THE 1966 BRAVES: #42 Joey Jay

[rico43]

#42 JOEY JAY
Right-handed Pitcher

What came before: Lots of glory and success came Jay's way. An imposing right-hander (6-4, 230), he was also durable. In his second full pro season, he won 17 games with 18 complete games. But before that, he was one of the notorious 1953 bonus babies, who was required to spend two seasons in the majors with the Braves. He total workload those two seasons one complete-game shutout at age 17, 15 games at age 18 for a 2-0 record.

Allowed to assume a normal career from that point, he was bumped back to the minors until his beast of a 1957 season. He was up in the majors long enough to make one appearance for the World Champs.
Up for keeps in '58, he was 7-5, 2.14 in his “second” rookie season, and after a 9-8, 3.24 showing in 1960, the retooling Braves did the Reds a big favor and traded him to Cincinnati for light-hitting shortstop Roy McMillan. He was an all-star his first two seasons, leading the league with 21 wins his first season to lead the Reds to the World Series, then matching his win total a year later. But that same pitcher was an 18-game loser in 1963 due in part to an aching shoulder, beginning a decline that led his ill-fated return to the Braves.

That 1966 season: The lesson was harsh – you surely cannot go home again. Acquired from the Reds at the June 15 trade deadline for Hank Fischer, Jay merely found his final destination as a big leaguer. He brought with him a solid 6-2 record – including five straight wins – and 3.91 ERA in 10 starts. For the Braves, he had a save in his only relief appearance, but each of his eight starts was uglier than the one before. Final Braves numbers in 1966: 0-4, 7.89 with 26 earned runs allowed in 29.1 innings.
They gamely gave him starts right up to the end of the season, but released him in December.

What happened next: He signed a deal with the Phillies, made four minor league starts (3-1, 2.25) in 1967 but pitched more guile than velocity. He was soon released ror the last time.
He made a clean break from baseball, avoiding card shows and old timer's games. Instead, he became a West Virginia oilman, among other businesses. He lives in Florida most of the year, but has refused to allow his address to be publicized to anyone connected to baseball.

[50PoundHead]

Talk about the "might have been" department. Jay was shipped with Juan Pizarro to the Reds for shortstop Roy McMillan (the quintessential great glove/meh hit SS of the age). Jay had back-to-back 20 win seasons in which he threw 247 and 273 IP respectively. He fell off after that. Pizarro never pitched for the Reds (they shipped him to the White Sox the same off-season), but like Jay, he became a very productive starting pitcher. After fizzling as a starter in the late-1960s, Pizarro headed to the bullpen and he hung around the big leagues until he was 37.

Roy McMillan? After three nondescript season with the Braves, the team peddled him to the Mets early in the 1964 season for RHP Jay Hook (who never pitched for the Braves) and OF Adrian Garrett (featured earlier in this thread and became Braves' property for the second time in his career).

While it doesn't compare to this off-season's roster turnover, the Braves shipped out a number of their high-profile players in the the early 1960s. It wasn't done all at once, so it was a lot less dramatic than what Hart has undertaken, but Johnny Logan, Joe Adcock, Lew Burdette, Bob Buhl, Wes Covington, Billy Bruton, Joey Jay, Juan Pizarro, and Del Crandell were all traded when the front office tried to re-construct what might have been the most talented team in baseball in the late-1950s. Of the guys in the starting line-up, Aaron and Mathews were spared (the Braves waited until after the 1966 season to trade Mathews). Warren Spahn was the only starter to hang around and after 1964, the Braves let him go when his effectiveness dropped dramatically.