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Joe "Old Reliable" Start, First Baseman
Joe Start was born in New York in 1842. He played amateur ball in Brooklyn from 1860 to 1870, in the days when there were no pro leagues. In 1870, his team snapped the famous winning streak of the pioneering pro Cincinnati Red Stockings; Start hit a crucial 11th-inning triple for the Brooklyn team to win the game. He went on to star in the American Association and five National League teams. With Chicago in 1878, he led the league in hits, just ahead of teammate Cap Anson, and Paul Hines. He joined the Grays in 1879, leading them to their first championship. He spent seven years with Providence, and was one of the team's all-time best players. He was regarded as a pioneer in defensive play at first base, and is credited with being the first one to play off the bag. His fielding statistics reflect his talent, as he was usually first or second in the league in putouts and fielding average. He would still rank as the all-time leader in putouts per game if he had a few more National League games to his credit. His batting statistics were also good, and he was chosen by Bill James as the best National League first baseman of the 1870s. For the 1884 season, he was 41 years old, and missed several stretches of games during the season, including four games in mid-May due to malaria, four games in early June, and three games in late June. He sat out for almost all of October, after the pennant had been clinched. When he was able to play, he was not quite the hitter he had been in his prime, but still good enough to finish third on the team in batting average and runs. He also struck out fewer times than any of the other Grays' starters. The press enjoyed seeing flashes of his old dazzling play; when he stole a base on May 9, it received special comment, and on September 4 the Journal celebrated when "Start got one of his old-fashioned three-baggers." When the Grays clinched the pennant on September 26 in Chicago, it was Start's three-run homer in the seventh inning that sealed the victory. After the championship year, Start played one more solid year in Providence, and then married a Rhode Island woman named Angeline. He retired at age 43 after a weak season in Washington in 1886, wrapping up a wonderful 27-year career. He then returned to cash in on his good reputation in Rhode Island, and operated the Lakewood Inn on Warwick Road in Warwick, just south of the intersection with what is now Post Road. The inn was successful for many years, and had six servants living on the premises with Mr. and Mrs. Start. By 1919, the Starts had retired to Pawtuxet village, and then relocated to Providence in 1922. They lived in an apartment at 50 Haskins Street, just a bit northeast of what is now Central High School. Angeline died in February of 1927, and Old Reliable died the next month. He never had any children, and his only heir was a niece named Katherine Marr Hahn. This niece was the wife of a very wealthy and successful lawyer. She never had any children herself, so there is no obvious place to look for a big trunk of Joe Start's baseball memorabilia. copyright Rick Stattler 2002 |
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