Books and articles about Jack Coombs

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Colby Jack was signed by the Athletics off the campus of Colby College in Maine. On September 1, 1906, he pitched 24 innings to set an AL record tied only by his opponent that day, Boston's Joe Harris. Coombs's 13 shutouts in 1910 are an AL record. His 31 wins led the league that season, and he added three more victories in the World Series against the Cubs. Coombs was unbeaten in WS competition, winning another game in 1911 and one more for Wilbert Robinson's 1916 Brooklyn Dodgers. Coombs became a championship-winning coach at Duke University who sent many players to the majors. (JK)

FROM THE BASEBALL CHRONOLOGY » July 5, 1906: Jack Coombs, the A's rookie righthander from Colby College, makes his ML debut, blanking Washington 3-0 for the Athletics. » September 1, 1906: The AL's longest game to date takes place in Boston. Rookie Jack Coombs and 24-year-old Joe Harris go the route in a 24-inning struggle, ending with a 4-1 Athletics victory after four hours and 47 minutes. Socks Seybold and Danny Murphy triple with two outs to end the contest. Philadelphia's Coombs faces 89 batters, striking out 18 and giving up 14 hits, while the Pilgrims' Harris fans 14 and yields 16 hits. Harris drops his record to 2-21, and will start next year at 0-6 before exiting the majors for Providence, holding the distinctions of the worst winning percentage (.091 for a 3-30 record) and the fewest wins for any pitcher with 300 innings pitched. The 24 innings pitched will only be exceeded this century by the 26-inning battle on May 1, 1920 between Oeschger and Cadore. » April 14, 1908: At Hilltop Park, Slow Joe Doyle scatters four hits in edging the A's, 1-0 in 12 innings. The first hit is by A's left fielder Topsy Hartsel, who has his nose broken by an errant pitch during pre-game warmups. Nick Carter, making his major-league debut, matches Doyle for 11 innings, but in the 12th, a ground rule double into the crowd, and a single put runners at the corners. A line drive to RF Jack Coombs then scores Red Kleinow with the winner. » August 4, 1910: Athletics Jack Coombs and Chicago's Ed Walsh duel 16 innings to a 0–0 tie. Coombs gives up just three hits and strikes out 18 in what he calls his best game. (Working with little rest, he wins 18 of 19 starts in July, August, and September, finishing 30–9 with a 1.30 ERA. His 13 shutouts are the AL record; in 12 other games he gives up just one run.) Walsh gives up just six hits in 16 innings but the woeful Sox offense provides no support. » September 5, 1910: Jack Coombs begins a streak of 53 shutout innings, topping Doc White's 46 of 1904. Three years later Walter Johnson will top Coombs. » September 25, 1910: In game one of a DH at Philadelphia, the Chicago White Sox stop A's ace Jack Coombs' string of shutout innings at 53 with a run in the 7th. But Coombs beats Ed Walsh 3–1 in 14 innings. The Sox win the nitecap, 5–2. » October 5, 1910: Connie Mack inserts his son Earle behind the plate in a game against the Highlanders. Earle, who hit .135 in 26 minor league games this year, responds with a single and triple while catching Eddie Plank and Jack Coombs. The Highlanders beat the A's 7–4. Earle will mop up in late seasons games next year and again in 1914, and serve for 25 years as his father's coach. » October 18, 1910: Jack Coombs struggles for a 9–3 win, walking nine and giving up eight hits, but strands 14 Cubs, while a 6-run 7th off Three Finger Brown blows open the win for the A's. Eddie Collins has two doubles and two SBs. » October 23, 1910: Three Finger Brown comes back to face Jack Coombs, who takes a 2–1 lead into the 7th. The A's get to Brown for five runs and a 7–2 win. The crowd of 27,374 is the Series' largest. The A's .316 BA is a World Series record. For this World Series, cork-center balls were secretly used for the first time, and will be used in the ML starting next year. Previously, rubber center balls were used. » May 20, 1911: The A’s outslug the Tigers, to win 14–12, as Ty Cobb goes 3-for-4 against the winner, Jack Coombs. Coombs, who will end up as the top winner in the AL for the 2nd year in row, was the starter yesterday when the Tigers won. A Coombs pitch in the 1st inning breaks the wrist of Tiger 1B Del Gainor (spelled Gainer in the record books; Gainor in contemporary accounts) effectively ending both the Tigers’ chances this year and Gainor’s promising career (he’ll play part-time through 1922). His replacement, Jack Ness, starts a 1-6 triple play to Donie Bush. » August 29, 1911: After belting a 14th inning homer on August 17th off the Browns' Jack Powell, A's pitcher Jack Coombs hits another extra inning round tripper, this time in the 11th off the Tigers Ralph "Judge" Works. Coombs's homer is the last one hit at Detroit's Bennett Park. Among major league pitchers, only Dizzy Dean will hit two extra-inning homers. » September 28, 1911: Behind righty Jack Coombs, the Athletics clinch the AL pennant with an 11–5 victory over the Tigers. » October 17, 1911: After criticizing his teammate Rube Marquard's pitching to Frank Baker in his newspaper column, Christy Mathewson takes the mound for game three against 29-game winner Jack Coombs. Matty takes a 1–0 lead into the 9th. With one out, Baker lines another drive over the RF fence to tie it. With that blow, he becomes "Home Run" Baker to future generations. Errors by 3B Buck Herzog and SS Art Fletcher give the A's two unearned runs in the top of the 11th. New York scores once, but the A's win 3–2 behind Coombs's 3-hitter. » October 26, 1911: Chief Bender cruises to his second victory, a 4-hit 13–2 breeze. The A's cap the win with a 7-run 7th, battering three tired Giant hurlers, Red Ames, Hooks Wiltse, and Rube Marquard. Overall, the Giants manage just 13 runs and a .175 BA off Chief Bender, Jack Coombs, and Eddie Plank. Because of the NL's extended playing season, this is the latest ending ever for a World Series, until the "Earthquake Series" of 1989. » April 11, 1912: The Champion Athletics open at home, lacing seven hits and beating Walter Johnson and the Senators, 4–2. Jack Coombs takes the victory. » May 18, 1912: The Tiger players protest Ty Cobb's suspension and vote to strike. Faced with a $5,000 fine for failing to field a team, club owner Frank Navin orders manager Hugh Jennings to sign up some local amateurs. Al Travers, Bill Leinhauser, Dan McGarvey, Billy Maharg (whose real name was Graham, "Maharg" reversed), Jim McGarr, Pat Meany, Jack Coffey, Hap Ward, and Ed Irvin put on Tiger uniforms. Two Detroit coaches, Joe Sugden, 41, and Jim McGuire, 48, complete the lineup, and score the only two runs for Detroit. The Athletics win 24–2, as Travers goes all the way, giving up 26 hits and 24 runs in eight innings. The only recruit to hit for Detroit is Irvin, who laces two triples in three at bats and closes his ML career with a 2.000 slugging average (only three other players will debut with two triples -— Roy Weatherly, Willie McCovey, and John Sipin). Only one ever plays another ML game: Maharg will bat once for the Phils in 1916. He will also be involved as a conspirator in the Black Sox scandal of 1919. A's starter Jack Coombs leaves after three innings with a 6–0 lead, good enough for a win under the rules at the time. Boardwalk Brown and Herb Pennock divide the rest of the pitching for the A's. Starter Travers, having pitched his only ML game, returns to his studies at St. Joseph's College and later becomes a Catholic priest. » May 14, 1913: At St. Louis, Walter Johnson tops Jack Coombs record of 53 straight scoreless innings when he stretches the record to 56 innings. But after Washington scores six runs, Johnson lets up against the Browns and Del Pratt's 4th inning single drives in a run that snaps the skein. Ahead 9–1, Johnson is relieved by Joe Boehling and Washington wins, 10–5. » November 1, 1914: Connie Mack begins cleaning house, asks waivers on Jack Coombs, Eddie Plank, and Chief Bender. Colby Jack goes to Brooklyn (National League). Plank and Bender escape Mack's maneuvering by jumping tfo the Federal League. Although all have some life left in their soupbones, they are near their careers' end, and departure is more sentimental than serious. Mack's excuse: retrenchment. Despite the pennant, Philadelphia fans did not support the A's and the club lost $50,000. » February 16, 1915: Home Run Baker, 28, announces retirement following a contract dispute with Connie Mack. He will sit out the 1915 season. Mack will also have salary problems with Chief Bender, Eddie Plank, and Jack Coombs, and rather than compete with the Federal League, he releases the stars. » June 26, 1915: Phillie ace Pete Alexander continues his masterful pitching, topping Brooklyn's Jack Coombs, 4–0. Zack Wheat's 8th-inning single is the only Dodger safety. » July 2, 1915: For the first time since the 1911 World Series, Jack Coombs pitches against Christy Mathewson. Now with the Dodgers, Coombs wins the duel, shutting out the Giants, 3–0. Two singles and Zack Wheat triple in the 8th is the difference. » August 17, 1915: Jack Coombs bests Christy Mathewson again as the Dodgers top New York, 3–2. » September 14, 1915: The Cardinals, battling for 4th place in the NL, lose 6–2 to Brooklyn's Jack Coombs. Rogers Hornsby is in the starting lineup for the first time, but goes hitless. Tomorrow he will get his first ML hit, a single off Rube Marquard. » September 1, 1916: The Phils whitewash the Dodgers twice, winning 3–0 behind Grover Alexander and 6–0 to back Eppa Rixey. Alexander's win in the opener is his 14th shutout, setting a major league record. The loser is Jack Coombs, who had set the record of 13 shutouts while pitching for the A's in 1910. The Phils will win tomorrow behind Al Demaree's 9th straight win, and twice more to move into 1st place. » October 10, 1916: In Game Three, Larry Gardener's 7th inning home run over the RF fence at Brooklyn brings the Sox within a run 4–3, but Jeff Pfeffer, in relief of Jack Coombs, shuts them down. Carl Mays takes the loss. Charlie Ebbets becomes the first owner to raise the price of World Series grandstand seats to $5—up from $3. » September 3, 1917: Trying to keep the Phils in the race, Grover Alexander does double duty, beating Brooklyn 6–0 and 9–3 in a Labor Day twinbill. Rube Marquard and Allan Russell try and stop Pete in the opener, while Jack Coombs and George Smith pitch in the nitecap. Milt Stock lines a homer in the opener when Zack Wheat, hampered by a sore ankle, can't reach his drive. Dode Paskert's bases loaded triple in the 2nd game is the big blow. Alex will win 30 for the 3rd straight year, with a league-leading 1.86 ERA. » September 11, 1917: The Giants sweep the Robins at the Polo Grounds. New York takes the opener 3–2 by scoring the winning run in the 10th on George Burns' inside-the-park homer. They do it again in the nitecap, scoring two runs in the 9th to beat Jack Coombs. Pol Perritt, with relief help in the 9th, wins. » August 30, 1918: The Giants beat Brooklyn 1-0 in 57 minutes, scoring their lone run in the ninth. Jack Coombs takes the loss. » July 8, 1919: Jack Coombs resigns as manager of the last-place Phils. Slugger Gavvy Cravath replaces him. » June 7, 1933: In a slugfest in Philadelphia, the Senators break a 13-13 tie by scoring a run in the 10th off reliever Ray Coombs, nephew of Jack Coombs. The rookie is spared a loss when rain washes out the game in the bottom of the 10th, and the score reverts. Coombs will not pitch again until July 8th when he makes his "official" ML debut.