__NOTOC__ Joseph Gordon Dobson (January 20, 1917 – June 23, 1994) was an American

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Modern professional ...

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, a 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 ...

who appeared 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), ...

for 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 Fi ...

(1939–40),

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 ...

(1941–43; 1946–50; 1954) and

Chicago White Sox The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team is owned by Jerry Reinsdorf, and ...

(1951–53). After his playing career, Dobson was the pitching coach for the Red Sox for a season and a general manager in the Red Sox minor league system.

Early life

Dobson was born in Durant, Oklahoma. At the age of nine, he lost his left thumb and forefinger playing with a dynamite cap. Dobson entered professional baseball in 1937, pitching for the

Troy Trojans The Troy Trojans are the sports teams of Troy University. They began playing in the NCAA's Division I-A in 2001, became a football only member of the Sun Belt Conference in 2004, and joined that conference for all other sports in 2005. Troy Univer ...

of the

Alabama–Florida League The Alabama–Florida League was a low-level circuit in American minor league baseball that existed from 1936 through 1939 and 1951 through 1962. In 1940–1941 and from 1946–1950. The absence of clubs based in Florida caused the league to chan ...

, winning 19 games and striking out 200 batters in 270 innings. The next season, he pitched for the New Orleans Pelicans of the

Southern Association The Southern Association was a higher-level minor league in American organized baseball from 1901 through 1961. For most of its existence, the Southern Association was two steps below the Major Leagues; it was graded Class A (1902–1935), Cla ...

, finishing with an 11–7 win–loss record and making the case that he was ready for the major leagues.

MLB career

After playing his first two MLB seasons for Cleveland in 1939 and 1940, Dobson was sent to Boston in a six-player trade that included Jim Bagby, Jr. Dobson enjoyed his best years with the Red Sox. Between 1941 and 1950 (excepting 1944–45, when he served in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...

during World War II),Baseball in Wartime.com
/ref> he won 106 games for the Red Sox. Dobson won a game as a starting pitcher in the

1946 World Series The 1946 World Series was played in October 1946 between the St. Louis Cardinals (representing the National League) and the Boston Red Sox (representing the American League). This was the Red Sox's first appearance in a World Series since their c ...

, and he also appeared as a relief pitcher twice during that series. His best MLB season came in 1947, when he finished with an 18–8 win–loss record. In September of that season, Dobson threw a one-hitter. He was an All-Star in 1948. Dobson pitched for the Chicago White Sox between 1951 and 1953. The White Sox released Dobson in August 1953, and he did not pitch for the rest of the season. He was signed as a free agent by the Red Sox before the 1954 season; the team released him in May of that season after he made two relief appearances. In a 14-season career, Dobson compiled a 137–103 record with 992 strikeouts, a 3.62

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 ...

, 112 complete games, 22

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, 18 saves, and 2,170 innings in 414 games pitched (273 as a starter).

Later life

Dobson became the pitching coach for the Red Sox. He later served as general manager of the

Winter Haven Red Sox The Winter Haven Red Sox were a minor league baseball team in the Florida State League (FSL), based in Winter Haven, Florida, from 1969–1992. Team history The franchise began in 1966 in Deerfield Beach, Florida, as the Deerfield Beach Sun Sox ...

of the Florida State League. He died in 1994 in

Jacksonville, Florida Jacksonville is a city located on the Atlantic coast of northeast Florida, the most populous city proper in the state and is the List of United States cities by area, largest city by area in the contiguous United States as of 2020. It is the co ...

, at the age of 77.Ex-sox pitcher Joe Dobson dies
''Chicago Tribune''. June 26, 1994. He is buried at Evergreen Cemetery in Jacksonville. In 2012, he was inducted into the Boston Red Sox Hall of Fame.

References

External links

1949 Boston Red Sox, at ''Baseball Historian''

Joe Dobson at SABR BioProject
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dobson, Joe 1917 births 1994 deaths American League All-Stars United States Army personnel of World War II Baseball players from Oklahoma Boston Red Sox coaches Boston Red Sox players Chicago White Sox players Cleveland Indians players Major League Baseball pitchers Major League Baseball pitching coaches New Orleans Pelicans (baseball) players People from Durant, Oklahoma Troy Trojans players People from Cheshire County, New Hampshire