James Charles Jacob Bagby Jr. (September 8, 1916 – September 2, 1988) was a
starting pitcher 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), ...
who played for the
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 eigh ...
,
Cleveland Indians
The Cleveland Guardians are an American professional baseball team based in Cleveland. The Guardians compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. Since , they have played at Progressive Fi ...
, and
Pittsburgh Pirates. He batted and threw right-handed. His father,
Jim Sr., was also a major league pitcher who played with
Cincinnati
Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...
, Cleveland and Pittsburgh between 1912 and 1923.
A native of
Cleveland, Ohio, Bagby played with the Red Sox (twice), Indians and Pirates in a span of ten years. He posted a 97–96 record with 431
strikeouts and a 3.96
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 ...
in 1666
innings pitched, including 84
complete games and 13
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. He was the Indians pitcher in the July 17, 1941 game which ended
Joe DiMaggio
Joseph Paul DiMaggio (November 25, 1914 – March 8, 1999), nicknamed "Joltin' Joe", "The Yankee Clipper" and "Joe D.", was an American baseball center fielder who played his entire 13-year career in Major League Baseball for the New York Yank ...
's famous
56-game hitting streak.
Bagby reached his career high of 17
wins in each of his
All-Star seasons, in 1942 and 1943, and led 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 ...
in starts both years with 35 and 33, respectively. After that, he served much of 1944 in the
US Merchant Marine
United States Merchant Marines are United States civilian mariners and U.S. civilian and federally owned merchant vessels. Both the civilian mariners and the merchant vessels are managed by a combination of the government and private sectors, an ...
and never won more than eight games in a regular season.
As a hitter, Bagby was a better than average hitting pitcher in the majors, posting a .226
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 ...
(140-for-620) with 59
runs, 3
home runs and 56
RBI. He was used as a
pinch hitter 18 times in his career.
Following his baseball career, Bagby became a professional
golf
Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible.
Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping ...
player. In 1992, he was inducted into the
Georgia Sports Hall of Fame
The Georgia Sports Hall of Fame is located in Macon, Georgia. It is the largest state sports hall of fame in the United States at .
Exhibitions
The Hall of Fame houses over of exhibit space broken down into sections including Hall of Fame Induc ...
.
Bagby died in
Marietta, Georgia
Marietta is a city in and the county seat of Cobb County, Georgia, United States. At the 2020 census, the city had a population of 60,972. The 2019 estimate was 60,867, making it one of Atlanta's largest suburbs. Marietta is the fourth larges ...
, six days before his 72nd birthday. Bagby maintained a lifelong dislike of sports writers, as he was born with a cleft palate and was often made fun of by them for his appearance.
Facts
*The Bagbys became the first father-and-son combination to pitch in the
World Series
The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, contested since 1903 between the champion teams of the American League (AL) and the National League (NL). The winner of the World ...
when Jim Jr. appeared for the
1946 Red Sox. Jim Sr. pitched with the
1920 Indians.
*Bagby is one of three pitchers in major league history to have three
putouts in an inning. He did it in 1940, while playing for the Boston Red Sox. The others are
Bob Heffner
Robert Frederic Heffner (born September 13, 1938) nicknamed "Butch", was a Major League Baseball right-handed pitcher with the Boston Red Sox (–), Cleveland Indians (), and California Angels (). He stood tall and weighed , in his playing days. ...
, also with the Red Sox in 1963, and
Rick Reuschel
Rick may refer to:
People
*Rick (given name), a list of people with the given name
*Alan Rick (born 1976), Brazilian politician, journalist, pastor and television personality
*Johannes Rick (1869–1946), Austrian-born Brazilian priest and mycol ...
with the
Chicago Cubs in 1975.
Jim Battle also had three putouts in an inning, but he was not a pitcher.
*Bagby, along with
Al Smith, were the pitchers who ended
Joe DiMaggio
Joseph Paul DiMaggio (November 25, 1914 – March 8, 1999), nicknamed "Joltin' Joe", "The Yankee Clipper" and "Joe D.", was an American baseball center fielder who played his entire 13-year career in Major League Baseball for the New York Yank ...
's
56-game hitting streak.
See also
*
List of second-generation Major League Baseball players
Dozens of father-and-son combinations have played or managed in Major League Baseball (MLB).
The first was Jack Doscher, son of Herm Doscher, who made his debut in 1903.
Ken Griffey Sr. and Ken Griffey Jr. became the first father-and-son duo ...
References
External links
*
Jim Bagby Jr.- Baseballbiography.com
Georgia Sports Hall of FameJim Bagby Jr.at the
Georgia Sports Hall of Fame
The Georgia Sports Hall of Fame is located in Macon, Georgia. It is the largest state sports hall of fame in the United States at .
Exhibitions
The Hall of Fame houses over of exhibit space broken down into sections including Hall of Fame Induc ...
Jim Bagbyat
Retrosheet
Retrosheet is a nonprofit organization whose website features box scores of Major League Baseball (MLB) games from 1906 to the present, and play-by-play narratives for almost every contest since the 1930s. It also includes scores from every major ...
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bagby, Jim Jr.
1916 births
1988 deaths
American League All-Stars
American male golfers
Atlanta Crackers players
Baseball players from Cleveland
Boston Red Sox players
Charlotte Hornets (baseball) players
Cleveland Indians players
Golfers from Ohio
Hazleton Red Sox players
Indianapolis Indians players
Little Rock Travelers players
Major League Baseball pitchers
Pittsburgh Pirates players
Rocky Mount Red Sox players
Tampa Smokers players
United States Merchant Mariners of World War II