Joe Dobson Marquee

b. January 20, 1917 · Cleveland Indians 1939–1940, Boston Red Sox 1941–1943, 1946–1950, 1954, Chicago White Sox 1951–1953

A blasting cap exploded in his hand on an Oklahoma farm when he was nine and took the thumb and part of the index finger of his left hand. He threw right-handed, and the grip he developed produced a curveball that Boston hitters of the 1940s described as the best in the league.

Fourteen seasons gave him 137 wins against 103, a 3.62 earned run average, 2,170 innings, 112 complete games and 22 shutouts. He went 18-8 in 1947 and 15-10 in 1950 and was an All-Star at thirty-five for the White Sox.

He threw four scoreless innings of relief in the fifth game of the 1946 World Series and started the seventh, which Boston lost. He was called Burrhead. No Hall of Fame ballot ever listed him. He died in 1994, at seventy-seven.

Honors

Award	Times	Years
All-Star selection	1	1948

Batting, season by season

Year	Team	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	SB	AVG
1939	CLE	35	18	0	1	0	0	0	0	1	5	0	.056
1940	CLE	40	24	0	3	0	0	0	0	3	14	0	.125
1941	BOS	27	47	3	7	0	0	1	6	4	14	0	.149
1942	BOS	30	69	6	10	1	0	0	3	3	17	0	.145
1943	BOS	25	52	3	5	0	0	0	0	2	21	0	.096
1946	BOS	32	50	5	5	0	0	0	2	4	28	0	.100
1947	BOS	33	77	4	16	0	1	0	3	7	22	0	.208
1948	BOS	38	84	9	17	2	0	1	4	6	27	0	.202
1949	BOS	33	68	5	10	0	0	0	2	10	22	1	.147
1950	BOS	39	70	6	15	2	0	0	9	9	23	0	.214
1951	CHW	28	46	2	3	1	0	0	1	0	20	0	.065
1952	CHW	29	63	3	12	0	0	0	3	4	20	0	.190
1953	CHW	23	29	0	2	1	0	0	2	1	11	0	.069
1954	BOS	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	—
Career	—	414	697	46	106	7	1	2	35	54	244	1	.152

Pitching, season by season

Year	Team	W	L	G	GS	SV	IP	H	ER	BB	SO	ERA
1939	CLE	2	3	35	3	1	78.0	87	51	51	27	5.88
1940	CLE	3	7	40	7	3	100.0	101	55	48	57	4.95
1941	BOS	12	5	27	18	0	134.1	136	67	67	69	4.49
1942	BOS	11	9	30	23	0	182.2	155	67	68	72	3.30
1943	BOS	7	11	25	20	0	164.1	144	57	57	63	3.12
1946	BOS	13	7	32	24	0	166.2	148	60	68	91	3.24
1947	BOS	18	8	33	31	1	228.2	203	75	73	110	2.95
1948	BOS	16	10	38	32	2	245.1	237	97	92	116	3.56
1949	BOS	14	12	33	27	2	212.2	219	91	97	87	3.85
1950	BOS	15	10	39	27	4	206.2	217	96	81	81	4.18
1951	CHW	7	6	28	21	3	146.2	136	59	51	67	3.62
1952	CHW	14	10	29	25	1	200.2	164	56	60	101	2.51
1953	CHW	5	5	23	15	1	100.2	96	41	37	50	3.67
1954	BOS	0	0	2	0	0	2.2	5	2	1	1	6.75
Career	—	137	103	414	273	18	2170.0	2048	874	851	992	3.62

On this day & linked events

1917

Born January 20, 1917

Durant, OK, USA

1994

Died June 23, 1994

1939

Major-league debut: Joe Dobson

Joe Dobson made a major-league debut on April 26, 1939.

1954

Final major-league game: Joe Dobson

Joe Dobson played a final major-league game on April 30, 1954.

Image: Bowman, public domain