Former Braves bonus baby Joey Jay passes away
In 1953, the Braves gave a 17-year-old high school pitcher a $40,000 signing bonus. Accepting it is understandable, but it put a roadblock on his road to success.
John Richard “Joey Jay” dominated batters in American Legion baseball and threw three no-hitters for Middletown Woodrow Wilson High School. The Braves won the bidding war for Jay, signing him to a contract worth a small fortune at the time and $472K in today’s dollars.
The Hall of Fame remembers Joey Jay, a 1961 All-Star who pitched 13 seasons for the Braves and Reds, who passed away Sept. 27. pic.twitter.com/DEGmo96WVl
— National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum ⚾ (@baseballhall) October 29, 2024
The Bonus rule damaged the careers of many players including Joey Jay
The signing bonus meant Jay fell under the Bonus Rule, a crudely crafted rule designed to prevent the Yankees, Dodgers, Cardinals, and Red Sox from using their deep pockets and the reserve clause to sign and hold the most talented players indefinitely.
Jay had to spend the next two seasons on the 25-man roster when he should have been learning his craft at his own pace in the minors. Instead, Jay worked in the bullpen when coaches could find the time for him, which wasn’t often, and According to his SABR bio, it wasn’t fun being a bonus baby.
There was plenty of resentment toward rookie Jay in the Braves clubhouse, and the veterans were not afraid to let their disdain show over the next two years. “It was pretty dreadful. I fitted in nowhere,” Jay said. “No one was deliberately unkind to me. I was just ignored and felt like the batboy."
He won his first game with a start in the last game of the 1953 season, going six+ innings before the game was called for darkness. The Braves finally sent him to the minors in the second half of the 1955 season, where he overcame his wildness and command over the next two seasons.
Breakout season ended by injury
After spending the first 10 weeks of the 1958 season languishing in the bullpen, he was given a start and made the best of it. From June 13 through July 29, Jay threw 77 1/3 innings over 10 starts while pitching to a 1.40 ERA, earning him NL Player of the Month honors in July. But it wasn’t all good news.
Jay strained his flexor tendon in his last July start. Today, he would have had an MRI and gone on the IL immediately, but in 1958, the MRI was a theory that wouldn’t exist for 20 years. The Braves rested him for 12 days, tested his arm with two innings in relief, and put him back in the rotation on August 15. He managed to win that start, but his next outing was a disaster, and his breakout season ended,
It wouldn’t surprise today’s fan that Jay’s 1959 was subpar, but he returned to form in 1960, pitching to a 3.24 ERA on 133 1/3 innings as a swingman out of the pen.
The trade and an eye-popping start
After eight seasons with the Braves, Jay was about to be the pitcher they thought they were signing in 1953, but not for Milwaukee. The Braves needed a shortstop, wanted veteran Red Roya McMillan, and traded Jay along with Juan Pizzaro to get him,
Jay made 34 starts in 1961, threw 14 complete games, including four shutouts, and pitched to a 3.53 ERA over 247 1/2 innings. Jay owned the Braves, pitching to a 2.32 ERA and going 4-0 in five starts.
Jay’s 20th victory was a 1-0, four-hit shutout of the Braves…He retired Mathews, Aaron, and Joe Adcock in order in the ninth inning…Jay tied Spahn in wins and shutouts (and) was named the starting pitcher on The Sporting News NL All-Star Team.
The Reds met the Mantle and Maris Yankees in the World Series and won only one game; Jay threw a complete game, allowing the Bomber only two runs.
He backed up his 1961 season with a 21-14 season in 1962 and going 3-1 with a 1.35 ERA against his old team. He’d have won more, but his lineup provided less than three runs in eight losses.
Arm issues returned in 1963, and though he bounced back in 1964, his years as a dominant starter were over. He returned to the Braves in a mid-season deal in 1966, but it wasn’t a happy homecoming, and his Major League career ended with the season; Jay was only 30.
A career of firsts
Jay was the first player from Little League ball to reach the majors and one of the first Bonus Babies under Branch Rickey’s revised bonus rule.
He was the first Reds pitcher to win 20 games since Ewell Blackwell won 22 in 1947 and the first to have back-to-back 20-win seasons for the Reds Since Bucky Walters in 1939.
In 1963, Jay developed a new delivery that resulted in complaints to NL President Warren Giles; he pitched without a windup with no one on base. Yep, shocking, I know,
Giles allowed Jay’s new pitching style, but said it would be subject to review by the league presidents. During the offseason, a rule was enacted prohibiting Jay from using his new method of pitching. In effect, the ruling ended Jay’s no-windup delivery, as well as his no-windup move to first base.
He finished his career with a 99-91 record, seven saves, and a career 3.77 ERA, striking out 999 over 1546 1/3 IP in 310 games, including 203 starts and 16 shutouts.
That’s a Wrap
Joey Jay was one of dozens of players whose careers were negatively affected by the bonus rule, but he overcame the rule to become a superb starter for the Reds.
Modern medicine would have given Jay a longer career, but he had planned his retirement from the beginning and transitioned to a life away from the game easily.
Joey Jay treated the game better than it treated him. He passed away on September 27, 2024. Our thoughts are with his family as they celebrate his life.
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