Haskell Clark "Josh" Billings (September 27, 1907 – December 26, 1983) was a

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)

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the Baseball (ball), baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of out (baseball), retiring a batter (baseball), batter, who attempts to e ...

who played for the

Detroit Tigers The Detroit Tigers are an American professional baseball team based in Detroit. The Tigers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the American League (AL) Central division. One of the AL's eight charter franchises, the club was f ...

Amateur career

Billings was born in

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New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

and played

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at Brown University. While at Brown, he pitched for the Falmouth town team in the

Cape Cod Baseball League The Cape Cod Baseball League (CCBL or Cape League) is a collegiate summer baseball wooden bat league located on Cape Cod in the U.S. state of Massachusetts. One of the nation's premier collegiate summer leagues, the league boasts over one thous ...

during the summers of 1925 to 1927. Named team MVP in 1925, Billings was described as "studious" and "persevering", and a "brilliant player".

Professional career

He joined the Tigers in 1927 and made his major league debut on August 17, becoming the third youngest player in the

American League The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the American League (AL), is one of two leagues that make up Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western League, a minor league ...

that season. In 1927, he pitched in ten games and 67 innings for the Tigers, and was credited with five wins against four losses. His

earned run average In baseball statistics, earned run average (ERA) is the average of earned runs allowed by a pitcher per nine innings pitched (i.e. the traditional length of a game). It is determined by dividing the number of earned runs allowed by the numb ...

(ERA) of 4.87 was worse than the league average. He had more than twice as many walks (39) as strikeouts (18). Despite his underwhelming statistics in 1927, Billings was the Tigers Opening Day starting pitcher in 1928. The Tigers lost that game by a score of 4–1 to the St. Louis Browns at

Briggs Stadium Tiger Stadium, previously known as Navin Field and Briggs Stadium, was a multi-purpose stadium located in the Corktown neighborhood of Detroit. The stadium was nicknamed "The Corner" for its location at the intersection of Michigan and Trumbul ...

. In total, Billings pitched in 21 games and 110 innings for the Tigers in 1928. He was once again credited with five wins, this time against ten losses. Once again, he had a worse than league average earned run average of 5.12. And once again he had more walks (59) than strikeouts (48). He also had the fourth highest number of wild pitches in the American League, with seven. As a 20-year-old, he was still the eighth youngest player in the American League in 1928. 1929 was Billings's last season in the Major Leagues. As a 21-year-old, he only pitched in eight games and 19 innings for the Tigers. He had no wins and one loss. His earned run average was again 5.12, again worse than league average. He surrendered nine walks against a single strikeout. He played in his final game on August 5, 1929. For his career, Billings pitched in 39 games and 197 innings. He won 10 games against 15 losses. His career earned run average was 5.03, and he had 107 walks and 67 strikeouts. As a batter, he had 17 hits in 68

at bat In baseball, an at bat (AB) or time at bat is a batter's turn batting against a pitcher. An at bat is different from a plate appearance. A batter is credited with a plate appearance regardless of what happens during their turn at bat, but a batt ...

s for a

batting average Batting average is a statistic in cricket, baseball, and softball that measures the performance of batters. The development of the baseball statistic was influenced by the cricket statistic. Cricket In cricket, a player's batting average i ...

of .250. He also was credited with three doubles, one

triple Triple is used in several contexts to mean "threefold" or a "treble": Sports * Triple (baseball), a three-base hit * A basketball three-point field goal * A figure skating jump with three rotations * In bowling terms, three strikes in a row * In ...

, 11

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 ...

and six

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 ba ...

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Billings, Josh 1907 births 1983 deaths Baseball players from New York (state) Brown Bears baseball players Major League Baseball pitchers Detroit Tigers players Falmouth Commodores players Cape Cod Baseball League players (pre-modern era)