From Rookie Extraordinaire To The Hall Of Fame
Aug 15, 2020Posted by james
Earlier this month, I wrote about the death of Cleveland Indians shortstop Ray Chapman from a pitched ball during a game on August 16, 1920 at the Polo Grounds. Following Chappie’s funeral, dazed Indians players, management and fans somehow continued their emotional drive for a pennant.
At first, the Indians placed several other roster players at shortstop. But, no one could play the position as well as Chappie. So, Indians owners dug into their minor league system for a 21-year-old who was a standout on the New Orleans Pelicans. Joe never had seen a major league game. In fact, he never had visited a major league city. By his own admission, Joe never had ventured outside of the south and now he was selected to replace a baseball icon in Cleveland during a pennant race.
The game of baseball was teetering. Soon after the death of Chappie, evidence emerged that the 1919 World Series had been fixed by gamblers and certain members of the Chicago White Sox. What became known as the Black Sox Scandal pulled another dark cloud over baseball as the Indians, Yankees and White Sox fought for a pennant.
The Indians eventually grabbed the American League flag and then headed to Brooklyn for a World Series that had been a baseball dream for Ray Chapman. As the series opened, The Cleveland Plain Dealer featured a three-column by eight-inch drawing of an Indians ballplayer holding his cap to his side while leaning on a bat. The player was gazing toward a giant pennant waving on the horizon. Looking down from the clouds was Ray Chapman. The inscription above him read, “Carry On.” In a reference to the gambling scandal, the caption below the illustration read, “It pays to play clean.”
Cleveland won the championship five games to two in a best-of-nine series to conclude an exciting yet painful baseball season. But, that’s not the end of the story. I am sure you are wondering about that young shortstop who replaced Chappie.
Joe certainly was an emerging star, but he made his share of rookie mistakes. He had only four hits in the series and he made three errors. Fate, though, looked upon Joe to close out the season for the Cleveland World Champs. At 3:57 p.m. in the seventh game, he fielded a grounder and flipped the ball to the second baseman for the final out.
Joe was known for patience and work ethic. He played 10 years at shortstop and third base for Cleveland and then another three seasons for the Yankees. He played 1,103 consecutive games from September 13, 1922 through April 30, 1930. Joe’s lifetime batting average was .312 and he gathered more than 2,200 hits. He always put the ball in play, striking out only 114 times in 7,132 career at-bats for an average of one strikeout every 62.5 at-bats. Joe was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame during 1977.
Joe Sewell excelled as a major league baseball player when, at a tender age, he was asked to replace the beloved Ray Chapman under difficult circumstances for his team, the city of Cleveland and for baseball. A Cleveland sports writer recognized the player’s upside soon after he joined the Indians, writing near the end of the 1920 regular season, “Once more, doff the chapeau to Joey Sewell, rookie extraordinaire.”
by james on Aug 15, 2020 |
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