Joseph Patton "Doc" Evans (May 15, 1895 – August 9, 1951) was an American

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in baseball league, leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Mod ...

outfielder An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder. As an outfielder, their duty is to cat ...

and

third baseman A third baseman, abbreviated 3B, is the player in baseball or softball whose responsibility is to defend the area nearest to third base — the third of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. In the scoring system us ...

, who played for the

Cleveland Indians The Cleveland Guardians are an American professional baseball team based in Cleveland. The Guardians compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. Since , they have played at Progressive F ...

, Washington Senators,

St. Louis Browns The St. Louis Browns were a Major League Baseball team that originated in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, as the Milwaukee Brewers. A charter member of the American League (AL), the Brewers moved to St. Louis, Missouri, after the 1901 season, where they ...

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

(MLB).Career statistics
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Baseball-Reference.com
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Biography

He was born on May 15, 1895, in

Meridian, Mississippi Meridian is the List of municipalities in Mississippi, seventh largest city in the U.S. state of Mississippi, with a population of 41,148 at the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census and an estimated population in 2018 of 36,347. It is the count ...

. Evans made his major league debut with the Indians in 1915, playing 42 games for them. He spent most of with the

minor league Minor leagues are professional sports leagues which are not regarded as the premier leagues in those sports. Minor league teams tend to play in smaller, less elaborate venues, often competing in smaller cities/markets. This term is used in Nor ...

Portland Beavers, playing just 33 games for the Indians. was Evans' first as a regular, as he served as the Indians' primary third baseman. However, he batted just .190, and in , he split time at third base with veteran Terry Turner. The following offseason, the Indians traded for third baseman

Larry Gardner William Lawrence Gardner (May 13, 1886 – March 11, 1976) was a third baseman in Major League Baseball. From 1908 through 1924, Gardner played for the Boston Red Sox, Philadelphia Athletics, and Cleveland Indians. He was a four-time World Series ...

, pushing Evans back to the bench. Evans played on Cleveland's

1920 World Series The 1920 World Series was the championship series for Major League Baseball's 1920 season. The series was a best-of-nine format played between the American League (AL) champion Cleveland Indians and the National League (NL) champion Brooklyn ...

championship team, batting .349 in 56 games as a reserve outfielder. He appeared in four of the seven games of the Series, picking up 4 hits in 13 at-bats. Evans remained with the Indians until the end of the 1922 season. He was then traded to the Senators for

Frank Brower Francis Marion Brower (November 20, 1823 – June 4, 1874) was an American blackface performer active in the mid-19th century. Brower began performing blackface song-and-dance acts in circuses and variety shows when he was 13. He eventually intro ...

on January 8, 1923. Evans' first year in Washington saw him set career highs in several categories, including hits (98),

runs batted in A run batted in (RBI; plural RBIs ) is a statistic in baseball and softball that credits a batter for making a play that allows a run to be scored (except in certain situations such as when an error is made on the play). For example, if the bat ...

(38) and

runs scored In baseball, a run is scored when a player advances around first, second and third base and returns safely to home plate, touching the bases in that order, before three outs are recorded and all obligations to reach base safely on batted balls ...

(42). He played five different positions for the Senators:

first base A first baseman, abbreviated 1B, is the player on a baseball or softball team who fields the area nearest first base, the first of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. The first baseman is responsible for the majori ...

, third base, and all three outfield positions. He appeared in 106 games overall, second-highest total of his career. Still, the Senators let him go, and he signed with the Browns for the 1924 season. Evans spent two seasons in St. Louis as a reserve. In his final major league season, 1925, he batted .314 in 55 games. He played one more season in the minors in 1927, batting .323 for the

Gulfport Tarpons The Gulfport Tarpons were a minor league baseball team based in Gulfport, Mississippi. Gulfport teams played exclusively as members of the Class D level Cotton States League. The Gulfport "Crabs" teams played in the league from 1906 to 1908, with ...

, before retiring. In 783 games over 11 seasons, Evans posted a .259 batting average (529-for-2043) with 306 runs, 3

home runs In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run i ...

, 210 RBI, 67

stolen bases In baseball, a stolen base occurs when a runner advances to a base to which they are not entitled and the official scorer rules that the advance should be credited to the action of the runner. The umpires determine whether the runner is safe or ...

and 212

bases on balls A base on balls (BB), also known as a walk, occurs in baseball when a batter receives four pitches that the umpire calls '' balls'', and is in turn awarded first base without the possibility of being called out. The base on balls is defined in Se ...

. He finished his career with a .945

fielding percentage In baseball statistics, fielding percentage, also known as fielding average, is a measure that reflects the percentage of times a defensive player properly handles a batted or thrown ball. It is calculated by the sum of putouts and assists, div ...

. He died on August 9, 1951, in Gulfport, Mississippi.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Evans, Joe 1895 births 1951 deaths Major League Baseball third basemen Major League Baseball outfielders Baseball players from Mississippi Sportspeople from Meridian, Mississippi Cleveland Indians players Washington Senators (1901–1960) players St. Louis Browns players Minor league baseball managers Portland Beavers players Gulfport Tarpons players Ole Miss Rebels baseball players