Jacob Weimer, nicknamed "Tornado Jake" (November 29, 1873 – June 19, 1928), was an American professional

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding ...

player. 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 (AL) ...

as a left-handed

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the Baseball (ball), baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of out (baseball), retiring a batter (baseball), batter, who attempts to e ...

for the

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 ...

(1903–1905),

Cincinnati Reds The Cincinnati Reds are an American professional baseball team based in Cincinnati. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League Central, Central division and were a charter member of ...

(1906–1908) and

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 ...

(1909). He batted right-handed and threw left-handed. Weimer was born in

Ottumwa, Iowa Ottumwa ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Wapello County, Iowa, United States. The population was 25,529 at the time of the 2020 U.S. Census. Located in the state's southeastern section, the city is split into northern and southern halves ...

. He toiled for eight years in the minor leagues, before becoming one of the top left-handers in baseball. In a seven-season career, Weimer posted a 97–69 record with 657 strikeouts and a 2.23 ERA in

innings pitched In baseball, innings pitched (IP) are the number of innings a pitcher has completed, measured by the number of batters and baserunners that are put out while the pitcher is on the pitching mound in a game. Three outs made is equal to one inning ...

. His career ERA ranks 14th all-time, 10th among post-1900 pitchers. He was also a good hitting pitcher in the majors, posting a .213

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 i ...

(115-for-540) with 46 runs, one

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 is ...

and 36

RBI RBI most often refers to: *Reserve Bank of India *Run batted in RBI may also refer to: Organisations *Radio Berlin International *Raiffeisen Bank International *Reed Business Information *Restaurant Brands International *Ruđer Bošković In ...

. Weimer emerged as one of the Chicago Cubs' top starting pitchers in the first part of the 20th century. He went 21–9 with a 2.30 ERA in his 1903 rookie season and 20–14 with 1.91 in his sophomore year. After going 18–12 with 2.26 in 1905, he was sent to the Cincinnati Reds for

third baseman A third baseman, abbreviated 3B, is the player in baseball or softball whose responsibility is to defend the area nearest to third base — the third of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. In the scoring system u ...

Harry Steinfeldt and Jimmy Sebring before 1906. In a trade that benefited both teams, Steinfeld hit .327 to lead the Cubs to their first

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

and Weimer won 20 games for Cincinnati, but eventually faded and was sent to the New York Giants after two subpar seasons. He played his final game with the Giants in 1909. Weimer died in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

, at the age of 54.

References

External links

Baseball Almanac
{{DEFAULTSORT:Weimer, Jake Chicago Cubs players Cincinnati Reds players New York Giants (NL) players Major League Baseball pitchers Baseball players from Iowa 1873 births 1928 deaths Burlington (minor league baseball) players Burlington Colts players Indianapolis Hoosiers (minor league) players Ottumwa Giants players Des Moines Hawkeyes players People from Ottumwa, Iowa