Adrian "Addie" Joss (April 12, 1880 – April 14, 1911), nicknamed "the Human Hairpin", was an American professional baseball pitcher. He pitched for the Cleveland Bronchos of Major League Baseball, later known as the Naps, between 1902 and 1910. Joss, who was 6 feet 3 inches (1.91 m) and weighed 185 pounds (84 kg), pitched the fourth perfect game in baseball history (which, additionally, was only the second of the modern era). His 1.89 career earned run average (ERA) is the second-lowest in MLB history, behind Ed Walsh, while his career WHIP of 0.968 is the lowest of all-time.
Joss was born and raised in Wisconsin, where he attended St. Mary's College (later part of Wyalusing Academy) in Prairie du Chien and the University of Wisconsin. He played baseball at St. Mary's and then played in a semipro league where he caught the attention of Connie Mack. Joss did not sign with Mack's team, but he attracted further major league interest after winning 19 games in 1900 for the Toledo Mud Hens. Joss had another strong season for Toledo in 1901.
After an offseason contract dispute between Joss, Toledo and Cleveland, he debuted with the Cleveland club in April 1902. Joss led the league in shutouts that year. By 1905, Joss had completed the first of his four consecutive 20-win seasons. Off the field, Joss worked as a newspaper sportswriter from 1906 until his death. In 1908, he pitched a perfect game during a tight pennant race that saw Cleveland finish a half-game out of first place; it was the closest that Joss came to a World Series berth. The 1910 season was his last, and Joss missed most of the year due to injury.
In April 1911, Joss became ill and he died the same month due to tuberculous meningitis. He finished his career with 160 wins, 234 complete games, 45 shutouts and 920 strikeouts. Though Joss played only nine seasons and missed significant playing time due to various ailments, the National Baseball Hall of Fame's Board of Directors passed a special resolution for Joss in 1977 that waived the typical ten-year minimum playing career for Hall of Fame eligibility and he was voted into the Hall of Fame by the Veterans Committee in 1978.
Addie Joss was born on April 12, 1880, in Woodland, Dodge County, Wisconsin. His parents Jacob and Theresa (née Staudenmeyer) were farmers; his father, a cheesemaker who was involved in local politics, had emigrated from Switzerland. A heavy drinker of alcohol, he died from liver complications in 1890, when Joss was 10 years old; Joss remained sober throughout his life as a result of his father's death. Joss attended elementary school in Juneau and Portage and high school at Wayland Academy in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin. By age 16 he finished high school and began teaching himself. He was offered a scholarship to attend St. Mary's College (also known as Sacred Heart College) in Watertown, where he played on the school's baseball team. He also attended the University of Wisconsin (now University of Wisconsin–Madison), where he studied engineering. Officials in Watertown were impressed with the quality of play of St. Mary's and put the team on a semipro circuit. During his time on the semipro circuit, Joss employed his unique pitching windup, which involved hiding the ball until the very last moment in his delivery.
Connie Mack also sent a scout to watch Joss and later offered the young pitcher a job playing on his Albany club in the Western League, which Joss declined. In 1899, Joss played for a team in Oshkosh, earning $10 per week ($387 in today's dollars). After player salaries were frozen by team owners, Joss joined the junior team in Manitowoc, which had been split into two teams, as a second baseman and was soon promoted to the senior squad, where he was developed into a pitcher. He was seen by a scout for the Toledo Mud Hens and in 1900 accepted a position with the team for $75 per month ($2,903). While in Ohio he was considered "the best amateur pitcher in the state." He started the Mud Hens' season opener on April 28 and earned the win in the team's 16–8 victory. He won 19 games for the club in 1900.
Midway through the 1901 season, the Boston Americans of the upstart American League offered $1,500 ($58,050) to Toledo to buy out Joss's contract. The St. Louis Cardinals of the National League (NL) matched Boston's offer; Toledo rejected both offers. Joss continued to pitch for the Mud Hens and by the end of the 1901 season he had won 27 games and had 216 strikeouts (some sources say 25 games). He became known as "the god of the Western League."
After the season ended, Joss returned to Wisconsin where he led Racine to the 1901 Wisconsin baseball state championship against Rube Waddell's Kenosha squad. He also enrolled at Beloit College and played American football. It was reported that Joss had signed with the Brooklyn Dodgers of the National League as early as August 18 and received a $400 advance ($15,480), but Joss denied receiving any money. Mud Hens owner Charles Stroebel stated that he had signed Joss and other Mud Hens players for the 1902 season on August 12 and that the Western League was under the protection of the National League through September 1901. Before 1901 ended, the Cleveland Bronchos offered $500 ($19,350) to Toledo in exchange for Joss and manager Bob Gilks, who would be a scout for Cleveland. Toledo and Joss agreed and Joss was now a member of the American League, which was paying a premium on baseball talent to rival the National League. Dodgers owner Charles Ebbets invited Joss for a meeting, which Joss declined, and Joss let it be known that he had told Stroebel he would play for the Mud Hens for the 1902 season, and received a $150 ($5,582) advance in February 1902.
In March 1902, Joss signed with Cleveland. Toledo sportswriters took exception to Joss, one writing that "he voluntarily signed a contract [with Toledo] for this season but when Bill Armour of Cleveland showed him the $500 bill he forgot his pledge and sneaked off like a whipped cur." Stroebel later argued that Joss had returned only $100 of the $150 advance. For not returning the entire advance, Joss was charged with a felony and Stroebel pursued legal action. Joss made his major league debut with the Bronchos on April 26, and two days later he arrived in Toledo to turn himself in, accompanied by Bronchos majority owner Charles Somers, who was also American League vice president. The court set bond at $500 ($18,606). Stroebel also filed a civil suit against the Bronchos, stating that his business had been interfered with, but Stroebel agreed to withdraw his charges in July when he accepted Bronchos pitcher Jack Lundbom.
Cleveland Bronchos/Naps (1902–1907)
Joss made his major league debut with the Cleveland Bronchos (also known as the Bluebirds) against the St. Louis Browns. The Browns' Jesse Burkett hit a shallow pop fly in the direction of right fielder Zaza Harvey. Home plate umpire Bob Caruthers ruled that Harvey did not make a clean catch, so Burkett was credited with a hit. (Harvey and witnesses said the ball never hit the ground.) Joss finished his major league debut with a one-hitter.
Joss compiled a 17–13 record and 2.77 ERA during his major league rookie season. He led the American League with five shutouts.
On October 11, 1902, Joss married Lillian Shinivar in Monroe, Michigan. Shinivar was in attendance when Joss made his professional debut with the Mud Hens in 1900. The couple had a son, Norman, and a daughter, Ruth. Following the conclusion of the 1902 season, Joss was selected to the All-Americans, an all-star team from the American League who played exhibition games against their counterparts from the National League. To begin the 1903 season, the Cleveland organization changed the team's name to the "Naps" in honor of second baseman Nap Lajoie. In Joss' second year, he went 18–13 and lowered his ERA from the season before to 2.19. His walks plus hits per inning pitched (WHIP) was an MLB-low 0.948.
For the 1904 season, the 24-year-old Joss went 14–10 with a 1.59 ERA and did not give up a home run during the season. Illness during the season reduced his starts. He had his first of four 20-win seasons in 1905 as he ended the season with a 20–12 record and 2.01 ERA. He finished with a career-high 132 strikeouts. In 1906 his 1.72 ERA was third in the league and he finished with a 21–9 record and tied a career-high with nine shutouts. To begin the 1907 season, Joss won his first 10 starts. He threw two one-hitters during the season, the first on September 4 against the Detroit Tigers and the second on September 25 versus the New York Highlanders. When teammate Heinie Berger threw his own one-hitter on September 26, it marked just the second time since 1900 that two pitchers from the same team had thrown back-to-back one-hitters. Joss finished the season with career-bests in wins (finished 27–11) and 338+2⁄3 innings pitched. His win total tied with Doc White for highest in the American League and his WHIP was second-best (behind Cy Young) while both his complete game (34) and shutout (6) totals were third-best in the league.