John Albert Pfiester (May 24, 1878 – September 3, 1953) was an American professional baseball

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 ...

. He played 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 (A ...

for the

Pittsburgh Pirates The Pittsburgh Pirates are an American professional baseball team based in Pittsburgh. The Pirates compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Founded as part of the American Associati ...

and

Chicago Cubs The Chicago Cubs are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The Cubs compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as part of the National League (NL) Central division. The club plays its home games at Wrigley Field, which is locate ...

from 1903 to 1911 and helped the Cubs win two

World Series The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, contested since 1903 between the champion teams of the American League (AL) and the National League (NL). The winner of the Worl ...

championships.

Career

Born in

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line w ...

, Ohio, Pfiester started his professional baseball career in the minor leagues in 1901. He played briefly for the Pirates in 1903 and 1904. In 1904, Pfiester played mostly for the Omaha Rangers of the Western League. He had a

win–loss record In sports, a winning percentage is the fraction of games or matches a team or individual has won. The statistic is commonly used in standings or rankings to compare teams or individuals. It is defined as wins divided by the total number of match ...

of 24–11 for Omaha and helped the team win the league championship. In 1905, with the renamed Omaha Rourkes, Pfiester went 25–11 with a 1.76

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 numb ...

. He had the second-most wins in the Western League. That year, he was purchased by the Cubs. In 1906, Pfiester played his first full major league season and went 20–8 with a 1.51 ERA, the second-best ERA in 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 ...

. The 1906 Cubs had one of the best MLB seasons ever, winning the NL pennant and finishing with 116 wins. However, they were defeated in the

1906 World Series The 1906 World Series was the championship series in Major League Baseball for the 1906 season. The third edition of the World Series, it featured a crosstown matchup between the American League champion Chicago White Sox and the National Leagu ...

, with Pfiester going 0–2 in the series. The following year, he went 14–9 and led the NL with a 1.15 ERA. He won his only start of the 1907 World Series in Game 2, and the Cubs won the series. On September 23, 1908, during the Merkle's Boner game against 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 ...

, Pfiester pitched a

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 ...

, allowing five hits, with a dislocated tendon in his pitching forearm. He had to be assisted off the field a few times after throwing curveballs. As soon as the game ended, he went to Ohio to be treated, and his tendon was snapped back into place by trainer

Bonesetter Reese John D. "Bonesetter" Reese (May 6, 1855 – November 29, 1931) was a Welsh-born American athletic trainer in early 20th-century Major League Baseball who was known for his ability to get injured athletes "back in the game". Although he gained wide ...

. Pfiester finished the season with a record of 12–10. He lost his only start of the 1908 World Series in Game 3, but the Cubs won the series. It was the team's last championship until

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the Impeachment of Dilma Rousseff, impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses duri ...

. Pfiester went 17–6 with a 2.43 ERA in 1909."Jack Pfiester Stats"
baseball-reference.com. Retrieved October 20, 2021. In 1910, his last full season in professional baseball, he went 6–3. He pitched in the 1910 World Series but did not get a decision, and the Cubs lost. In 1911, Pfiester went 1–4 before the Cubs traded him to the minor leagues in May, and he never played in the majors again. Pfiester finished his MLB career with a 71–44 win–loss record. His career ERA in MLB was 2.02, which is the fourth-lowest of all time among pitchers with at least 1,000 innings thrown. After his baseball career ended, Pfiester settled in Ohio with his wife and their son, Jack Jr. Pfiester died in Loveland, Ohio, at the age of 75.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Pfiester, Jack 1878 births 1953 deaths Major League Baseball pitchers National League ERA champions Pittsburgh Pirates players Chicago Cubs players Spokane Smoke Eaters players San Francisco Pirates players Omaha Rangers players Omaha Rourkes players Louisville Colonels (minor league) players Sioux City Indians players Baseball players from Cincinnati People from Loveland, Ohio

Career

See also

References

External links