1936
Born November 12, 1936
Dubuque, IA, USA
Joe Hoerner Marquee
b. November 12, 1936 · Houston Colt .45's 1963–1964, St. Louis Cardinals 1966–1969, Philadelphia Phillies 1970–1972, 1975, Atlanta Braves 1972–1973, Kansas City Royals 1973–1974, Texas Rangers 1976, Cincinnati Reds 1977
A minor-league physical found a heart problem in his teens and more than one club let him go over it. He pitched fourteen years anyway, sidearm and left-handed, and saved 99 games in an era when relievers worked three innings at a time.
St. Louis got the best of it: 1.54 in 57 games in 1966, 1.48 with 17 saves in 1968 for the club that won the pennant, and 45 more appearances in 1969. He was an All-Star in 1970 for Philadelphia, where he had gone that winter in the trade Curt Flood refused to report for.
Fourteen seasons gave him 39 wins, 99 saves, 562 innings and a 2.99 earned run average across 493 appearances, none of them starts. He farmed in Missouri after he retired and was killed there in 1996 when his tractor overturned. He was fifty-nine. The 1983 ballot gave him no votes.
Honors
| Award | Times | Years |
|---|---|---|
| All-Star selection | 1 | 1970 |
Batting, season by season
| Year | Team | G | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | SO | SB | AVG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1963 | HOU | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 |
| 1964 | HOU | 7 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .000 |
| 1966 | STL | 57 | 8 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 5 | 0 | .125 |
| 1967 | STL | 57 | 11 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | .182 |
| 1968 | STL | 47 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | .000 |
| 1969 | STL | 45 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | .000 |
| 1970 | PHI | 44 | 10 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 0 | .200 |
| 1971 | PHI | 49 | 10 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | .100 |
| 1972 | ATL/PHI | 40 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | .000 |
| 1973 | ATL/KCR | 42 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — |
| 1974 | KCR | 30 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — |
| 1975 | PHI | 25 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 |
| 1976 | TEX | 41 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — |
| 1977 | CIN | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — |
| Career | — | 493 | 59 | 2 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 32 | 0 | .102 |
Pitching, season by season
| Year | Team | W | L | G | GS | SV | IP | H | ER | BB | SO | ERA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1963 | HOU | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0.00 |
| 1964 | HOU | 0 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 11.0 | 13 | 6 | 6 | 4 | 4.91 |
| 1966 | STL | 5 | 1 | 57 | 0 | 13 | 76.0 | 57 | 13 | 21 | 63 | 1.54 |
| 1967 | STL | 4 | 4 | 57 | 0 | 15 | 66.0 | 52 | 19 | 20 | 50 | 2.59 |
| 1968 | STL | 8 | 2 | 47 | 0 | 17 | 48.2 | 34 | 8 | 12 | 42 | 1.48 |
| 1969 | STL | 2 | 3 | 45 | 0 | 15 | 53.1 | 44 | 17 | 9 | 35 | 2.87 |
| 1970 | PHI | 9 | 5 | 44 | 0 | 9 | 57.2 | 53 | 17 | 20 | 39 | 2.65 |
| 1971 | PHI | 4 | 5 | 49 | 0 | 9 | 73.0 | 57 | 16 | 21 | 57 | 1.97 |
| 1972 | ATL/PHI | 1 | 5 | 40 | 0 | 5 | 45.0 | 55 | 22 | 13 | 31 | 4.40 |
| 1973 | ATL/KCR | 4 | 2 | 42 | 0 | 6 | 32.0 | 45 | 20 | 17 | 25 | 5.63 |
| 1974 | KCR | 2 | 3 | 30 | 0 | 2 | 35.1 | 32 | 15 | 12 | 24 | 3.82 |
| 1975 | PHI | 0 | 0 | 25 | 0 | 0 | 21.0 | 25 | 6 | 8 | 20 | 2.57 |
| 1976 | TEX | 0 | 4 | 41 | 0 | 8 | 35.0 | 41 | 20 | 19 | 15 | 5.14 |
| 1977 | CIN | 0 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 5.2 | 9 | 8 | 3 | 5 | 12.71 |
| Career | — | 39 | 34 | 493 | 0 | 99 | 562.2 | 519 | 187 | 181 | 412 | 2.99 |
On this day & linked events
1996
Died October 4, 1996
1963
Major-league debut: Joe Hoerner
Joe Hoerner made a major-league debut on September 27, 1963.
1977
Final major-league game: Joe Hoerner
Joe Hoerner played a final major-league game on August 5, 1977.
Image: Philadelphia Phillies, public domain