if they choose?

A 1.89 lifetime ERA doesn’t hurt! Second only to Ed Walsh on the All-time list. The “human hairpin”, as he was commonly called, was fantastic!

[Casey2296]

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Love Addie Joss.
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[sbfinley]

1. Ross Youngs technically appeared in 10 seasons, but in 1917 that only consisted of 7 games.

2. Buzz Arlett had 469 plate appearances for in his MLB career over 121 games in only one season. IMO he is the player with the fewest "MLB" appearances who one can still make a credible argument for the Hall.

Here's a snapshot of Ross at Spring Training in 1925, about to go golfing I assume.

[Jay Wolt]

My favorite card of Joss

[David W]

Not to take this thread too far off course but how many other players with less than 10 seasons under their belt do you think belong in the HOF? I can think of another player with 8 seasons that died young and missed it.[/QUOTE]


1 of the great tragedies was the death of Austin McHenry from a brain tumor st age 26. He was already a star.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/p...chenau01.shtml

I suppose a case could be made for Ray Chapman and his 9 season career

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by sbfinley

1. Ross Youngs technically appeared in 10 seasons, but in 1917 that only consisted of 7 games.

2. Buzz Arlett had 469 plate appearances for in his MLB career over 121 games in only one season. IMO he is the player with the fewest "MLB" appearances who one can still make a credible argument for the Hall.

Here's a snapshot of Ross at Spring Training in 1925, about to go golfing I assume.

He hit well enough in his one season but I guess his problem was he couldn't field. Less of an issue in the minors apparently.

[packs]

Here's my Buzz rookie. Hit 341 lifetime in the minors with more than 2700 hits and also won more than 100 games as a pitcher:

[asoriano]

[icurnmedic]

My newest....

[paul]

I may be mistaken, but I don't think the HOF made an exception specific to Joss. I believe the HOF amended its rules to say that the 10 year minimum does not apply to players whose career is cut short by death or injury. I'm sure they had Joss in mind when they passed this rule, but others like Dave Orr should be eligible under this rule.

[michael3322]

Fascinating thread, as usual, with great contributions.

"Addie Joss pitched in the majors only eight seasons and part of a ninth, but his record was so extraordinary that he was elected to the Hall of Fame (in 1978), despite his short tenure. With Cleveland from 1902 to 1910, he won 160 games, lost 97, and compiled an ERA of 1.88 (second on the all-time list). He pitched a perfect game on October 2, 1908, defeating Big Ed Walsh, 1·0, with first place on the line. Joss had another no-hitter on April 20, 1910, also against the White Sox, just before his health began to fail.

Joss made only 13 appearances in 1910, and still felt weak when he went south in 1911. He collapsed on the bench during an exhibition game at Chattanooga, Tennessee, then became ill again when the team reached Cincinnati. Doctors said it was pleurisy and sent him home to Toledo. On April 14, 1911, two days after his team had opened the season in St. Louis, he died at the age of thirty-one. The cause of his death was given as tubercular meningitis. Famed ballplayer-preacher Billy Sunday presided at his funeral, said to have been the biggest ever seen in Toledo."

From MLB's Historian John Thorn's Tragedies and Shortened Careers (Oct 14, 2015)

If you haven't already checked it out, see:


Joss was a uniquely well-rounded individual, who wrote fascinating stories about what it meant to play baseball at the time.

"In the off-season, Joss also excelled as a sportswriter for the Toledo News-Bee and the Cleveland Press, filling the empty winter months penning stories about the game he knew firsthand. This collection of Joss’s newspaper columns and World Series reports is a treasury of the deadball era with intimate first-person observations of the game and its players from the first decade of the American League. Informative annotations, archival photographs, and a brief biography complete the work."
- McFarland's publisher site


On the same train of thought though, it is worth looking at George Sisler again. We know of Ruth's ‘Bellyache Heard ‘Round the World’ (SABR article) and Ty Cobb's glaucoma

A physician, professor and Sisler biographer wrote this piece for SABR in 2008: George Sisler: A Close Look at Vision Problems that Derailed Him



Who knows what modern medicine could have done for Sisler, Joss or what Tommy John surgery could have done to prolong Koufax's career? These athletes were truly products of their time.

[ejharrington]

Originally Posted by Fred

I can remember before he was in the HOF I thought he was more than deserving to be enshrined.

Not to take this thread too far off course but how many other players with less than 10 seasons under their belt do you think belong in the HOF? I can think of another player with 8 seasons that died young and missed it.

Ross Barnes.

[jingram058]

Addie Joss is in my own personal Hall of Fame. Yes, the actual very first all-star game was played to benefit his family. Apologies for my Parkinson's.

[deucetwins]

Bo Jackson.

[tjisonline]

James, Thank you very much for sharing.

Originally Posted by jingram058

Addie Joss is in my own personal Hall of Fame. Yes, the actual very first all-star game was played to benefit his family. Apologies for my Parkinson's.

[lumberjack]

Don't forget Hank Greenberg, who was an RBI machine. He played, for all practical purposes 9 1/2 years.

Thanks to WW II and Jake Powell, Greenberg missed five an a half years.

It took him nine years to get into the Hall and, even then, too many writers left him off of their ballot.

[lumberjack]

Don't forget Hank Greenberg, who was an RBI machine. He played, for all practical purposes 9 1/2 years.

Thanks to WW II and Jake Powell, Greenberg missed five an a half years.

It took him nine years to get into the Hall and, even then, too many writers left him off of their ballot.