Monster Card Monday: 1908 Addie Joss

It’s almost not fair.

Here’s 1908 Adrian “Addie” Joss with a 1.16 ERA and he does not get the coveted A&B pitching grade like his rival Ed Walsh did in the same year. Walsh did win 40 games would probably gave him the edge but Joss’ 1.16 mark is one of the lowest of all times for a single season.

1908 Addie Joss

24 wins

Led AL with

  • 1.16 ERA
  • 0.8 BB/9IP
  • .806 WHIP

Addie Joss played for just nine seasons (1902-10) all with the Cleveland Naps. I’d argue his selection to the Hall of Fame by the Veterans Committee was heavily influenced by his performance in the 1908 season. Joss went 24-11, completing 29 games with nine shutouts.

He led the American League in ERA (1.16), league adjusted ERA (204), WHIP (.806), and BB/9IP (a career low 0.8).


Season Totals — Game-Level
Split W L W-L% ERA G GS CG SHO SV IP H R ER HR BB SO
1908 Totals2411.6861.1642352992324.02357742230131
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 2/11/2024.

Addie earned that double ZZ!

Joss struck out 130 batters in 325 innings in 1908. To put that in deadball context, he just missed the top ten but he was no where near Walsh’s 269 whiffs. His Y strikeout rating is deserved.

If stats from 1908 are accurate, Joss allowed only two homers all year. A very low number even in the deadball era!

Also, Joss wasn’t a slouch at the plate. He batted .155 with three doubles and two triples plus three stolen bases.

Thanks to Charles Cox!

Thomas Nelshoppen

I am an IT consultant by day and an APBA media mogul by night. My passions are baseball (specifically Illini baseball), photography and of course, APBA. I have been fortunate to be part of the basic game Illowa APBA League since 1980 as well as a frequent participant of the Chicagoland APBA Tournament. I am slogging through a 1966 NL replay and hope to finish before I die.

2 Comments:

  1. For the first time Joss FINALLY gets a ZZ. He is the lifetime leader in WHIP yet until this reissued set I never had a card with him receiving one. I have the original issue for 1908 and I don’t think they had the ZZ available then.

    This isn’t a fluke for him either. In his brief career he had a WHIP under 1.00 6 times, with his .086 in 1908 his peak. He had more than 50 walks in a season only two times. Many of those seasons were well over 300 innings pitched.

    He could have been at or near the top in so many career categories had he not had tubercular meningitis.

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