Little Known Cleveland Indians Hall of Famers: Addie Joss and Elmer Flick

Since we don’t have any baseball being played due to Covid-19 restrictions, or any other sports for that matter, this is a good time to look back to the players, teams and games of the past.

Among the all time greats in the Baseball Hall of Fame are some players from the distant past that casual fans may not have heard of. Two of these lesser known Hall of Famers are right handed pitcher Adrian (Addie) Joss and outfielder Elmer Flick. Both Joss and Flick played for the Cleveland American League franchise in the first decade of the 20th century. The Cleveland AL franchise was known as the Blues in 1901, the Bronchos in 1902, and the Naps from 1903 through 1914. In 1915, they were renamed the Indians. Both Joss and Flick had outstanding careers cut short by illness, and in the case of Joss, fatal illness.

Adrian (Addie) Joss was born April 12, 1880 in Woodland, Wisconsin. He made his major league debut with Cleveland on April 26, 1902, and shut out the St. Louis Browns 3-0 on one hit. It was the first of five shutouts for Joss that season, and that total was the best in the American League. Joss was 17-13 with a 2.77 ERA in his rookie season.

Joss was 18-13 with a 2.19 ERA in 1903, and 14-10 with a league leading ERA of 1.59 in 1904. IN 1905, Joss had the first of four seasons of 20 or more wins, going 20-12 with a 2.01 ERA. He was even better in 1906, with a 21-9 record, 1.72 ERA and nine shutouts.

Addie Joss began the 1907 season with ten victories in his first ten starts and won a career high 27 games with a 1.83 ERA. In 1908, Joss went 24-11 with a league leading 1.16 ERA, which was also his career best. He had nine shutouts, tying his career high. On October 2nd, Joss pitched a perfect game against the Chicago White Sox, winning 1-0. Cleveland finished the 1908 season in second place in the AL, with a record of 90-64. That was the closest Joss ever came to winning the American League pennant.

Joss was 14-13 with an ERA of 1.71 in 1909. On April 20, 1910, Joss threw the second no hitter of his career, another 1–0 victory over the Chicago White Sox. He made only 13 appearances in 1910 due to an elbow injury, and finished with a 5-5 record.

Prior to the start of the 1911 season, Joss collapsed on the field before an exhibition game in Chattanooga, Tennessee, on April 3rd. He returned home to Toledo, Ohio where he died of tubercular meningitis on April 14th, 1911. He had just turned 31 years old.

Addie Joss had a career record of 160-97. His career earned run average is the second best all time at 1.89, and his career WHIP (walks plus hits per innings pitched) is the all time best at 0.968. Forty five of his 160 victories were shutouts. Because he had only pitched for nine seasons instead of the required ten for Hall of Fame eligibility, it was not until 1978 that he was admitted to the Hall by the Veterans Committee after being granted an exemption.

Elmer Flick was born January 11th, 1876 in Bedford, Ohio. He made his major league debut with the Philadelphia Phillies in 1898, where he hit .302 in 134 games. with 81 RBIs and 23 stolen bases. In 1899, he hit .342 with 98 RBIs and 31 stolen bases. He had career highs in batting average (.367), and RBIs (110) in 1900. He followed that in 1901 with a career high 112 runs scored and a .333 batting average.

In 1902, Flick and several Phillies teammates changed leagues and signed with the Philadelphia Athletics of the new American League. A court injunction was issued preventing the former Phillies from playing for any Pennsylvania team except the Phillies. Flick then signed with Cleveland, where he played the rest of his Major League career.

Flick didn’t put up the huge numbers with Cleveland that he had with Philadelphia, but still hit over .300 four seasons in a row from 1904 through 1907, including winning the AL batting title with a .308 average in 1905. He also led the league in slugging percentage that year (.462) and triples (18). Flick led the AL in triples three years in a row (1905-7) and had a career high of 22 in 1906. He led the league in stolen bases in 1904 with 38 and again in 1906 with 39. His career high for stolen bases came in 1907 when he stole 41.

Following the 1907 season, the Detroit Tigers offered to trade 21 year old outfielder Ty Cobb to Cleveland in exchange for Flick. Cleveland turned down the deal.

Well, that turned into a big mistake. The 1907 season was the last good one for Elmer Flick. He was stricken with a gastrointestinal ailment that limited him to just 99 games over the next three years, and he was released in July of 1910. He stuck around in the minors for two more years but never made it back to the Major Leagues. Cobb, who had won the American League batting title in 1907, went on to win 11 more of those in his own Hall of Fame Career.

In his 13 year career, only ten of which were full seasons, Elmer Flick had a lifetime batting average of .313, with 950 runs scored, 164 triples, and 340 stolen bases. He faded from view until Ty Cobb’s death in 1961, when the story of the trade offer brought him back from obscurity. The Veterans Committee voted him into the Hall of Fame in 1963. Although poor health had ended his baseball career, Elmer Flick was still around to enjoy the honor. He died January 9th, 1971, two days before his 95th birthday.