Charles Monroe "Jeff" Tesreau (March 5, 1888 – September 24, 1946) was an American

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), ...

player. Standing , Tesreau was given the nickname "Jeff" because he resembled boxer Jim Jeffries.SABR Baseball Biography Project: Jeff Tesreau
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Baseball career

Tesreau initially signed with a minor league team of the

St. Louis Browns The St. Louis Browns were a Major League Baseball team that originated in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, as the Milwaukee Brewers. A charter member of the American League (AL), the Brewers moved to St. Louis, Missouri, after the 1901 season, where they p ...

in 1909. In , his contract was purchased by 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. ...

. After two years in the minors, Tesreau learned how to throw a

spitball A spitball is an illegal baseball pitch in which the ball has been altered by the application of a foreign substance such as saliva or petroleum jelly. This technique alters the wind resistance and weight on one side of the ball, causing it to mo ...

, which became his signature pitch. He started the second game of the season for the Giants. ''

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'' wrote, "Tesreau has curves which bend like barrel hoops and speed like lightning. He's just the kind of a strong man McGraw has been looking for." Tesreau finished his rookie season with 17–7 record and on September 6 he would

no-hit In baseball, a no-hitter is a game in which a team was not able to record a hit. Major League Baseball (MLB) officially defines a no-hitter as a completed game in which a team that batted in at least nine innings recorded no hits. A pitcher wh ...

the

Philadelphia Phillies The Philadelphia Phillies are an American professional baseball team based in Philadelphia. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) National League East, East division. Since 2004, the team's home sta ...

, 3-0. He also had a National League leading

ERA An era is a span of time defined for the purposes of chronology or historiography, as in the regnal eras in the history of a given monarchy, a calendar era used for a given calendar, or the geological eras defined for the history of Earth. Comp ...

of 1.96. Earned run average officially became a statistic of

in 1912, and Tesreau, along with the

American League The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the American League (AL), is one of two leagues that make up Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western League, a minor league ...

Walter Johnson Walter Perry Johnson (November 6, 1887 – December 10, 1946), nicknamed "Barney" and "The Big Train", was an American professional baseball player and manager. He played his entire 21-year baseball career in Major League Baseball as a right-ha ...

, became the first players recognized for leading the major leagues in that category. From 1912 to 1917, Tesreau remained a starting pitcher with the Giants. In 1918, he had an argument with manager

John McGraw John Joseph McGraw (April 7, 1873 – February 25, 1934) was an American Major League Baseball (MLB) player and manager who was for almost thirty years manager of the New York Giants. He was also the third baseman of the pennant-winning 1890 ...

and quit the team in the middle of the season. In 1919, Tesreau refused to play for the Giants, and McGraw refused to trade or release him. He would not play another game in the major leagues. Tesreau held his opponents to a .224

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 ...

in his career, which was lower than

(.227),

Christy Mathewson Christopher Mathewson (August 12, 1880 – October 7, 1925), nicknamed "Big Six", "the Christian Gentleman", "Matty", and "the Gentleman's Hurler", was a Major League Baseball right-handed pitcher, who played 17 seasons with the New York Giant ...

(.245) and

Pete Alexander Grover Cleveland Alexander (February 26, 1887 – November 4, 1950), nicknamed "Old Pete", was an American Major League Baseball pitcher. He played from 1911 through 1930 for the Philadelphia Phillies, Chicago Cubs, and St. Louis Cardinals. He ...

(.250) even though each pitched considerably longer than Tesreau. He was also a better than average hitting pitcher, posting a .216

(124-for-574) with 40 runs, 2

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 ...

and 46 RBI. In six World Series games, he hit .300 (3-for-10) with 2 RBI.

1912 World Series

In the

1912 World Series The 1912 World Series was the championship series in Major League Baseball for the 1912 season. The ninth edition of the World Series, it matched the American League champion Boston Red Sox and the National League champion New York Giants. The R ...

, Tesreau started three times, each against

Boston Red Sox The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Founded in as one of the American League's eight ...

ace

Smoky Joe Wood Howard Ellsworth "Smoky Joe" Wood (October 25, 1889 – July 27, 1985) was an American professional baseball player for 14 years. He played for the Boston Red Sox from 1908 to 1915, where he was primarily a pitcher, and for the Cleveland Indi ...

, and registered a 1–2 record for the Series. He started Game 1 of the Series and was credited with the loss in the 4-3 defeat but did not allow a hit for 5.1 innings (a triple by

Tris Speaker Tristram Edgar Speaker (April 4, 1888 – December 8, 1958), nicknamed "the Gray Eagle", was an American professional baseball player. Considered one of the greatest players in the history of Major League Baseball (MLB), he compiled a career bat ...

broke up the no-hit bid). It is the longest no-hit bid by a rookie pitcher in World Series history and no rookie pitcher would throw five innings of no-hit ball in a Series start again until

Ian Anderson Ian Scott Anderson (born 10 August 1947) is a British musician, singer and songwriter best known for his work as the lead vocalist, flautist, acoustic guitarist and leader of the British rock band Jethro Tull. He is a multi-instrumentalist w ...

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. His performance stood as the longest postseason no-hit bid by a rookie for 101 years until Michael Wacha broke the mark in

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. He was also credited with the loss in Game 4 before bouncing back in Game 7 (which due to a tie in Game 2 meant that the Series was even at three apiece), although the Giants lost in the decisive Game 8 the next day.

Post career

Tesreau became the baseball coach for the

Dartmouth Big Green baseball The Dartmouth Big Green baseball team is the varsity intercollegiate baseball program of Dartmouth College, located in Hanover, New Hampshire. It has been a member of the NCAA Division I Ivy League baseball conference since its founding at the st ...

team of

Dartmouth College Dartmouth College (; ) is a private research university in Hanover, New Hampshire. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, it is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the American Revolution. Although founded to educate Native A ...

, a position he held until his death on September 24, 1946. He won 348 games as coach for Dartmouth, often coaching against

, who had become the

Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...

Yale Bulldogs baseball The Yale Bulldogs baseball team is a varsity intercollegiate athletic team of Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. The team is a member of the Ivy League, which is part of the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Divis ...

coach.

Death

Tesreau suffered a stroke while on a fishing trip in 1946. He died four days later.

References

External links