Joe McGinnity

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Joe McGinnity of the New York Giants at the West Side Grounds in 1905.

Joseph Jerome McGinnity (March 20, 1871 - November 14, 1929) In Cornwall Township, Henry County, Illinois. (Geneso, Illinois). Was an American right-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball at the turn of the 20th century. After his major league career ended, he pitched in the minor leagues, eventually bowing out of baseball for good at the age of 54, having amassed nearly 500 wins as a professional ballplayer.

McGinnity had a brief but effective big league career. In his first year in the majors in 1899, he went 28-16 with the Baltimore Orioles with a 2.68 ERA. McGinnity bounced around with several teams, including the Brooklyn Superbas (1900) and the American League's Baltimore Orioles (1901 - 1902), before settling in with the New York Giants at the end of the 1902 season. His success wasn't affected by the constant shifts, however, as he posted a 28-8 record for Brooklyn in 1900 and led them to the National League pennant. His best personal year came in 1904, when he went 35-8 with 144 strikeouts and a 1.61 ERA. In 1905, he won his second National League pennant and first and only World Series championship. He left major league ball after the 1908 season, after 10 years, having amassed 246 wins, 142 losses, 1068 strikeouts and a 2.66 ERA. As a batter, McGinnity had 1297 at-bats, hitting a respectable (for a pitcher) .194, although never hitting a home run.

Joe McGinnity
is a member of
the Baseball
Hall of Fame

McGinnity was perhaps best known for starting both ends of a doubleheader in 1903, a feat which he did three times in a single month. This won him the nickname "Iron Man". He won all six games.

McGinnity was elected posthumously to the Baseball Hall of Fame by the Veterans Committee in 1946. In 1981, Lawrence Ritter and Donald Honig included him in their book The 100 Greatest Baseball Players of All Time.

Joe "Iron Man" McGinnity is interred in Oak Hill Memorial Park in McAlester, Oklahoma.