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Joe Sewell

Joe Sewell
Joe Sewell.jpg
Sewell c. 1921
Shortstop / Third baseman
Born: (1898-10-09)October 9, 1898
Titus, Alabama
Died: March 6, 1990(1990-03-06) (aged 91)
Mobile, Alabama
Batted: Left Threw: Right
MLB debut
September 10, 1920, for the Cleveland Indians
Last MLB appearance
September 24, 1933, for the New York Yankees
MLB statistics
Batting average .312
Hits 2,226
Home runs 49
Runs batted in 1,055
Teams
Career highlights and awards
Member of the National
Empty Star.svgEmpty Star.svgEmpty Star.svgBaseball Hall of Fame Empty Star.svgEmpty Star.svgEmpty Star.svg
Inducted 1977
Election Method Veteran's Committee

Joseph Wheeler Sewell (October 9, 1898 – March 6, 1990) was a Major League Baseball infielder for the Cleveland Indians and New York Yankees. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1977.

Sewell holds the record for the lowest strikeout rate in major league history, striking out on average only once every 63 at-bats, and the most consecutive games without a strikeout, at 115.

Born in Titus, Alabama, Sewell lettered in college football at the University of Alabama in 1917, 1918, and 1919. He led the school baseball team to four conference titles before joining the minor league New Orleans Pelicans in 1920, where he played a partial season before being called up to the "big league".

Sewell made his major league debut mid-season in 1920 with the World Series champion Cleveland Indians shortly after shortstop Ray Chapman was killed by a pitch from the Yankees’ Carl Mays in August and became the team's full-time shortstop the following year. An emerging star, Sewell batted .318 with 101 runs, 93 RBI and a .412 on-base percentage in 1921.

Sewell's patience and daily work ethic became his hallmarks over the following decade and a half. Playing with Cleveland until 1930 and the New York Yankees from 1931 to 1933, Sewell batted .312 with 1,141 runs, 1,055 RBI, 49 home runs and a .391 on-base percentage. He regularly scored 90 or more runs a season and twice topped the 100 RBI plateau. He hit a career high 11 home runs in 1932.

Of more historical significance, Sewell struck out a mere 114 times in 7,132 career at-bats for an average of one strikeout every 62.5 at-bats, second only to Willie Keeler (63.1). He also holds the single-season record for fewest strikeouts over a full season, with 3, set in 1932. Sewell also had 3 strikeouts in 1930, albeit in just 353 at-bats (as opposed to 503 in his record-setting year), as well as three other full seasons (1925, 1929, 1933) with 4 strikeouts. He struck out ten or more times in only four seasons, and his highest strikeout total was twenty, during the 1922 season. For his 1925–1933 seasons, Sewell struck out 4, 6, 7, 9, 4, 3, 8, 3, and 4 times. He also holds the record for consecutive games without recording a strikeout, at 115.


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