Joe Nuxhall Marquee

b. July 30, 1928 · Cincinnati Reds 1944, 1952–1953, 1960, 1962–1966, Cincinnati Redlegs 1954–1959, Kansas City Athletics 1961, Los Angeles Angels 1962

On June 10, 1944 Cincinnati put him into a game against St. Louis in the ninth inning. He was fifteen years and 316 days old, still the youngest anyone has played in the modern major leagues, and he faced nine batters, walked five and gave up five runs before the manager took him out. He did not pitch in the major leagues again for eight years.

He came back at twenty-three and had a real career: 135 wins against 117, a 3.90 earned run average, 2,302 innings, 83 complete games and two All-Star selections across sixteen seasons, almost all of them in Cincinnati. He went 17-12 with a 3.47 in 1955 and led the National League with five shutouts.

He broadcast Reds games from 1967 to 2004 and part-time after that, signing off every night with a phrase about rounding third and heading for home that people in Ohio can still recite. He died in 2007, at seventy-nine. No Hall of Fame ballot ever listed him as a player.

Honors

Award	Times	Years
All-Star selection	2	1955, 1956

Batting, season by season

Year	Team	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	SB	AVG
1944	CIN	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	—
1952	CIN	37	23	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	8	0	.087
1953	CIN	30	49	6	16	2	0	3	8	4	13	0	.327
1954	CIN	36	52	13	9	0	0	3	7	8	12	0	.173
1955	CIN	53	86	10	17	4	0	3	14	8	24	0	.198
1956	CIN	44	59	6	11	2	1	2	7	4	15	0	.186
1957	CIN	42	59	6	14	1	1	0	7	5	15	0	.237
1958	CIN	36	62	4	13	1	0	0	5	1	13	1	.210
1959	CIN	28	44	5	11	3	0	0	2	1	4	0	.250
1960	CIN	39	26	3	2	1	0	0	1	1	6	0	.077
1961	KCA	56	65	5	19	2	1	2	13	6	18	0	.292
1962	CIN/LAA	17	26	3	7	1	0	1	5	0	3	0	.269
1963	CIN	35	76	6	12	2	0	0	3	0	25	0	.158
1964	CIN	34	54	2	7	0	0	1	1	0	20	1	.130
1965	CIN	32	45	5	8	1	0	0	3	2	9	0	.178
1966	CIN	35	40	2	4	1	0	0	2	0	14	0	.100
Career	—	555	766	76	152	21	3	15	78	40	199	2	.198

Pitching, season by season

Year	Team	W	L	G	GS	SV	IP	H	ER	BB	SO	ERA
1944	CIN	0	0	1	0	0	0.2	2	5	5	0	67.50
1952	CIN	1	4	37	5	1	92.1	83	33	42	52	3.22
1953	CIN	9	11	30	17	2	141.2	136	68	69	52	4.32
1954	CIN	12	5	35	14	0	166.2	188	72	59	85	3.89
1955	CIN	17	12	50	33	3	257.0	240	99	78	98	3.47
1956	CIN	13	11	44	32	3	200.2	196	83	87	120	3.72
1957	CIN	10	10	39	28	1	174.1	192	92	53	99	4.75
1958	CIN	12	11	36	26	0	175.2	169	74	63	111	3.79
1959	CIN	9	9	28	21	1	131.2	155	62	35	75	4.24
1960	CIN	1	8	38	6	0	112.0	130	55	27	72	4.42
1961	KCA	5	8	37	13	1	128.0	135	76	65	81	5.34
1962	CIN/LAA	5	0	17	9	1	71.1	66	24	30	59	3.03
1963	CIN	15	8	35	29	2	217.1	194	63	39	169	2.61
1964	CIN	9	8	32	22	2	154.2	146	70	51	111	4.07
1965	CIN	11	4	32	16	2	148.2	142	57	31	117	3.45
1966	CIN	6	8	35	16	0	130.0	136	65	42	71	4.50
Career	—	135	117	526	287	19	2302.2	2310	998	776	1372	3.90

On this day & linked events

1928

Born July 30, 1928

Hamilton, OH, USA

2007

Died November 15, 2007

1944

Major-league debut: Joe Nuxhall

Joe Nuxhall made a major-league debut on June 10, 1944.

1964

Ken Johnson's No-Hitter

Ken Johnson threw a no-hitter for the Houston Colt .45's against the Cincinnati Reds on April 23, 1964.

1966

Final major-league game: Joe Nuxhall

Joe Nuxhall played a final major-league game on October 2, 1966.

Image: Unknown author Unknown, public domain