Joseph Benjamin Shaute (August 1, 1899 in

Peckville, Pennsylvania Peckville is a village in Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania, United States, roughly northwest of Scranton. The governing borough of Peckville is Blakely. See also * Blakely, Pennsylvania Blakely is a borough in Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania. ...

– February 21, 1970 in

Scranton, Pennsylvania Scranton is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania, Lackawanna County. With a population of 76,328 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 U ...

) 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 pitched from 1922 to 1934, and during his 13-year career, he played primarily 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 F ...

.Kashatus (2002), p. 99. He attended

Juniata College Juniata College is a private liberal arts college in Huntingdon, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1876 as a co-educational school, it was the first college started by members of the Church of the Brethren as a center for vocational learning for those wh ...

and

Mansfield University of Pennsylvania Mansfield University of Pennsylvania is a campus of Commonwealth University of Pennsylvania and it is located it in Mansfield, Pennsylvania. Part of the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education (PASSHE), the campus' total enrollment is 1,6 ...

. He made his major league debut in September 1922, and threw his first pitch to legendary swatter

Babe Ruth George Herman "Babe" Ruth Jr. (February 6, 1895 – August 16, 1948) was an American professional baseball player whose career in Major League Baseball (MLB) spanned 22 seasons, from 1914 through 1935. Nicknamed "the Bambino" and "the Su ...

. Baseball historian William C. Kashatus noted that when Shaute came to the pitching mound, "the Indians were clinging to a one-run lead in the bottom of the eighth with two outs and bases loaded with

Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. They are one of ...

". Shaute gained notoriety when he struck out Ruth on four pitches to end the inning. In the following inning, he faced another powerful hitter,

Bob Meusel Robert William Meusel (July 19, 1896 – November 28, 1977) was an American baseball left and right fielder who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for eleven seasons from 1920 through 1930, all but the last for the New York Yankees. He was best ...

, who "swung so hard on Shaute's first offering that he whirled completely around and fell to the ground". The pitcher next struck out Yankee catcher Freddie Hoffman. Kashatus observed that Shaute "continued to dominate Ruth for the next three years". The situation changed in 1927, however, when Ruth hit 60 home runs, setting a major league record that stood for more than seven decades. Ruth hit three of those home runs—numbers 30, 40, and 52—off of Shaute. Nevertheless, during his 13-season career, Shaute struck out Ruth on more than 30 occasions. Shaute enjoyed his best season in 1924, "when he won 20 games for the lowly Indians who finished sixth that year". As a hitter, Shaute was a better than average hitting pitcher, posting a .258

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 ...

(170-for-660) with 63 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 ...

, 64 RBI and drawing 40

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 ...

Notes

References

* Kashatus, William C. (2002). ''Diamonds in the Coalfields: 21 Remarkable Baseball Players, Managers, and Umpires from Northeast Pennsylvania''. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company. .

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shaute, Joe 1899 births 1970 deaths Baseball players from Pennsylvania Major League Baseball pitchers Brooklyn Robins players Brooklyn Dodgers players Cleveland Indians players Cincinnati Reds players Juniata Eagles baseball players Mansfield Mounties baseball players Minor league baseball managers Chattanooga Lookouts players Toronto Maple Leafs (International League) players Scranton Miners players Minneapolis Millers (baseball) players Wilkes-Barre Barons (baseball) players