Books and articles about Joe Bush

Because of veteran Jack Coombs's season-long illness, Connie Mack was forced to rush young pitchers into the breech in 1913. Twenty-year-old Joe Bush came through with a 14-6 mark to help the A's to the pennant, then added a five-hit win in the WS. Although plagued by wildness, the durable youngster continued to pitch well in the next few years, but Mack sold off most of his hitting stars and Bush's record slumped. In 1916 he pitched a no-hitter but led the AL in losses (24). Traded to the Red Sox in 1918, he helped them to a wartime pennant. In 1921, when he found his curve would no longer break, he developed a fork ball, then an almost unknown pitch. Traded to the Yankees for 1922, he had his best record, 26-7, for an AL-high .788 winning percentage.

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Bush was a good hitter (.253 BA) and was often used as a pinch hitter. He played a season as an outfielder in the Pacific Coast League after leaving the majors. (JK)

FROM THE BASEBALL CHRONOLOGY » September 22, 1913: In the opener of a doubleheader, the A's Joe Bush tops Detroit, 4–0. In game 2, Herb Pennock, 19, aided by Eddie Plank, blanks the Tigers 1–0 to clinch the AL pennant for the A's. Plank gets the win in relief. » October 9, 1913: In game 3, the A's have no trouble solving Jeff Tesreau. Rookie P Bullet Joe Bush throws a 5-hit 8–2 win before 36,896 at the Polo Grounds, the largest crowd of the Series. Again, the Giants use Wiltse at 1B when Snodgrass pulls up lame. » April 14, 1914: Before 22,000 at the Polo Grounds, the Yankees rock the World Champion Athletics, 8–2, driving Joe Bush from the mound after two innings. With only one starter, Roy Hartzell, back from last year's opening lineup, New York scores four in the first and would have scored another in the 2nd inning but Jeff Sweeney falls rounding 3B. When the burly catcher is helped to his feet by coach and manager Frank Chance, he is declared out by Billy Evans: a new rule prohibits coaches from helping runners. Sweeney redeems himself when he and pitcher Marty McHale pull off a double steal. New York has seven steals, including two by Sweeney and Fritz Maisel, who steals 2B and 3B in the 4th inning. Maisel will swipe 74 bases on the year, while Sweeney will pick up 19, tops for Yankee catchers. » October 12, 1914: Joe Bush, 17–10 for the A's, faces Lefty Tyler in game 3. Tied 2–2 in the 10th, Home Run Baker drives in his only two runs of the Series, but a home run by Hank Gowdy starts a game-tying rally. After Bill James comes on and sets the A's down for two innings, Gowdy doubles. Bush gives up a walk, then throws a sacrifice bunt past Baker at 3B allowing pinch runner Les Mann to score the winning run. » October 18, 1914: NL and AL all-star teams, featuring stars such as Grover Alexander, Jeff Tesreau, Joe Bush, and Bill James, start an exhibition tour today in Milwaukee with the Braves' Bill James losing to Bullet Joe Bush, 6–2. The tour will take them to Hawaii after wandering throughout the West, with the NL winning 29 of the 50 games played. Playing tomorrow in Mandan, ND, the NL will win, 2–1, in 12 innings. » July 14, 1915: White Sox P Red Faber steals three bases in the 4th inning against the A's. With the White Sox leading 4–2 in the 4th and rain threatening, the A's try to delay the game. Joe Bush purposely hits Faber with a pitch, and Faber, trying to speed up the game, tries to get thrown out by stealing. Little effort is made to retire him, and he scores Chicago's 5th run. His "steal" of home turns out to be the winning run, as rain never materializes, and Chicago wins 6–4. » August 9, 1916: The A's end a 20-game losing streak, beating Detroit 7–1 behind Joe Bush. » August 26, 1916: After being knocked out of the box in three innings yesterday against Cleveland, the A's Joe Bush gets revenge by no-hitting Cleveland 5–0 in Philadelphia. It is Nap Lajoie's last ML game. He goes 1-for-3 with a triple, and hits just .280 for the year; his last at bat is a fly to RF. Stan Coveleski takes the loss. » April 11, 1917: In Philadelphia, Walter Johnson and the Nationals shut out the A's, 3–0. Johnson strikes out 11 in outgunning Bullet Joe Bush. » April 21, 1917: At Washington's home opener, President Wilson is absent, but Veep Thomas Marshall does the tossing of the first ball. Walter Johnson rolls to a 3–0 win over the A's, beating Joe Bush. Johnson allows just three hits and strikes out 11. » September 3, 1917: At Shibe Park, the A's host their biggest crowd in three years and celebrate by sweeping a pair from the Senators, 7–4 and 9–2. Joe Bush, reinstated today by Connie Mack after being suspended for two weeks, starts for the A's but is lifted after three because of wildness. Roy Grover and Amos Strunk have three hits apiece in the opener. In the 2nd game, the Mackmen jump on Walter Johnson, knocking him off the rubber in the 3rd inning, and Jing Johnson coasts to the win. » December 14, 1917: Connie Mack and the A's need money. He sells P Joe Bush, C Wally Schang, and OF Amos Strunk to the Red Sox for sore–armed P Vean Gregg, OF Merlin Kopp, C Pinch Thomas, and $60,000. Bush must be happy as he lost 14 straight to the Red Sox (6/2/14–7/5/17). » September 6, 1918: In game 2, Lefty Tyler drives in two runs in the Cubs' 3-run second. The Red Sox get one in the 9th and that's all the scoring for the day, with George Tyler beating Joe Bush. The game also features fights between Heinie Wagner and Hippo Vaughn and another involving Lester Mann and Joe Bush. » September 4, 1920: In Boston, 33,000 are on hand for a doubleheader and to see Ruth return to the Yankee lineup. The Babe hits his 45th in the opener to give New York a 5–3 win. In the nitecap, Carl Mays pitches to a mixture of boos and cheers. Mays takes a 5–3 lead into the 9th, then he fails to back up home on a play at the plate. A loose ball allows Joe Bush to score the winning run and Boston wins 6–5. » August 1, 1921: At Boston, Red Sox pitcher Joe Bush fires a one-hitter, beating the Browns, 2–0. George Sisler's single is the lone Brownie hit. » December 20, 1921: The Yankees raid Boston again, and come away with P Bullet Joe Bush, SS Everett Scott, and P Sad Sam Jones in exchange for SS Roger Peckinpaugh (who goes on to Washington), pitchers Jack Quinn, Rip Collins, and Bill Piercy, and $50,000. » June 12, 1922: Brown's rookie Herb Pruett K's Babe Ruth three times enroute to a 7–1 win over the Yankees. He allows six hits. Ruth will go 2-for-13 with 10 K's against the less-than-hard throwing southpaw, who will finish his career with a 29–48 record. The Browns collect nine hits including two homers off Bullet Joe Bush—a 2-run homer in the first by Williams and a solo by John Tobin—in pinning the only loss that Bush will suffer against St. Louis. Bush will get revenge on his next outing, running up a winning streak of 17 against the Browns. » August 25, 1922: In the first of a doubleheader before a sold-out Polo Grounds, the Browns beat the Yankees, 3–1, behind Urban Shocker. Waite Hoyt is the loser, but stops Ken Williams hit streak at 28 consecutive games. George Sisler hits in his 24th straight game. In game two, the Yankee jump to a 2–0 lead on Ruth's 2-run triple, then extend it to 6–1 behind Joe Bush. The Browns close to 6–5, but that is it. » September 10, 1922: The Yankees play their farewell home game in the Polo Grounds. An estimated 40,000 overflow the stadium with another 25,000 turned away. Joe Bush beats the Philadelphia A's 10–3 in the opener, and Waite Hoyt edges the A's in the second 2–1. Plans are in the works to expand the park to 56,000 capacity, but this is the last regular season American League game at the Polo Grounds. The Yanks will play their next 18 games on the road, and then open in Yankee Stadium next spring. » September 18, 1922: Whitey Witt, his head bandaged from being hit by a bottle, drives in two in the 9th for a 3–2 New York win, and they leave St. Louis 1 1/2 in front. They will finish one game on top, clinching the pennant on the 30th with a 3–1 win in Boston. Sisler's 41-game hit streak is stopped by New York's Joe Bush, the same pitcher he had started the streak against on July 27th. » September 30, 1922: The Yankees clinch their 2nd pennant by beating Boston 3–1 behind Waite Hoyt and Joe Bush. » October 4, 1922: For the first time since 1908, two repeaters meet in the WS. The Yankees get there with an all righthanded starting pitching staff; the Giants on a .305 BA. In a return to the 7-game format, the Giants will win four games while scoring in only five innings. The Yankees’ Joe Bush (26–7) leads Art Nehf (19–13) 2–0 when Irish Meusel’s 2-run single and Pep Young’s sacrifice fly score three runs in the eighth for a 3–2 win in game 1. Rosy Ryan (17–12) gets the win in relief. » October 8, 1922: The Yanks score first, but the Giants score two in the third and three in the eighth to win the finale 5–3, as Art Nehf hands Joe Bush his second loss. » October 10, 1923: It's an all–New York World Series for the 3rd time. In the first World Series game at Yankee Stadium, the home team takes a quick 3–0 lead, but Heinie Groh triples in two runs in a 4-run 3rd that drives Waite Hoyt (17-9) to cover. A 4–4 tie is broken in the top of the 9th by the Giants when Casey Stengel's blast rolls to the OF wall. The sore-legged veteran hobbles around the bases to score the winning run against reliever Joe Bush (19-15) before 55,307 spectators. This is also the first World Series to be broadcast on a nationwide radio network. Graham McNamee, aided by baseball writers taking turns, is at the mike. Grantland Rice had broadcast an earlier World Series, but not nationally. » October 14, 1923: In game 5, the Yankees score three in the first and four in the 2nd off Jack Bentley (13-8), and Joe Bush spins a 3-hitter for an 8–1 win. Joe Dugan has four hits, including a homer. » December 17, 1924: The Yankees get 4-time 20-game winner Urban Shocker from the Browns for pitchers Milt Gaston, Joe Giard, and Joe Bush. Shocker led the Browns in wins in each of the past five seasons and will be a mainstay on two pennant-winning staffs for New York. Bush had beaten the Browns 17 straight times after losing to them on June 12, 1922. » June 4, 1925: Veteran hurler Joe Bush, playing RF for the Browns, is called in to pitch to Cleveland pinch hitter Harvey Hendrick with the bases filled and two out in the ninth. Hendrick hits the first pitch for a triple, and the Indians win 11-10. » February 1, 1926: The Browns trade P Joe Bush and outfielder Jack Tobin to Washington for P Tom Zachary and Win Ballou, both of whom will be gone by July. Zachary will be back with the Senators next year in time to serve up Ruth's 60th home run. » June 24, 1926: Bullet Joe Bush, 1-8 with the Senators, is handed his release. The Pirates will sign him. » July 19, 1927: Joe Bush is released by the Giants.