Charles Benjamin "Babe" Adams (May 18, 1882 – July 27, 1968) was an American right-handed
pitcher
In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...
in
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...
(MLB) from 1906 to 1926 who spent nearly his entire career with the
Pittsburgh Pirates
The Pittsburgh Pirates are an American professional baseball team based in Pittsburgh. The Pirates compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Founded as part of the American Associati ...
. Noted for his outstanding
control
Control may refer to:
Basic meanings Economics and business
* Control (management), an element of management
* Control, an element of management accounting
* Comptroller (or controller), a senior financial officer in an organization
* Controllin ...
, his career average of 1.29
walks per 9
innings pitched
In baseball, innings pitched (IP) are the number of innings a pitcher has completed, measured by the number of batters and baserunners that are put out while the pitcher is on the pitching mound in a game. Three outs made is equal to one innin ...
was the second lowest of the 20th century; his mark of 1 walk per 14.6 innings was a modern record until . He shares the Pirates' franchise record for career
victories
The term victory (from Latin ''victoria'') originally applied to warfare, and denotes success achieved in personal Duel, combat, after military operations in general or, by extension, in any competition. Success in a military campaign constitu ...
by a right-hander (194), and holds the team mark for career
shutout
In team sports, a shutout ( US) or clean sheet ( UK) is a game in which one team prevents the other from scoring any points. While possible in most major sports, they are highly improbable in some sports, such as basketball.
Shutouts are usuall ...
s (47); from 1926 to 1962, he held the team record for career
games pitched
In baseball statistics, games pitched (denoted by Games G in tables of only pitching statistics) is the number of games in which a player appears as a pitcher; a player who is announced as the pitcher must face at least one batter, although except ...
(481).
Early life
Adams was born in
Tipton, Indiana
Tipton is a city in and the county seat of Tipton County, Indiana, United States. The population was 5,106 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Kokomo, Indiana Metropolitan Statistical Area. It was named after John Tipton, a politician.
Histor ...
. As a child, he moved to
Mount Moriah, Missouri, where baseball was popular. After he was discovered by a Missouri-based scout in 1904, he was signed to play minor league baseball with the
Parsons Preachers of the
Missouri Valley League
The Missouri Valley League was an American minor league baseball league which operated from 1901 through 1905.
History
The Missouri Valley league formed in 1901 as an Independent league. The league consisted of teams in Kansas and Missouri: Co ...
in 1905.
Major league career
He made his MLB debut on April 18, 1906, with the
St. Louis Cardinals
The St. Louis Cardinals are an American professional baseball team based in St. Louis. The Cardinals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Since the 2006 season, the Cardinals ha ...
, taking the loss in a 4-inning start, but did not pitch again for them. In September 1907, his contract was sold to the Pirates. After going 12–3 with a 1.11
earned run average
In baseball statistics, earned run average (ERA) is the average of earned runs allowed by a pitcher per nine innings pitched (i.e. the traditional length of a game). It is determined by dividing the number of earned runs allowed by the number ...
(ERA) in the regular season, his first full year, Adams became the star of the
1909 World Series after being named the surprise starter of Game 1 following a tip by
National League
The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team s ...
president
John Heydler
John Arnold Heydler (July 10, 1869 – April 18, 1956) was an American executive in Major League Baseball. After working as a National League (NL) umpire, he was the secretary to the NL president and then became the secretary-treasurer of the NL b ...
that Adams' style was similar to that of an AL pitcher whom the
Detroit Tigers
The Detroit Tigers are an American professional baseball team based in Detroit. The Tigers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the American League (AL) Central division. One of the AL's eight charter franchises, the club was f ...
had difficulty playing against. He won three complete game victories – each of them a six-hitter. With a shutout in Game 7, Adams became the first rookie in World Series history to start and win Game 7, which has only been repeated by
John Lackey
John Derran Lackey (born October 23, 1978) is an American former professional baseball starting pitcher who played in Major League Baseball from 2002 through 2017 for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, Boston Red Sox, St. Louis Cardinals and Ch ...
in
2002
File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...
. He was also the only member of that team who would be on the Pirates' World Series champions in
1925
Events January
* January 1
** The Syrian Federation is officially dissolved, the State of Aleppo and the State of Damascus having been replaced by the State of Syria.
* January 3 – Benito Mussolini makes a pivotal speech in the Italia ...
. He later won 20 games in both and . An off-year in that saw his ERA rise to 5.72 got him farmed out to the
Western Association
The Western Association was the name of five different leagues formed in American minor league baseball during the 19th and 20th centuries.
The oldest league, originally established as the Northwestern League in 1883, was refounded as the Western ...
, but late in he found his stride again and rejoined the Pirates, where he stayed until .
On May 4, 1913, Adams' third inning triple drove in
Billy Kelly for the Pirates only hit and run, Adams held the
Cincinnati Reds
The Cincinnati Reds are an American professional baseball team based in Cincinnati. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League Central, Central division and were a charter member of ...
to only 2 hits and a walk for a 1–0 victory at
Redland Field
Crosley Field was a Major League Baseball park in Cincinnati, Ohio. It was the home field of the National League's Cincinnati Reds from 1912 through June 24, 1970, and the original Cincinnati Bengals football team, members of the second (1937) an ...
.
Adams was known as an excellent
control pitcher
In baseball, a control pitcher, also known as a finesse pitcher, is a pitcher who succeeds mostly by using accurate pitches, as opposed to a power pitcher who relies on velocity. By issuing a below average number of bases on balls he exhibits good ...
. On July 17, 1914, he pitched a 21-inning game against the
New York Giants
The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. ...
without allowing a single walk, surrendering only 12 hits, but losing 3–1 on
Larry Doyle's home run in the top of the 21st; it is the longest game without a walk in major league history.
Rube Marquard
Richard William "Rube" Marquard (October 9, 1886 – June 1, 1980) was an American left-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball in the 1910s and early 1920s. He achieved his greatest success with the New York Giants. He was inducted into the Ba ...
also went the distance for New York to gain the victory, allowing two walks. In , Adams allowed only 18 walks in 263 innings.
In his career, Adams had a 194–140 win–loss record and a 2.76 ERA. His last game was on August 11, 1926; he was released days later after joining a group of players who requested that former manager and team vice president
Fred Clarke, who had been openly criticizing manager
Bill McKechnie
William Boyd McKechnie (August 7, 1886 – October 29, 1965) was an American professional baseball player, manager and coach. He played in Major League Baseball as a third baseman during the dead-ball era. McKechnie was the first manager to win Wo ...
, not be permitted to sit on the bench. He never played another major league game.
Adams was a better than average hitting pitcher in his major league career, compiling a .212
batting average
Batting average is a statistic in cricket, baseball, and softball that measures the performance of batters. The development of the baseball statistic was influenced by the cricket statistic.
Cricket
In cricket, a player's batting average is ...
(216-for-1,019) with 79
runs, 3
home runs
In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run i ...
, 75
RBI and drawing 53
bases on balls
A base on balls (BB), also known as a walk, occurs in baseball when a batter receives four pitches that the umpire calls '' balls'', and is in turn awarded first base without the possibility of being called out. The base on balls is defined in Se ...
. Defensively, he was a better-than-average fielding pitcher, recording a .976
fielding percentage
In baseball statistics, fielding percentage, also known as fielding average, is a measure that reflects the percentage of times a defensive player properly handles a batted or thrown ball. It is calculated by the sum of putouts and assists, div ...
which was 24 points higher than the league average at that position.
Later life and death
Adams later managed in the minor leagues, farmed in
Mount Moriah, Missouri, and worked as a reporter and foreign correspondent during World War II and the
Korean War
, date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...
.
Adams died of throat cancer in
Silver Spring, Maryland
Silver Spring is a census-designated place (CDP) in southeastern Montgomery County, Maryland, United States, near Washington, D.C. Although officially unincorporated, in practice it is an edge city, with a population of 81,015 at the 2020 censu ...
, at age 86. He was cremated at Fort Lincoln Cemetery in
Brentwood, Maryland
Brentwood is a town in Prince George's County, Maryland, United States.
Per the 2020 census, the population was 3,828. Brentwood is located within of Washington. The municipality of Brentwood is located just outside the northeast boundary of ...
. He has a memorial stone at Mount Moriah Cemetery, MO.
[Resting Places: The Burial Site of 14,000 Famous Persons by Scott Wilson]
References
External links
Babe Adamsat SABR (Baseball BioProject)
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Adams, Babe
1882 births
1968 deaths
Baseball players from Indiana
Major League Baseball pitchers
St. Louis Cardinals players
Pittsburgh Pirates players
Deaths from esophageal cancer
Deaths from cancer in Maryland
People from Tipton, Indiana
Minor league baseball managers
Parsons Preachers players
Denver Grizzlies (baseball) players
Louisville Colonels (minor league) players
St. Joseph Drummers players
Hutchinson Wheatshockers players
Kansas City Blues (baseball) players
Springfield Midgets players
Johnstown Johnnies players