Joseph Blase Sparma (February 4, 1942 – May 14, 1986) was a

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

in collegiate

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

(1961–1962) and 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), ...

(1964–1970).

Quarterback at Ohio State

Born in

Massillon, Ohio Massillon is a city in Stark County, Ohio, Stark County in the U.S. state of Ohio, approximately west of Canton, Ohio, Canton, south of Akron, and south of Cleveland. The population was 32,146 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. Mass ...

, Sparma attended

Ohio State University The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best publ ...

and played

on the 1961 and 1962

teams coached by

Woody Hayes Wayne Woodrow Hayes (February 14, 1913 – March 12, 1987) was an American football player and coach. He served as the head coach at Denison University (1946–1948), Miami University in Oxford, Ohio (1949–1950), and Ohio State University (1951 ...

. Sparma and his leading receiver,

Paul Warfield Paul Dryden Warfield (born November 28, 1942) is an American former professional football player who was a wide receiver in the National Football League (NFL) from 1964 to 1977 for the Cleveland Browns and Miami Dolphins, except for a year in t ...

, led the 1961 Buckeyes to an 8-0-1 season and a

Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...

championship Sparma accounted for 474 yards in the Buckeyes' 1961 50–20 victory over the Michigan Wolverines. Sparma quit the team after three years due to differences with Hayes and opted to pursue a career in

Major League Baseball pitcher

Sparma received a $32,000 bonus to sign with the

Detroit Tigers The Detroit Tigers are an American professional baseball team based in Detroit. The Tigers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the American League (AL) Central division. One of the AL's eight charter franchises, the club was f ...

in 1963. He played six seasons with Detroit, from 1964 to 1969. In

1965 Events January–February * January 14 – The Prime Minister of Northern Ireland and the Taoiseach of the Republic of Ireland meet for the first time in 43 years. * January 20 ** Lyndon B. Johnson is Second inauguration of Lyndo ...

, Sparma was in his first full season with the Tigers, when he was assigned to be the starting pitcher against the Yankees on "

Mickey Mantle Mickey Charles Mantle (October 20, 1931 – August 13, 1995), nicknamed "the Commerce Comet" and "the Mick", was an American professional baseball player. Mantle played his entire Major League Baseball (MLB) career (1951–1968) with the New York ...

Day" in New York. When Mantle came to bat for the first time in the game, Sparma walked off the mound, approached Mantle, and said: "You know, I've never had a chance to meet you in person, and I've always admired you." Sparma and Mantle shook hands, and Sparma went back to the mound and struck Mantle out. Mantle turned to Detroit's catcher

Bill Freehan William Ashley Freehan (November 29, 1941 – August 19, 2021) was an American catcher in Major League Baseball who played his entire 15-year career with the Detroit Tigers. The premier catcher in the American League for several years from the 19 ...

and said: "They have a day for me and your manager's got to put some hard-throwing kid out there. Couldn't he have put in some soft-tossing left-hander for me to hit off of, so I could look like a hero in front of all those people?" (Bill Freehan, "''Behind the Mask''" (1970), pp. 7–8) Sparma's best season was

1967 Events January * January 1 – Canada begins a year-long celebration of the 100th anniversary of Confederation, featuring the Expo 67 World's Fair. * January 5 ** Spain and Romania sign an agreement in Paris, establishing full consular and ...

, when he posted a record of 16–9 with 11

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, five

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, and a 3.76

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 ...

. In

1968 The year was highlighted by protests and other unrests that occurred worldwide. Events January–February * January 5 – "Prague Spring": Alexander Dubček is chosen as leader of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia. * Januar ...

, Sparma lost his spot in the rotation after a run-in with manager

Mayo Smith Edward Mayo "Catfish" Smith (January 17, 1915 – November 24, 1977) was an American professional baseball player, manager, and scout who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Philadelphia Athletics. Smith had a 39-year baseball career ...

. Sparma was pulled from a game and told Detroit sportswriter

Joe Falls Joseph Francis Falls (May 2, 1928 – August 11, 2004) was an American journalist. He began his career in his native New York City. At the age of 17 in 1945, he took a job as a copyboy for the Associated Press. After an apprenticeship of eight year ...

that Smith "had no respect for him; didn't like him, didn't trust him, etc., etc." When Falls asked Smith for a response, Smith said he "didn't want to get into a spitting contest with a skunk." (Joe Falls, ''Joe Falls 50 Years of Sports Writing'' (Sports Publishing 1997), p. 159.) Smith refused to start Sparma for several weeks afterward. When Sparma finally got another start on September 17, he pitched a one-run, complete game win against the Yankees to clinch the Tigers' first pennant since 1945. The Sparma-Smith feud continued, and Sparma pitched only of an inning in the

1968 World Series The 1968 World Series was the World Series, championship series of Major League Baseball's (MLB) 1968 Major League Baseball season, 1968 season. The 65th edition of the World Series, it was a best-of-seven playoff between American League (AL) ch ...

, giving up two earned runs for a 54.00 ERA in postseason play. On May 31, 1969, Sparma lost a no-hitter against the

Seattle Pilots The Seattle Pilots were an American professional baseball, professional baseball team based in Seattle, Washington (state), Washington during the 1969 Major League Baseball season. During their single-season existence, the Pilots played their ho ...

when

Don Mincher Donald Ray Mincher (June 24, 1938 – March 4, 2012) was an American Major League Baseball first baseman and longtime minor league executive. He played in the majors from 1960–1972 for the "original" Washington Senators and Minnesota Twins, Cal ...

doubled with one out in the ninth inning. During the 1969 season, Sparma roomed with Freehan, as Freehan kept a diary that was published in 1970. In the book, Freehan wrote that Sparma and Smith were usually not even on speaking terms as Sparma remained in Smith's doghouse. Freehan also wrote memorably of Sparma's talent for ESP: "My roomie's got an

ESP ESP most commonly refers to: * Extrasensory perception, a paranormal ability ESP may also refer to: Arts, entertainment Music * ESP Guitars, a manufacturer of electric guitars * E.S. Posthumus, an independent music group formed in 2000, ...

thing. Every now and then, he'll wake up on a morning he's supposed to pitch and say, 'I've got a good feeling. I know we're going to win.' Joe doesn't get this feeling too often, but every time he does -- every single time -- we win." (Freehan, "''Behind the Mask''," p. 104) Sparma had that "good feeling" on June 13, 1969, before he shut out the Royals, 6–0. On another occasion, Sparma told teammate

Dick McAuliffe Richard John McAuliffe (November 29, 1939 – May 13, 2016) was an American professional baseball shortstop / second baseman, who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Detroit Tigers (1960–73) and Boston Red Sox (1974–75). He was a ...

of a premonition: "Mac, I know you're going to have a good day today. Something just tells me you're going to go three for five." McAuliffe went 3-for-4 in his first 4 at-bats and struck out in his 5th at bat. When he came back to the dugout, McAuliffe blamed Sparma for jinxing him on the 5th at bat. In his book, Freehan wrote that McAuliffe was "actually angry" at Sparma. "He could've at least thanked Joe for the three hits." (Freehan, "''Behind the Mask''," p. 106) Toward the end of the 1969 season, Sparma got into a fight in the bullpen with

Fred Lasher Frederick Walter Lasher (August 19, 1941 – February 27, 2022) was an American Major League Baseball pitcher who played six seasons with the Minnesota Twins (1963), Detroit Tigers (1967–1970), Cleveland Indians (1970), and California Angels ( ...

. On December 3, 1969, Sparma was traded to the

Montreal Expos The Montreal Expos (french: link=no, Les Expos de Montréal) were a Canadian professional baseball team based in Montreal, Quebec. The Expos were the first Major League Baseball (MLB) franchise located outside the United States. They played in t ...

. Sparma pitched only 27 innings for the Expos in 1970, compiling a record of 0–4. Sparma pitched his last major league game on May 12, 1970. In 183 career games, he had a 52–52 record with a 3.94 ERA. Sparma died in

Columbus, Ohio Columbus () is the state capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Ohio. With a 2020 census population of 905,748, it is the 14th-most populous city in the U.S., the second-most populous city in the Midwest, after Chicago, and t ...

at age 44 in 1986, after suffering a heart attack and undergoing heart bypass surgery.Joe Sparma
/ref>

References

External links

Joe Sparma
at Baseballbiography.com

at The Deadball Era

New York Times Obituary {{DEFAULTSORT:Sparma, Joe 1942 births 1986 deaths Sportspeople from Massillon, Ohio Baseball players from Ohio American expatriate baseball players in Canada American football quarterbacks Ohio State Buckeyes baseball players Ohio State Buckeyes football players Ohio State University alumni Major League Baseball pitchers Detroit Tigers players Montreal Expos players Duluth-Superior Dukes players Knoxville Smokies players Winnipeg Whips players Buffalo Bisons (minor league) players Toledo Mud Hens players