Stan Coveleski

Stan Coveleski
Coveleski in 1909
Starting pitcher
Born: (1889-07-13)July 13, 1889 Shamokin, Pennsylvania
Died: March 20, 1984(1984-03-20) (aged 94) South Bend, Indiana
Batted: Right	Threw: Right
MLB debut
September 10, 1912 for the Philadelphia Athletics
Last MLB appearance
August 3, 1928 for the New York Yankees
Career statistics
Win–loss record	215-142
Earned run average	2.89
Strikeouts	981
Teams
Philadelphia Athletics (1912) Cleveland Indians (1916-1924) Washington Senators (1925-1927) New York Yankees (1928)
Career highlights and awards
AL ERA champion: 1923, 1925 AL strikeout champion: 1920 World Series champion: 1920 5 20-win seasons 2 sub-2.00 ERA seasons
Member of the National
Baseball Hall of Fame
Induction	1969
Election Method	Veteran's Committee

Stanley Anthony Coveleski (born Stanislaus Kowalewski, July 13, 1889 – March 20, 1984) was an American Major League Baseball pitcher during the 1910s and 1920s. In 14 seasons in the American League, Coveleski pitched for the Philadelphia Athletics, Cleveland Indians, Washington Senators and New York Yankees. In 450 career games, Coveleski pitched 3,082 innings and posted a win-loss record of 215–142, with 224 complete games, 38 shutouts, and a 2.89 earned run average (ERA). He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1969.

Born in Shamokin, Pennsylvania, Coveleski began playing professional baseball in 1908, and played mostly for the Lancaster Red Roses until he made his major league debut with the Philadelphia Athletics in 1912. He spent three more seasons in the minor leagues before staying in the majors for good after signing with the Cleveland Indians in 1916. Coveleski spent nine seasons with them, and won three games during the 1920 World Series. He spent three seasons with the Washington Senators and one season with the New York Yankees before retiring after the 1928 season. Coveleski retired to South Bend, Indiana, where he died in 1984.

A starting pitcher, Coveleski was known for throwing the spitball; he was one of the 17 pitchers permitted to continue throwing the pitch when it was outlawed in 1920.^[1] His older brother, Harry Coveleski, also gained notability as a professional baseball player.^[2] He spelled his name as Stan Coveleskie during his playing career, but the e was later dropped because he never corrected anyone if his last name was incorrectly spelled.^[3]

Early years

Coveleski was born as the youngest of five ball-playing brothers in the coal-mining community of Shamokin, Pennsylvania.^[4] His oldest brother Jacob died while serving in the Spanish–American War, and his other brothers Frank and John played baseball as well, but never reached the major leagues.^[5] Like many of his peers, he began work as a "breaker boy" at a local colliery at the age of 12.^[4] In return for 72 hours of labor per week, the young Coveleski received $3.75, or about five cents an hour.^[6] "There was nothing strange in those days about a twelve-year-old Polish kid working in the mines for 72 hours a week at a nickel an hour", he later recalled. "What was strange is that I ever got out of there".^[6] Coveleski was rarely able to play baseball as a child, given that he almost never saw the sunlight.^[4]

Nevertheless, he worked on his pitching skills during the evenings, when he would "put a tin can on a log, or tie it to a tree, and stand maybe 40 or 50 feet away and throw stones at it".^[7] When he was 18 years old, Coveleski's abilities caught the attention of the local semi-professional ball club, which invited him to pitch for them. "When it came to throwing a baseball, why it was easy to pitch", Coveleski recalled. "After all, the plate's a lot bigger than a tin can to throw at".^[7] His baseball career in Shamokin was short-lived, however. After five games with the local ball club, Coveleski relocated to Lancaster, Pennsylvania.^[7]

Philadelphia Athletics and minor leagues

1909 Lancaster Red Roses; Stan Coveleski is standing fourth from left

Coveleski signed his first professional contract in 1909 with the minor league Lancaster Red Roses, a club affiliated with the Tri-State League. He was originally reluctant to sign, and only agreed to join the club if his older brother, John, did as well.^[5] During his first trip to Lancaster, he recalled that it was "the first time I ever rode on a train," and he added that he "was too shy to eat in the hotel with the rest of the team".^[8] In 272 innings of work his first season, Coveleski won 23 games and lost 11 with an ERA of 1.95.^[9] He pitched two more seasons for Lancaster, earning a record of 53 wins and 38 losses in 109 appearances through three seasons.^[8]

In 1912, he pitched for the relocated Lancaster team, the Atlantic City Lanks, where he had a 20-14 record with a 2.53 ERA in 40 appearances, 30 of them starts.^[9] In September 1912, the Philadelphia Athletics called him up to the major leagues, and he made his debut on September 10. Coveleski pitched in five games for the Athletics that season, starting two of them and finishing the season with a 2-1 record and a 3.43 ERA.^[10] After the season ended, manager Connie Mack felt that Coveleski needed more seasoning, so he was sent to the Spokane Indians of the Northwestern League.^[5] He finished the 1913 season with a 17-20 record and a 2.82 ERA.^[9] Around that time, he married Mary Stivetts, and the following season he won 20 games, lost 15, pitched over 300 innings, and led the league in strikeouts.^[5]

At the time of his debut, the Philadelphia club retained several talented pitchers, including Eddie Plank, Chief Bender, and Jack Coombs, with Coveleski admitting, "don't know if I could have beat them out for a spot in the rotation."^[1] After the 1914 season, the Portland Beavers of the Pacific Coast League wanted Coveleski, and they traded five players to Spokane to acquire him.^[5] While Connie Mack had an agreement with Spokane that Coveleski would be brought up after playing there for a time, the team fell under new ownership in 1913, leading to the Athletics losing control of him.^[11] He spent his time in Portland learning to throw the spitball. He originally used chewing for tobacco for the spitball, then later used alum.^[5] In his lone season with Portland, he won and lost 17 games, and had a 2.67 ERA.^[9] After the season ended, the Cleveland Indians purchased Coveleski from Portland, and he joined the major league squad in 1916.^[5]

Cleveland Indians

Coveleski with the Indians

When Coveleski was brought up to the majors, the original plan was for him to be a relief pitcher, but after an injury to Ed Klepfer, the Indians used him as a starter early on in the season, and kept him in the role after he performed well.^[12] He was scheduled to pitch in the first week of the season against his brother Harry, but the matchup never took place at Harry's behest.^[5] Coveleski fought health problems during the season, suffering from tonsillitis in the middle of the year and pitching one game with a fever of 102 degrees.^[13] He finished the season with a 15-13 record and a 3.41 ERA in 45 games, 27 of them starts.^[10] Coveleski had lost 10 pounds due to illness during 1916, but during the offseason he spent his time recovering, gained 20 pounds and appearing in far better health.^[14]

Coveleski was cemented as the ace of the staff by being named the starter for Opening Day to begin the 1917 season; he beat the Detroit Tigers 6-4 on April 11.^[15] He improved statistically during the 1917 season, winning 19 games and losing 14 with an ERA of 1.81 and a career high 133 strikeouts.^[10] On September 19, Coveleski pitched a one-hitter against the New York Yankees, which was broken up by Fritz Maisel in the seventh inning.^[16] Coveleski continued to improve during the 1918 season, which was shortened as the result of World War I. His outings that year included pitching a complete game against the New York Yankees, where he pitched 19 innings, allowing two runs as the Indians won, 3-2.^[17] He finished the season with a 22-13 record, a 1.82 ERA, and 311 innings pitched in 38 games, 33 of them starts; his wins and ERA were both second in the American League to Walter Johnson.^[10][5] In 1919, Coveleski pitched in 43 games, starting 34, and had a 24-12 record and an ERA of 2.61.^[10]

At the beginning of the 1920 season, the spitball was banned by Major League Baseball. As a current spitball pitcher, Coveleski was grandfathered in, and was allowed to continue using the pitch until his retirement. He won his first seven starting appearances to start off the season, but on May 28, his wife died suddenly, and he was given some time off to mourn.^[5]

Coveleski was the star of the 1920 World Series, in which he pitched three complete game victories.^[1] In 2002, baseball historian William C. Kashatus wrote that Coveleski's "incredible ERA of .67 still stands as a World Series record".^[1] Kashatus observed that, despite Coveleski's enormous success in Cleveland, he "really didn't like playing there".^[1] Asked about his experiences there, Coveleski refused to get into details and merely stated: "The best thing that happened to me there was pitching to Steve O'Neill. He caught me for nine years in Cleveland and knew me so well he didn't even need to give me a sign".^[1]

Washington Senators and New York Yankees

Baseball card of Coveleski

In December 1924, after nine years pitching for Cleveland, Coveleski was traded to the Washington Senators for pitcher By Speece and outfielder Carr Smith.^[10] This followed a lackluster 1924 season in which he posted a 4.04 ERA.^[10] During his first season in Washington, Coveleski rebounded, working up a 20–5 record and ending with "a league-leading 2.84 ERA".^[1] That same year, he made his second World Series appearance, though he performed less impressively, losing two games to Pittsburgh.^[1] Coveleski pitched for Washington during the 1926 season and part of the 1927 season, but his performance declined due to "a chronically sore arm".^[18] He retired after the 1928 season with the New York Yankees. In his final season, he posted a 5–1 record in 12 appearances and helped the Yankees to another pennant.^[18]

Later life

In 1929, after leaving major league baseball, Coveleski relocated to South Bend, Indiana, where he opened a service station.^[19] There, he became a popular member of the community, providing free pitching lessons to local youth in a field behind his garage.^[19] His health declined in later years, and he was eventually admitted to a local nursing home, where he died in March 1984.^[20]

Legacy

In a 14-year career, Coveleski was 216–142, with a 2.89 ERA in 450 games, 385 of them starts.^[18] Two-hundred-and twenty-four of those he completed, and 38 for shutouts. He struck out 981 in 3082 innings pitched. He was 3–2 in World Series games started (1920 and 1925). His control was legendary, and it was not unusual for him to pitch a complete game having thrown 95 pitches or less. Baseball statistician Bill James ranked Coveleski 58th among the greatest pitchers of all time.^[21]

In addition to Coveleski's 1969 induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame,^[18] in 1976 he was also inducted into the National Polish-American Hall of Fame. He is one of the top 100 winning pitchers of all time. In 1984, the minor league baseball stadium in South Bend, Indiana, was named in his honor.^[19] A New York Times obituary noted that Coveleski won 20 games in five out of 14 seasons.^[20] Coveleski was interviewed by Lawrence Ritter for his 1966 book The Glory of Their Times, a series of interviews with the players of the early 20th century.

See also

Biography portal

• List of Major League Baseball leaders in career wins
• List of Major League Baseball earned run average champions
• List of Major League Baseball strikeout champions

Notes

References

• James, Bill (2001). The New Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract. Simon & Schuster. ISBN 978-0-7432-2722-3. 
• Kashatus, William C. (2002). Diamonds in the Coalfields: 21 Remarkable Baseball Players, Managers, and Umpires from Northeast Pennsylvania. McFarland. ISBN 978-0-7864-1176-4. 
• Macht, Norman Lee (2007). Connie Mack and the Early Years of Baseball. University of Nebraska Press. ISBN 978-0-8032-3263-1. 
• Schneider, Russell (2004). The Cleveland Indians Encyclopedia. Sports Publishing LLC. ISBN 978-1-58261-840-1. 
• Taylor, Ted (2010). The Ultimate Philadelphia Athletics Reference Book 1901-1954. Xlibris. ISBN 978-1-4500-2571-3. 

External links

• Stan Coveleski at the Baseball Hall of Fame
• Stan Coveleski at Find a Grave