Jack Quinn: Spitball King

Jack Quinn: Spitball King

Have you ever been to a ballgame when a fan in the stands makes a great catch on a foul ball? Inevitably, the crowd begins to chant: “Sign him up.” Well that actually happened at least once.

It was Fourth of July in 1900, when a teenager named Jack Quinn attended a ballgame in Dunbar, Ohio. During the pre-game practice a ball came his direction and in those days baseballs were scarce.

The Dunbar manager yelled for someone to throw it back. Quinn did so with such a strong return that the manager who evidently was lacking athletic talent on his roster called him to the dugout. He offered Quinn five dollars if he could pitch and win the game which he did. Thus, started the baseball career of Jack Quinn.

“Quinn” was not really his last name though evidently it was easier for others to understand especially among the many Irish residents in the community where he grew up. Quinn used at least three other surnames during his lifetime, “Paikos,” “Picus” and “Pajkosz.” Some said he was of Slovakian, Polish or German descent. There were also bigger questions about his age which he often underestimated.

What we do know for sure is that Jack spent 23 seasons in the major leagues with eight different teams. He won 247 games and lost 218 games, also collecting 57 saves. He debuted on April 15, 1909, with the New York Yankees though he also played for the Braves, Baltimore in the Federal League, the White Sox, Red Sox, Athletics, Dodgers and Reds. It was on the Philadelphia Athletics that he was an integral part of their three consecutive American League pennants from 1929-1931, which included two World Series championships (1929 and 1930).

At a young age, Jack Quinn started working for a coal company as a sorter. To cope with the black clouds of dust, he wore a bandana and chewed tobacco to keep his throat moist which supposedly repelled the toxins. After a near fatal mine accident, he became a blacksmith for a short while which developed his right throwing arm muscles.

Quinn soon learned that the elusive spitball was his ticket to the Big Leagues. Most spitballers of his day used chewing tobacco as the agent of their success. One would have thought that Quinn (already an experienced tobacco chewer) would have done so as well. However, through experimentation, he believed that chewing bubble gum to generate saliva offered the best results for the pitch which he aptly named “the dry spitter.” Quinn also possessed a variation of the knuckleball and an excellent changeup pitch.

In 1920 when Major League Baseball sought to outlaw the spitter several prominent pitchers who used the pitch such as Burleigh Grimes, Red Faber and Stan Coveleski (all future Hall of Famers) objected so much so that baseball allowed 17 pitchers to be exempt from the rule and grandfathered them in for the remainder of their careers. Quinn was one of those pitchers.

What separated Quinn from most other spitball pitchers was his incredible control. He twice led the league in fewest bases on balls per game and ranked in the top five 8 times in 10 years. Babe Ruth once said that Quinn was one of the toughest pitchers he ever faced because he could drop a pitch anywhere he wanted.

Quinn’s longevity on the mound was legendary. Although, his true age could never be accurately verified, it is thought that he pitched well into his 50s before giving up baseball. This was a testament not only to his physique and exercise methods (he often walked miles each day which he believed was good for his legs) but to his easy delivery and overall peace of mind. “Nothing bothers me,” Quinn once told a reporter, “Why should it? The undertaker will get us all soon enough.”

It can be argued that Jack Quinn should be in the Baseball Hall of Fame. He won more games than Ed Walsh, Mordecai Brown, Stan Coveleski, Herb Pennock and Dizzie Dean to name a few other pitchers of his era in the Hall. Ring Lardner, the renowned sportswriter, often said that Quinn was one of the best he ever saw and certainly the best spitballer. Enough said....