by Dale B. Smith

They say it is hard to keep a good man down. If that is true then Bullet Joe Bush must have been a very good man. He was certainly a winner. Despite numerous setbacks during his major league career, Joe always came back on top, mostly by accomplishment and sometimes by sheer good luck.

Fortune shined on Joe from the beginning of his major league pitching career. The Brainerd, Minnesota native was just 20 years old when illness to star pitcher Jack Coombs forced manager Connie Mack to bring Leslie Ambrose (Joe) Bush up to the Philadelphia Athletics more quickly than Mack had wanted.

In 1913 the rookie pitched 200 innings and his 14 and 6 won-loss record helped the A’s reclaim the American League pennant. Joe pitched Game 3 of the World Series, beating the New York Giants 8-2 on five hits. Born November 27, 1892, he was still several days short of his 21st birthday. At the time, he was the youngest pitcher to have played in a World Series. With the Athletics winning the 1913 World Series 4 games to 1, Joe Bush was on top of the world in his first major league season.

The young pitcher had impressed Connie Mack so much that he felt his right-hander was second only to Christy Matthewson in pitching speed. He earned the nickname “Bullet Joe”. In 1914 Joe tied Chief Bender with 17 wins for Philadelphia and again led the A’s to the World Series. Joe, however, became a victim of the Boston “Miracle Braves”, losing Game 3 of the Series 5-4 in the Braves embarrassing 4-0 sweep. Especially painful was the fact that it was Joe’s wild throw to Home Run Baker at third that lost the game for the A’s. It was only the beginning of a long nightmare. In 1915 Joe passed on an opportunity to make more money in the new Federal League. He was rewarded for his loyalty with a plunge to the American League cellar as the mighty Philadelphia Athletics made a metamorphosis into the worst team in baseball, and the very worst had just begun.

The Philadelphia Athletics of 1916 may have been the worst team in the history of baseball. With 36 victories against 117 losses, they have the worst winning percentage of modern era baseball (.235). It wasn’t bad enough that they finished 54 ½ games out of first place. What was really unfathomable was that they finished 40 games out of 7th place! In the month of July the A’s finished 2-28 (also a record), had a 20 game losing streak and 19 consecutive road losses.

Yet, from the depth of the American League cellar, Bullet Joe Bush always rose to the occasion. On August 25, Joe pitched only three innings before getting knocked out of the game by the Cleveland Indians. Infuriated at his poor performance, Joe begged Connie Mack for another chance the following day. Connie, recognizing he had few better options, let Bush start with no days rest. On August 26, 1916 Bullet Joe walked the first batter he faced. Then, in front of the Philadelphia home crowd, he retired the next 27 batters in a row. Joe had pitched a 5-0 no hit game and had pitched a perfect game after the first batter. This was the stuff that Bullet Joe Bush was made of.

The no-hit game was not an anomaly. Despite losing 24 games, the highest in the major leagues, he compiled a 2.57 ERA, pitched over 287 innings, had 25 complete games and struck out 157 batters while pitching eight shutouts, second in the league. Being on such a dismal team and leading the league in losses may have been the sinking of lesser men. The 23 year old, however, knew that success could come again. Joe bided his time, giving his best while suffering through an 11-17 season for the last place A’s in 1917.

Then, in an instant, Bullet Joe’s life changed again. On December 14, 1917, Connie Mack succumbed to the need for cash and sold his favorite pitcher, along with Wally Schang and Amos Strunk to the Boston Red Sox for players and $60,000.

Just like that, Joe Bush joined a pitching staff that included Carl Mays, Sad Sam Jones and Babe Ruth. The 1918 Red Sox won the American League pennant and the World Series, beating the Chicago Cubs 4 games to 2. Despite losing Game 2, 3-1, Joe was on the surface again and smelling the air of success. One year later, however, his ship was sunk again as he missed essentially the entire 1919 season due to a sore arm. When he returned in 1920, Babe Ruth’s bat and arm had been sold to the Yankees. Joe and the Red Sox suffered through two fifth place finishes in 1920 and 1921. On top of this, his curve ball was giving out. Then, fate stepped in again.

Almost four year to the day after his fortunate trade to Boston, the fading Sox dealt Joe to the pennant winning New York Yankees. 1922 proved to be Bullet Joe’s career year. Developing a fork ball, Joe became the Yankees pitching ace, winning 26 games and losing only seven. Joe, Babe Ruth, ex-teammates Shang and Baker had a chance for the Yankee’s first World Series title. Instead, as in 1921, they fell to the Giants, being swept 4-0. Unfortunately, after shining all year, Bullet Joe lost both games he started for the Yankees, including Game 4, 5-3. Joe was now an agonizing 1-4 in World Series competition.

Fortunately for Joe, he played for the Yankees. In 1923 he teamed with Sam Jones, Herb Pennock, Waite Hoyt and Bob Shawkey to become one of the best pitching staffs in the history of baseball. Led by Ruth’s 41 home runs, the Yankees finished 16 games in front of Detroit. Bullet Joe won 19 games while leading the Yankee hurlers with 276 innings pitched and 23 complete games.

Game 1 of the 1923 World Series was the first played in new Yankee Stadium and the first to be broadcast nationally. 55,307 fans watched the Giants take a 4-3 lead in the third inning that knocked Waite Hoyt from the mound. Joe came in to relieve. Through six innings he delivered a gutsy performance. His World Series jinx continued, however, when Casey Stengel hit an inside-the- park home run. As the Yankees had earlier tied the game, Joe was once again the loser, 5-4.

Perhaps Joe was wishing he had never learned to pitch while throwing rotten apples at outhouses in Brainerd. How could he have had so much success and so much failure in one career? He had now lost five World Series games in a row. And then…. Redemption. Joe was given the ball for Game 5 with the Series tied 2-2. Like a surfer who had been knocked to the ocean floor by a twenty foot wave, Joe found that something extra and leaped back towards the surface, rising to the occasion of his baseball career. On October 14, 1923, Bullet Joe Bush pitched a one run, three hit game against the New York Giants, winning 8-1. The next day the Yankees won again and had their first of many World Series championships to come. Along with his 1.08 World Series ERA over 16 innings, Joe had three hits in seven at bats, leading the Yankees with a .429 batting average.

In 1928 Bullet Joe was 35 years old and at the end of the line in his 17 year baseball career that saw him win 194 games versus 183 losses. It was not like Joe, however, to end up with some last place team. In the end, he was reunited with Connie Mack and a Philadelphia Athletics team that had improved considerably since 1917. Joe could look around the clubhouse and see Ty Cobb, Al Simmons, Mickey Cochrane, Lefty Grove and a twenty year old youngster named Jimmie Foxx. Oh to be 20 and on a team that was going places! Perhaps the second place A’s picked up some of Joe’s grit and determination that had brought him so much success, despite so many disappointments. All we know is that the next year the Philadelphia Athletics and Connie Mack were the World Champions.

The A’s fortunes would rise and then mostly fall over the next forty years. While they were often horrid, when the A’s were good, they were very, very, good. Joe Bush died November 1, 1974, just two weeks after the once lowly (Philadelphia / Kansas City / Oakland) Athletics had beaten the Los Angeles Dodgers and had won their third World Series in a row. The A’s were certainly following in the tradition of winners like Bullet Joe Bush.