John Joseph Boehling (March 20, 1891 – September 8, 1941) was a

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), ...

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 ...

for seven seasons. He played with the Washington Senators from 1912 to 1916, and the

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 F ...

from 1916 to 1920. Boehling made his major league debut on June 20, 1912, in a 5–0 loss against the

Philadelphia Athletics The Philadelphia Athletics were a Major League Baseball team that played in Philadelphia from 1901 to 1954, when they moved to Kansas City, Missouri, and became the Kansas City Athletics. Following another move in 1967, the team became the Oaklan ...

. He went on to play two more games during the 1912 season, finishing with five

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 ...

. In 1913, Boehling was used primarily as a starter alongside

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 ...

in what was his best season. He pitched in 38 games, starting 25 of them, and finished the season with 18

complete game In baseball, a complete game (CG) is the act of a pitcher pitching an entire game without the benefit of a relief pitcher. A pitcher who meets this criterion will be credited with a complete game regardless of the number of innings played—pitche ...

s and three

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 finished with a 17 7 record and an

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 2.14. His ERA of 2.14 was sixth in the American League, better than the ERAs of Hall of Famers

Chief Bender Charles Albert "Chief" Bender (May 5, 1884There is uncertainty about Bender's birth-date. He was voted the SABR "Centennial Celebrity" of 1983, as the best baseball player or figure born in 1883. However, the SABR ''Baseball Research Journal'' fo ...

(2.21) and

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 ...

(2.50). During January 1914, Boehling signed a one-year contract to continue playing with the Senators. Boehling played 34 games during the 1914 season, and finished the season with a 12–8 record and a 3.03 ERA. The 1915 season saw Boehling pitch a career high number of games with 40, 32 of them starts. After a 14–13 record in 1915 and a 9–11 record the following season, the Senators traded Boehling. On August 18, 1916, Boehling was traded along with Danny Moeller to the Cleveland Indians for Elmer Smith and

Joe Leonard Joe Leonard (August 4, 1932 in San Diego, California – April 27, 2017 in San Jose, California) was an American professional motorcycle racer and racecar driver. Biography Motorcycle career Leonard won the first A.M.A. Grand National Champion ...

. He finished the season by pitching in 12 games for the Indians, then pitched in 12 the following season. On July 30, he was sent to the minor leagues by the Indians, and did not play in the major leagues again until 1920. He played in three games for the 1920 Cleveland Indians team that went on to win the

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, and played his final major league game on June 3, 1920. He was a better than average hitting pitcher in his major league career, posting 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 ...

(66-for-312) with 30 runs, 1

home run 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 ...

, 24 RBI and 19

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 above average, recording a .952

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 12 points higher than the league average at his position. After retiring, Boehling managed an

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baseball team in

Richmond, Virginia (Thus do we reach the stars) , image_map = , mapsize = 250 px , map_caption = Location within Virginia , pushpin_map = Virginia#USA , pushpin_label = Richmond , pushpin_m ...

, and worked in the feed and seed business with his brother. He died on September 8, 1941, at the age of 50 as a result of injuries sustained from a fall.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Boehling, Joe 1891 births 1941 deaths Washington Senators (1901–1960) players Cleveland Indians players Major League Baseball pitchers Accidental deaths from falls Accidental deaths in Virginia Worcester Busters players Oakland Oaks (baseball) players Bridgeport Americans players Toronto Maple Leafs (International League) players Baseball players from Richmond, Virginia