Joseph Charboneau (born June 17, 1955) is a former Major League Baseball player for the Cleveland Indians in the early 1980s. Bursting on the scene in 1980, Charboneau captured Cleveland's imagination, not just with his production but also his eccentricities. Charboneau had a tendency to dye his hair unnatural colors, as well as open beer bottles with his eye socket and drink beer with a straw through his nose.

After winning the AL Rookie of the Year award in 1980, Charboneau's career quickly flamed out amidst injuries. He is one of the most oft-cited examples of baseball's fabled sophomore jinx, holding the record for the fewest career games played in the Major Leagues by a Rookie of the Year, with 201.

The 21-year-old Charboneau was originally drafted in the sixth round of the June 1976 draft by the Minnesota Twins, but he did not sign with them; when the Philadelphia Phillies made him their second-round pick in the December supplementary draft, Charboneau was sent to the Class A Western Carolina League, where he hit .298 in 43 games.

In 1977 Charboneau suddenly quit the Phillies' Carolina League affiliate after fighting with management, and went home to Belvidere to play softball. The following year, Minnesota, the team that originally drafted Charboneau, gave him another chance, and assigned him to Visalia of the California League. He responded with a .350 average, fourth-best in the league. At season's end, though, after participating in a barroom brawl, Charboneau was traded to the Cleveland Indians organization for major-league pitcher Cardell Camper.

Charboneau broke out in 1979 with a .352 average for the Indians' AA team in Chattanooga, pacing the Southern League.

In 1980, it looked like Charboneau was headed up to AAA Charleston—until Indians' slugger Andre Thornton was felled by a knee injury, giving Charboneau his shot at the big leagues.

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