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Addie Joss, 1911 American Tobacco Company baseball card

Adrian Joss (April 12, 1880 – April 14, 1911) was a Major League Baseball pitcher in the early 20th century. His father had been a cheese maker in Wisconsin and several of his nicknames in baseball reflected this. As a youth, Joss was a star athlete at Wayland Academy in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin. As a town ball player, Joss pitched in, and won, the Wisconsin town championship game against Rube Waddell who was playing as a 'ringer' while 'moonlighting' away from his job in the major leagues -- fishing.

Joss joined the Cleveland Bronchos in 1902 and was an immediate success, earning a 17-13 record and 2.77 ERA in his first year. He continued to improve over the following decade, posting four 20 win seasons and six sub-2.00 ERAs by 1910. His best season came in 1908 when he was 24-11 with a 1.16 ERA and 9 shutouts. In planning for life after baseball, Joss took up sports writing and worked for a local paper for several years.

Addie Joss is a member of the Baseball Hall of Fame

Joss' playing career was cut short when he was diagnosed with tubercular meningitis. He died on April 14, 1911 at the age of 31. The first 'all-star' game was played as a benefit for Joss' family, over the opposition of American League management (Ban Johnson threatened punishment for any who participated, but relented.)

Joss pitched a perfect game on October 2, 1908 opposite Hall of Fame pitcher Ed Walsh. He pitched a second no-hitter in 1910. His 1.89 career ERA is ranked second all-time.

Joss was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1978. Addie Joss is the only player in the Hall of Fame to have the 10 year rule of service waived. In 1981, Lawrence Ritter and Donald Honig included him in their book The 100 Greatest Baseball Players of All Time. They explained what they called "the Smokey Joe Wood Syndrome," where a player of truly exceptional talent but a career curtailed by injury or illness should still, in spite of not having had career statistics that would quantitatively rank him with the all-time greats, be included on their list of the 100 greatest players. They believed that Joss' career ERA was proof enough of his greatness to be included.

• Joss only threw 74 pitches in his perfect game.

• Baseball Hall of Fame Biography
• Addie Joss's career statistics at Baseball-Reference.com