Lee Meadows Marquee

b. July 12, 1894 · St. Louis Cardinals 1915–1919, Philadelphia Phillies 1919–1923, Pittsburgh Pirates 1923–1929

He reached St. Louis in 1915 wearing spectacles, which no major-league pitcher had done since the 1880s, and was called Specs and Four Eyes for fifteen years by people who thought both were funny. Nobody wearing glasses had been thought able to see a pitched ball well enough to survive one; he won 188 games and settled it.

Fifteen seasons gave him 188 wins against 180 with a 3.37 earned run average, 3,160 innings, 219 complete games and 25 shutouts. He won 19 games for the Pittsburgh club that took the 1925 World Series and 20 in 1926 to lead the National League.

The best years came after Pittsburgh bought him at twenty-eight from a Philadelphia club that had lost 100 games twice behind him. He pitched in two World Series. The 1958 ballot gave him two votes of 266. He died in 1963, at sixty-eight.

Batting, season by season

Year	Team	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	AVG
1915	STL	39	83	2	8	0	0	0	4	7	31	.096
1916	STL	51	95	3	15	3	2	0	4	0	32	.158
1917	STL	43	89	5	9	1	0	0	4	1	32	.101
1918	STL	31	55	5	7	1	1	0	2	2	17	.127
1919	PHI/STL	43	80	5	9	1	0	0	1	1	19	.113
1920	PHI	39	82	3	14	2	0	0	4	3	18	.171
1921	PHI	28	62	9	13	1	0	3	8	4	18	.210
1922	PHI	33	86	8	27	4	0	0	5	1	25	.314
1923	PHI/PIT	39	98	11	26	4	3	1	17	2	19	.265
1924	PIT	36	82	5	16	1	3	0	3	0	14	.195
1925	PIT	35	97	10	17	3	0	1	7	7	21	.175
1926	PIT	36	88	11	20	0	0	0	9	2	5	.227
1927	PIT	40	115	3	18	0	1	0	6	4	20	.157
1928	PIT	4	4	0	2	0	0	0	1	0	1	.500
1929	PIT	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Career	—	498	1117	80	201	21	10	5	75	34	272	.180

Pitching, season by season

Year	Team	W	L	G	GS	SV	IP	H	ER	BB	SO	ERA
1915	STL	13	11	39	26	0	244.0	232	81	88	104	2.99
1916	STL	12	23	51	36	2	289.0	261	83	119	120	2.58
1917	STL	15	9	43	37	2	265.2	253	91	90	100	3.08
1918	STL	8	14	30	23	1	165.1	176	66	56	49	3.59
1919	PHI/STL	12	20	40	29	0	250.1	228	72	79	116	2.59
1920	PHI	16	14	35	33	0	247.0	249	78	90	95	2.84
1921	PHI	11	16	28	27	0	194.1	226	93	62	52	4.31
1922	PHI	12	18	33	33	0	237.0	264	106	71	62	4.03
1923	PHI/PIT	17	13	39	30	1	246.2	290	105	59	76	3.83
1924	PIT	13	12	36	30	0	229.1	240	83	51	61	3.26
1925	PIT	19	10	35	31	1	255.1	272	104	67	87	3.67
1926	PIT	20	9	36	31	0	226.2	254	100	52	54	3.97
1927	PIT	19	10	40	38	0	299.1	315	113	66	84	3.40
1928	PIT	1	1	4	2	0	10.0	18	9	5	3	8.10
1929	PIT	0	0	1	0	0	0.2	2	1	1	0	13.50
Career	—	188	180	490	406	7	3160.2	3280	1185	956	1063	3.37

On this day & linked events

1894

Born July 12, 1894

Oxford, NC, USA

1963

Died January 29, 1963

1915

Major-league debut: Lee Meadows

Lee Meadows made a major-league debut on April 19, 1915.

1922

Jesse Barnes's No-Hitter

Jesse Barnes threw a no-hitter for the New York Giants against the Philadelphia Phillies on May 7, 1922, winning 6–0.

1929

Final major-league game: Lee Meadows

Lee Meadows played a final major-league game on April 29, 1929.

Image: Bain News Service, publisher, public domain