Joe McGinnity

Infobox MLB retired
name=Joe McGinnity
position=Pitcher


bgcolor1=#dcdcdc
bgcolor2=#dcdcdc
textcolor1=black
textcolor2=black
birthdate=March 20, 1871
city-state|Cornwall Township|Illinois
deathdate=death date and age|1929|11|14|1871|3|20
city-state|Brooklyn|New York
bats=Right
throws=Right
debutdate=April 18
debutyear=1899
debutteam=Baltimore Orioles
finaldate=October 5
finalyear=1908
finalteam=New York Giants
stat1label=Pitching Record
stat2label=Earned run average
stat3label=Strikeouts
stat1value=246-142
stat2value=2.66
stat3value=1068
teams=
*Baltimore Orioles (NL) (1899)
*Brooklyn Superbas (1900)
*Baltimore Orioles (AL) (1901-1902)
*New York Giants (1902-1908)
highlights=
*World Series champion: 1905
*National League pennant: 1900, 1904
*National League ERA champion: 1904
*National League wins champion: 1899, 1900, 1903, 1904, 1906
*4-time league innings pitched leader (3 NL, 1 AL)
*2-time league complete game leader (1 AL, 1 NL)
*8 20-win seasons
*2 30-win seasons
hofdate=by|1946
hofmethod=Veteran's Committee

Joseph Jerome McGinnity (March 20, 1871 - November 14, 1929), nicknamed Iron Man, was an American right-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball at the turn of the 20th century. Born in Cornwall Township, Henry County, Illinois, he reached the majors in 1899. After a 10 year major league career he continued to pitch in the minor leagues, eventually bowing out of baseball for good at the age of 54, having amassed nearly 500 wins as a professional ballplayer. He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1946.

McGinnity had a somewhat brief (especially for a Hall of Famer) but effective big league career. In his first year in the majors in 1899, he went 28-16 with the Baltimore Orioles with a 2.68 ERA. McGinnity bounced around with several teams, including the Brooklyn Superbas (1900) and the American League's Baltimore Orioles (1901 - 1902), before settling in with the New York Giants at the end of the 1902 season. His success wasn't affected by the constant shifts, however, as he posted a 28-8 record for Brooklyn in 1900 and led them to the National League pennant. His best personal year came in 1904, when he went 35-8 with 144 strikeouts and a 1.61 ERA. In 1905, he won his second National League pennant and first and only World Series championship. He left major league ball after the 1908 season, after 10 years, having amassed 246 wins, 142 losses, 1068 strikeouts and a 2.66 ERA. As a batter, McGinnity had 1297 at-bats, hitting a respectable (for a pitcher) .194, although never hitting a home run.

McGinnity was perhaps best known for starting both ends of a doubleheader in 1903, a feat which he did three times in a single month. This won him the nickname "Iron Man". He won all six games.

Actually, he was known as "Iron Man" before his doubleheader pitching. According to Lee Allen in "The National League Story" (1961), a reporter asked Joe, then a minor-league pitcher, what he did in between seasons. "I'm an iron man," he answered. "I work in a foundry."

McGinnity was elected posthumously to the Baseball Hall of Fame by the Veterans Committee in 1946. In 1981, Lawrence Ritter and Donald Honig included him in their book "The 100 Greatest Baseball Players of All Time".

In an article in 1976 in Esquire magazine, sportswriter Harry Stein published an "All Time All-Star Argument Starter," consisting of five ethnic baseball teams. Because of space limitations the Irish team, including McGinnity as right-handed pitcher, was omitted.

Joe "Iron Man" McGinnity is interred in Oak Hill Memorial Park in McAlester, Oklahoma.

ee also

* List of Major League Baseball leaders in career wins
* List of Major League Baseball ERA champions
* List of Major League Baseball saves champions
* List of Major League Baseball wins champions
* MLB All-Time Hit Batsmen List
* Major League Baseball titles leaders

External links

*bbhof|118713
*baseballstats |mlb= |espn= |br=m/mcginjo01|fangraphs=1008527 |cube=M/joe-mcginnity