Jack Chesbro
Baseball · Hometown: Pittsfield, MA
- Pro team(s)
- Pittsburgh Pirates, New York Highlanders, Boston Red Sox
- Hall of Fame
- ⭐ National Baseball Hall of Fame
Jack "Happy Jack" Chesbro was born in North Adams, Massachusetts, in 1874 and became one of the most dominant pitchers of the early 20th century. Pitching for the New York Highlanders (later Yankees), Chesbro set a modern major league record in 1904 by winning 41 games in a single season — a mark that still stands in the American League. He threw 454.2 innings that year, a feat unimaginable in the modern game. A master of the spitball — then a legal pitch — Chesbro compiled a career 198-132 record with a 2.68 ERA over 11 seasons. A wild pitch on the final day of the 1904 season that cost New York the pennant haunted his legacy, but his overall brilliance earned him induction into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1946.