Jesse Lawrence Barnes (August 26, 1892 – September 9, 1961) was an American

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 dr ...

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 (A ...

. Barnes began his major league career in 1914 with the

Boston Braves The Atlanta Braves, a current Major League Baseball franchise, originated in Boston, Massachusetts. This article details the history of the Boston Braves, from 1871 to 1952, after which they moved to Milwaukee, and then to Atlanta. During it ...

. In 1917, he led the

National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team s ...

with 21 losses. On October 2, 1917, he became the only NL pitcher to

walk Walking (also known as ambulation) is one of the main gaits of terrestrial locomotion among legged animals. Walking is typically slower than running and other gaits. Walking is defined by an ' inverted pendulum' gait in which the body vaults ...

twice in one inning. In 1918, Barnes was traded to the

New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East divisio ...

. He had three very good years with the Giants. On the last day of the 1919 season, Barnes won his National League-leading 25th victory, 6–1, over

Lee Meadows Henry Lee "Specs" Meadows (July 12, 1894 – January 29, 1963) was an American professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball as a right-handed pitcher over parts of 15 seasons (1915–1929) for the St. Louis Cardinals, Philadelp ...

and the

Philadelphia Phillies The Philadelphia Phillies are an American professional baseball team based in Philadelphia. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) National League East, East division. Since 2004, the team's home sta ...

Polo Grounds The Polo Grounds was the name of three stadiums in Upper Manhattan, New York City, used mainly for professional baseball and American football from 1880 through 1963. The original Polo Grounds, opened in 1876 and demolished in 1889, was built fo ...

. The game was played at a feverish pace and lasted a mere 51 minutes, a major league record that still stands as the shortest nine-inning game ever played. In 1920 he had 20 wins, following with 15 wins in 1921 and two victories in the

1921 World Series The 1921 World Series was the championship series in Major League Baseball for the 1921 season. The 18th edition of the World Series, it matched the National League champion New York Giants and the American League champion New York Yankees. Th ...

against the

New York 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 ...

. Then, on May 7, 1922, he hurled a

no-hitter In baseball, a no-hitter is a game in which a team was not able to record a hit. Major League Baseball (MLB) officially defines a no-hitter as a completed game in which a team that batted in at least nine innings recorded no hits. A pitcher wh ...

against the Phillies;

Cy Williams Frederick "Cy" Williams (December 21, 1887 – April 23, 1974) was an American professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball as an outfielder for the Chicago Cubs (1912–17) and Philadelphia Phillies (1918–30). As Major Lea ...

was the only baserunner, who walked and was erased on a double play. Barnes returned to the Braves in 1923, playing for them three years before joining the

Brooklyn Robins The Brooklyn Dodgers were a Major League Baseball team founded in 1884 as a member of the American Association before joining the National League in 1890. They remained in Brooklyn until 1957, after which the club moved to Los Angeles, Californi ...

during 1926 and 1927. For the second time, he led the league in losses (20) in 1924. His younger brother,

Virgil Publius Vergilius Maro (; traditional dates 15 October 7021 September 19 BC), usually called Virgil or Vergil ( ) in English, was an ancient Roman poet of the Augustan period. He composed three of the most famous poems in Latin literature: th ...

, also pitched in the majors, and both were teammates with the Giants from 1919 to 1923. On June 26, 1924, Jesse opposed Virgil in the first pitching matchup of brothers in major league history. Virgil did not have a decision while Jesse was credited with the loss as the Giants defeated the Braves‚ 8-1. The Barnes brothers would match up four more times during their careers. Barnes was a better than average hitting pitcher in his major league career, posting a .214

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 ...

(195-for-913) with 71 runs, 5 triples, 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 ...

, 69 RBI, and 24

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 Sec ...

. In four World Series appearances, he batted .308 (4-for-13) with three runs scored. Defensively, he was better than average, recording a .976

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, di ...

which was 17 points higher than the league average at his position. The baseball author and analyst

Bill James George William James (born October 5, 1949) is an American baseball writer, historian, and statistician whose work has been widely influential. Since 1977, James has written more than two dozen books devoted to baseball history and statistics. ...

is also a distant relative of the brothers.Google Books – The New Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract, Page 95
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* : {{DEFAULTSORT:Barnes, Jesse Major League Baseball pitchers Boston Braves players New York Giants (NL) players Brooklyn Robins players National League wins champions Keokuk Indians players Davenport Blue Sox players Toledo Mud Hens players Buffalo Bisons (minor league) players Baseball players from Oklahoma People from Perkins, Oklahoma 1892 births 1961 deaths

See also

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