Highlighted Year: Jack Powell, 1902

Pitcher, St. Louis Browns

Age:  28 (July 9)

1^st season with Browns

Bats – Right, Throws – Right

Height: 5’11” Weight: 195 

Prior to 1902:

An Illinois native, Powell moved to Chicago with his family In his youth. He developed his pitching skill playing semipro baseball in the 1890s. Often throwing batting practice for the NL’s Chicago Colts (now Cubs) he failed to impress manager Cap Anson and he wasn’t signed by them. In 1896 he did sign with the Fort Wayne Farmers of the Inter-State League and performed well for the second-place club. In 1897 he joined the National League’s Cleveland Spiders. After being fined for participating in an illegal Sunday game, he pitched a three-hitter against Louisville in his first start and went on to post a 15-10 record with a 3.16 ERA, two shutouts, and 61 strikeouts over 225 innings pitched. In an oddity for the time, he pitched without a windup and tended to be quick in his delivery. Requiring little warmup time, he often went the distance in his starts In 1898 he went 23-15 with a 3.00 ERA, 36 complete games, 112 strikeouts over 342 innings, and a league-leading 6 shutouts. He bore a resemblance to teammate Cy Young, the team’s top starting pitcher, but had a less powerful fastball. He threw with a sidearm motion, getting by on control and off-speed pitches to augment his lack of speed. Transferred to the St. Louis Cardinals in 1899, he again won 23 games while losing 19 and posted a 3.52 ERA, 40 complete games, and 87 strikeouts while compiling 373 innings. In 1900 his record was 17-17 with a 4.44 ERA, 28 complete games, 3 shutouts, and 77 strikeouts over the course of 287.2 innings. Spending one more season with the Cardinals in 1901, Powell’s tally was 19-19 with a 3.54 ERA, 33 complete games, and 133 strikeouts over 338.1 innings pitched. In 1902 he jumped to the American League Browns and paired well with RHP Red Donahue.

1902 Season Summary

Appeared in 44 games

P – 42, RF – 2, C – 1, 1B – 1

[Bracketed numbers indicate AL rank in Top 20]

Pitching

Games – 42 [2, tied with Bill Dinneen]

Games Started – 39 [3]

Complete Games – 36 [3, tied with Al Orth]

Wins – 22 [3, tied with Red Donahue]

Losses – 17 [6, tied with Casey Patten & Bill Carrick]

PCT - .564 [12]

Saves – 2 [1]

Shutouts – 3 [5, tied with four others]

Innings Pitched – 328.1 [3]

Hits – 320 [8]

Runs – 144 [10]

Earned Runs – 117 [6]

Home Runs – 12 [2, tied with Jack Townsend]

Bases on Balls – 93 [5]

Strikeouts – 137 [3]

ERA – 3.21 [14]

Hit Batters – 9 [12, tied with six others]

Balks – 0

Wild Pitches – 7 [9, tied with Jack Harper]

League-leading saves were +1 ahead of ten runners-up

Midseason Snapshot: 10-8, ERA – 2.67, SO – 53 in 155 IP

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Most strikeouts, game – 8 (in 9 IP) vs. Baltimore 6/18, (in 9 IP) vs. Chi. White Sox 7/2, (in 9 IP) at Phila. A’s 7/28, (in 9.1 IP) at Bos. Americans 8/23

10+ strikeout games – 0

Fewest hits allowed, game (min. 7 IP) – 2 (in 9 IP) at Detroit 5/8, (in 9 IP) vs. Baltimore 8/29

Batting

PA – 145, AB – 127, R – 15, H – 26, 2B – 9, 3B – 0, HR – 1, RBI – 15, BB – 10, SO – 25, SB – 0, CS – N/A, AVG - .205, GDP – N/A, HBP – 1, SH – 3, SF – N/A 

Fielding

Chances – 85

Put Outs – 16

Assists – 63

Errors – 6

DP – 5

Pct. - .929

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The Browns went 78-58 to finish second in the AL, 5 games behind the pennant-winning Philadelphia Athletics. With a revamped roster, the Browns became locked in a tight race with Boston and the A’s, in which they were in first as late as August 13, but they fell off the pace and couldn’t gain ground on the surging Athletics in September.

Aftermath of 1902:

Powell held out for more money in the spring of 1903 and didn’t report to the Browns until shortly prior to the commencement of the season. His subsequent record was a disappointing 15-19, although with a 2.91 ERA, 33 complete games, 4 shutouts, and 169 strikeouts over the course of 306.1 innings. Lingering bad feelings with owner Robert Hedges led to his being traded to the New York Highlanders (now Yankees) in 1904. Pitching for a team that contended for the pennant he posted a 23-19 tally with a 2.44 ERA, 38 complete games, 3 shutouts, and 202 strikeouts over 390.1 innings. The heavy workload caught up with him in 1905 and dealing with a sore arm, he dropped to 10-14 with a 3.27 ERA, 16 complete games, and 96 strikeouts over 231 innings. By September he was back with the Browns. For the remainder of his career he never again worked 300 innings in a season or recorded 30 complete games. His tally in 1906 was 13-14 with a fine 1.77 ERA, but with 25 complete games and 132 strikeouts over 244 innings. His record dropped further in 1907 to 13-16 with a 2.68 ERA, 27 complete games, and 96 strikeouts over 255.2 innings. He produced his last winning tally in 1908 at 16-13 with a 2.11 ERA, 23 complete games, and 85 strikeouts over 256 innings. Powell’s records from 1909 to 1912 were 12-16, 7-11, 8-19, and 9-17 respectively. His best ERA during that period was 2.11 in 1909 when he also accumulated 239 innings, his highest total for that time period, although he had as many as 19 complete games in 1912, which was his last major league season. Powell pitched in the American Association in 1913 and in the Pacific Coast League in 1914 and after playing semipro ball for a few years attempted an unsuccessful comeback with the Browns during the 1918 season when rosters were depleted due to World War I. For his major league career, Powell compiled a 245-255 record with a 2.97 ERA, 422 complete games, 46 shutouts, 15 saves, and 1621 strikeouts over 4389 innings. He is one of only two major league pitchers to win over 200 games and finish with an overall losing record. With the Browns his record was 117-143 with a 2.63 ERA, 210 complete games, 27 shutouts, 11 saves, and 884 strikeouts over 2229.2 innings. Powell died at age 70 in 1944.

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Highlighted Years feature players who led a major league in one of the following categories: batting average, home runs (with a minimum of 10), runs batted in, or stolen bases (with a minimum of 20); or pitchers who led a major league in wins, strikeouts, earned run average, or saves (with a minimum of 10). Also included are participants in annual All-Star Games between the National and American Leagues since 1933. This category also includes Misc. players who received award votes, were contributors to teams that reached the postseason, or had notable seasons in non-award years.