Joseph James "Blackie" Kohlman (January 28, 1913 – March 16, 1974) was a

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 ...

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), ...

. He played over parts of two seasons (1937–38) with the Washington Senators. He is best known for being the star pitcher of the 1937

Salisbury Indians The Salisbury Indians were a United States minor league baseball team which played in Salisbury, Maryland. The team began operation in 1922 as a founding member of the Eastern Shore League, which operated out of cities on the Delmarva Peninsula. ...

, going 25–1 for the season.

Career

Kohlman started his professional baseball career in 1935, at the age of 22, for Beckley of the

Middle Atlantic League The Middle Atlantic League (or Mid-Atlantic League) was a lower-level circuit in United States, American minor league baseball that played during the second quarter of the 20th century. History The Middle Atlantic League played from 1925 in base ...

. He went 6-10. Two years later, he had moved down to the Class D

Eastern Shore League The Eastern Shore Baseball League was a class D minor league baseball league that operated on the Delmarva Peninsula for parts of three different decades. The league's first season was in 1922 and the last was in 1949, although the years were no ...

with the Salisbury Indians. This team became famous for having 21 wins forfeited in the middle of the season, only to come back to win the pennant. Kohlman was the ace of the pitching staff. In his first start, he took a loss. He then proceeded to win his last 25 decisions of the regular season, clinching the pennant for Salisbury with a no-hitter on September 2. He went 2–1 in the playoffs and won the final game of the championship series with another no-hitter. He led the ESL in wins, strikeouts, and

shutouts 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 ...

, and his

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 ...

was unofficially reported as 1.18. He was also named to the league all-star team and won the '' Baltimore News-Posts trophy as the Eastern Shore League's Outstanding Player. Kohlman was sold to the Washington Senators in late 1937 and made two starts for them, pitching a complete game victory. He also started 1938 with the Senators; however, he pitched poorly and was sent down to the

South Atlantic League The South Atlantic League, often informally called the Sally League, is a Minor League Baseball league with teams predominantly in states along the Atlantic coast of the United States from New York to Georgia. A Class A league for most of its ...

. He went 10-10 for the

Greenville Spinners The Greenville Spinners was a primary name of the minor league baseball teams located in Greenville, South Carolina between 1907 and 1962. Greenville teams played as members of the South Carolina League in 1907, Carolina Association (1908–191 ...

in 1938.Joe Kohlman Minor League Statistics & History

Baseball-Reference.com Baseball-Reference is a website providing baseball statistics for every player in Major League Baseball history. The site is often used by major media organizations and baseball broadcasters as a source for statistics. It offers a variety of advan ...

. Retrieved 2010-10-15. From 1939 to 1942, he pitched for seven different minor league teams. He did not return to professional baseball after World War II. Kohlman died in his hometown of

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...

at the age of 61.

References

External links

1937 Salisbury Indians
at MinorLeagueBaseball.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Kohlman, Joe 1913 births 1974 deaths Major League Baseball pitchers Baseball players from Philadelphia Washington Senators (1901–1960) players Beckley Miners players Baltimore Orioles (International League) players Wilkes-Barre Barons (baseball) players Salisbury Indians players Greenville Spinners players Knoxville Smokies players Jersey City Giants players Memphis Chickasaws players Greenville Buckshots players Anniston Rams players Meridian Eagles players Jacksonville Tars players