1882
Born November 18, 1882
Le Grand, IA, USA
Jack Coombs Marquee
b. November 18, 1882 · Philadelphia Athletics 1906–1914, Brooklyn Robins 1915–1918, Detroit Tigers 1920
Jack Coombs won 31 games in 1910 and shut opponents out thirteen times, which remains the American League record for a season. He then won three more games in the World Series that autumn as Philadelphia beat the Cubs.
He followed it with 28 wins in 1911 and another championship, before typhoid fever in 1913 nearly killed him and effectively ended the peak. Brooklyn signed him afterwards and he won a World Series start for them in 1916.
Born in Le Grand, Iowa in 1882 and educated at Colby College, Coombs finished 158-110 with 187 complete games. He coached baseball at Duke University for twenty-four years, and the school's field carries his name. Coombs was seventy-four when he died, in April 1957.
Honors
| Award | Times | Years |
|---|---|---|
| Baseball Magazine All-Star | 2 | 1910, 1911 |
Batting, season by season
| Year | Team | G | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | SO | SB | AVG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1906 | PHA | 24 | 67 | 9 | 16 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 15 | 2 | .239 |
| 1907 | PHA | 24 | 48 | 4 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 15 | 1 | .167 |
| 1908 | PHA | 78 | 220 | 24 | 56 | 9 | 5 | 1 | 23 | 9 | 34 | 6 | .255 |
| 1909 | PHA | 37 | 83 | 4 | 14 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 4 | 23 | 1 | .169 |
| 1910 | PHA | 46 | 132 | 20 | 29 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 7 | 23 | 3 | .220 |
| 1911 | PHA | 52 | 141 | 31 | 45 | 6 | 1 | 2 | 23 | 8 | 19 | 5 | .319 |
| 1912 | PHA | 56 | 110 | 10 | 28 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 13 | 14 | 18 | 1 | .255 |
| 1913 | PHA | 2 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | .333 |
| 1914 | PHA | 5 | 11 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | .273 |
| 1915 | BRO | 29 | 75 | 8 | 21 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 2 | 17 | 0 | .280 |
| 1916 | BRO | 27 | 61 | 2 | 11 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 10 | 0 | .180 |
| 1917 | BRO | 32 | 44 | 4 | 10 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 9 | 1 | .227 |
| 1918 | BRO | 46 | 113 | 6 | 19 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 7 | 5 | 1 | .168 |
| 1920 | DET | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 |
| Career | — | 460 | 1110 | 123 | 261 | 34 | 10 | 4 | 100 | 59 | 191 | 21 | .235 |
Pitching, season by season
| Year | Team | W | L | G | GS | SV | IP | H | ER | BB | SO | ERA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1906 | PHA | 10 | 10 | 23 | 18 | 0 | 173.0 | 144 | 48 | 68 | 90 | 2.50 |
| 1907 | PHA | 6 | 9 | 23 | 17 | 2 | 132.2 | 109 | 46 | 64 | 73 | 3.12 |
| 1908 | PHA | 7 | 5 | 26 | 18 | 0 | 153.0 | 130 | 34 | 64 | 80 | 2.00 |
| 1909 | PHA | 12 | 11 | 30 | 24 | 1 | 205.2 | 156 | 53 | 73 | 97 | 2.32 |
| 1910 | PHA | 31 | 9 | 45 | 38 | 1 | 353.0 | 248 | 51 | 115 | 224 | 1.30 |
| 1911 | PHA | 28 | 12 | 47 | 40 | 2 | 336.2 | 360 | 132 | 119 | 185 | 3.53 |
| 1912 | PHA | 21 | 10 | 40 | 32 | 2 | 262.1 | 227 | 96 | 94 | 120 | 3.29 |
| 1913 | PHA | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 5.1 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 0 | 10.13 |
| 1914 | PHA | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 8.0 | 8 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 4.50 |
| 1915 | BRO | 15 | 10 | 29 | 24 | 0 | 195.2 | 166 | 56 | 91 | 56 | 2.58 |
| 1916 | BRO | 13 | 8 | 27 | 21 | 0 | 159.0 | 136 | 47 | 44 | 47 | 2.66 |
| 1917 | BRO | 7 | 11 | 31 | 14 | 0 | 141.0 | 147 | 62 | 49 | 34 | 3.96 |
| 1918 | BRO | 8 | 14 | 27 | 20 | 0 | 189.0 | 191 | 80 | 49 | 44 | 3.81 |
| 1920 | DET | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 5.2 | 7 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 3.18 |
| Career | — | 158 | 110 | 354 | 270 | 8 | 2320.0 | 2034 | 717 | 841 | 1052 | 2.78 |
On this day & linked events
1957
Died April 15, 1957
1906
Major-league debut: Jack Coombs
Jack Coombs made a major-league debut on July 5, 1906.
1920
Final major-league game: Jack Coombs
Jack Coombs played a final major-league game on July 18, 1920.
Image: Paul Thompson, public domain