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Joseph Wilbur Adcock (nicknamed "Billy Joe") (October 30, 1927 - May 3, 1999) was an American first baseman and right-handed batter in Major League Baseball, best known for his years with the powerful Milwaukee Braves teams of the 1950s, whose career included numerous home run feats. A sure-handed defensive player, he also retired with the third highest career fielding percentage by a first baseman (.994).

Adcock was born in Coushatta, Louisiana. He was signed by the Cincinnati Reds after a successful run at Louisiana State University, but Ted Kluszewski had firm hold of the team's first base slot. Adcock played in left field from 1950-52, but was unhappy and demanded a trade, which he received. His first season with the Braves was capped by a mammoth home run into the center field bleachers at the Polo Grounds on April 29, 1953, a feat that had never been done before and would only be accomplished twice more, by Hank Aaron and Lou Brock. On July 31, 1954, he accomplished the rare feat of homering four times in a single game, against the Brooklyn Dodgers at Ebbets Field, and set a new record for most total bases in a game (18) that stood until broken by Shawn Green in 2002. Another notable home run was the blast that ended the epic duel between Lew Burdette and Harvey Haddix on May 26, 1959, in which Haddix took a perfect game into the 12th inning. Adcock did not get credit for a home run, however, because Aaron – who was on first base – saw the runner ahead of him score the winning run and thought the hit had only been a double and walked back to the dugout, causing Adcock to be called out for passing him on the base paths.

Adcock was often overshadowed both by his own teammates Aaron and Eddie Mathews, and by the other slugging first basemen in the league, Kluszewski and Gil Hodges, but he did make one All-Star team (1960) and was regularly among the league leaders in home runs. In 1956 he finished second in the National League in home runs (tied with Frank Robinson of the Cincinnati Redlegs), runs batted in, and slugging average. This was despite being platooned at times with and understudied by rookie Frank Torre. The platoon continued through 1959 - and (because of Frank Torre's ineffective play - batted .228) was largely blamed with costing the Braves the 1959 pennant (they lost in a Playoff to the Los Angeles Dodgers) and costing manager Fred Haney his job. After playing for the Cleveland Indians (1963) and Los Angeles/California Angels (1964-66), Adcock managed the Cleveland Indians for one year (1967) and managed two more years in the minor leagues before settling down at his 288-acre (1.2 km²) ranch in Coushatta to raise horses. He died in Coushatta at age 71.

 YEAR TEAM        AGE    G    AB    R    H  2B  3B  HR    HR%  RBI   BB   SO   SB  CS   AVG   SLG   OBA   OPS
 1950 Reds         22  102   372   46  109  16   1   8   2.15   55   24   24    2   0  .293  .406  .336  .742 
 1951 Reds         23  113   395   40   96  16   4  10   2.53   47   24   29    1   2  .243  .380  .288  .668 
 1952 Reds         24  117   378   43  105  22   4  13   3.44   52   23   38    1   4  .278  .460  .321  .781 
 1953 Braves       25  157   590   71  168  33   6  18   3.05   80   42   82    3   2  .285  .453  .334  .787 
 1954 Braves       26  133   500   73  154  27   5  23   4.60   87   44   58    1   4  .308  .520  .365  .885 
 1955 Braves       27   84   288   40   76  14   0  15   5.21   45   31   44    0   2  .264  .469  .339  .807 
 1956 Braves       28  137   454   76  132  23   1  38   8.37  103   32   86    1   0  .291  .597  .337  .934 
 1957 Braves       29   65   209   31   60  13   2  12   5.74   38   20   51    0   0  .287  .541  .351  .891 
 1958 Braves       30  105   320   40   88  15   1  19   5.94   54   21   63    0   0  .275  .506  .317  .823 
 1959 Braves       31  115   404   53  118  19   2  25   6.19   76   32   77    0   0  .292  .535  .339  .874 
 1960 Braves       32  138   514   55  153  21   4  25   4.86   91   46   86    2   2  .298  .500  .354  .854 
 1961 Braves       33  152   562   77  160  20   0  35   6.23  108   59   94    2   1  .285  .507  .354  .861 
 1962 Braves       34  121   391   48   97  12   1  29   7.42   78   50   91    2   0  .248  .506  .333  .839 
 1963 Indians      35   97   283   28   71   7   1  13   4.59   49   30   53    1   2  .251  .420  .320  .740 
 1964 Angels       36  118   366   39   98  13   0  21   5.74   64   48   61    0   2  .268  .475  .352  .827 
 1965 Angels       37  122   349   30   84  14   0  14   4.01   47   37   74    2   2  .241  .401  .315  .716 
 1966 Angels       38   83   231   33   63  10   3  18   7.79   48   31   48    2   2  .273  .576  .355  .930 
      TOTALS          1959  6606  823 1832 295  35 336   5.09 1122  594 1059   20  25  .277  .485  .337  .822 
      LG AVERAGE            6555  873 1741 277  57 186   2.83  818  663  856   72  42  .266  .410  .335  .745 
      POS AVERAGE           6637  905 1806 287  54 265   3.99 1012  723  960   47  33  .272  .451  .345  .796 
 YEAR TEAM           RC RCAA RCAP   OWP   RC/G   TB  EBH   ISO   SEC   BPA IBB HBP SAC  SF GIDP OUTS    PA POS
 1950 Reds           49   -9  -14  .425   4.76  151   25  .113  .183  .417   0   0   3   0  12   278   399  LF
 1951 Reds           36  -25  -32  .279   2.96  150   30  .137  .195  .355   0   1   2   0  25   328   422  LF
 1952 Reds           53    3   -1  .528   4.97  174   39  .183  .235  .460   0   1   1   0  10   288   403  LF
 1953 Braves         84    1   -4  .506   5.02  267   57  .168  .241  .457   0   2   6   0  22   452   640  1B
 1954 Braves         92   29   23  .666   6.68  260   55  .212  .294  .539   0   3  11   4   7   372   562  1B
 1955 Braves         41    3   -5  .526   4.81  135   29  .205  .306  .475   3   2   2   1  13   230   324  1B
 1956 Braves         87   28   20  .669   6.79  271   62  .306  .379  .601   6   1  11   2  11   346   500  1B
 1957 Braves         37   12    6  .670   6.36  113   27  .254  .349  .550   3   1   0   1   7   157   231  1B
 1958 Braves         46    7    1  .571   4.91  162   35  .231  .297  .490   1   1   2   5  14   253   349  1B
 1959 Braves         72   21   10  .645   6.44  216   46  .243  .322  .543   6   0   2   6   8   302   444  1B
 1960 Braves         88   29   22  .672   6.17  257   50  .202  .292  .515   7   1   5   4  13   385   570  1B
 1961 Braves         94   24   15  .625   5.89  285   55  .222  .329  .520   4   2   4   2  22   431   629  1B
 1962 Braves         61    6    2  .537   5.20  198   42  .258  .391  .524   8   1   2   3  18   317   447  1B
 1963 Indians        37    2    0  .515   4.44  119   21  .170  .272  .446   4   0   1   3   7   225   317  1B
 1964 Angels         58   18   14  .659   5.51  174   34  .208  .333  .499   4   0   0   1  13   284   415  1B
 1965 Angels         42    0   -4  .499   4.09  140   28  .160  .266  .434   3   1   0   0  10   277   387  1B
 1966 Angels         43   15   14  .688   6.31  133   31  .303  .437  .577   6   0   0   3  11   184   265  1B
      TOTALS       1020  164   67  .577   5.39 3205  666  .208  .297  .495  55  17  52  35 223  5109  7304 
      LG AVERAGE    913    0    0  .500   4.83 2691  520  .145  .250  .448  46  38  62  38 152  5109  7357 
      POS AVERAGE  1036  121    0  .552   5.48 2995  606  .179  .290  .485  55  38  39  46 159  5109  7484 
JOE ADCOCK LEAGUE LEADERSHIP RANKINGS

1951 NL
WORST RCAA          T4TH    -25;
WORST RCAP          1ST     -32;
GIDP                2ND     25

1953 NL
GAMES               T2ND   157;
DOUBLES             10TH    33;
STRIKEOUTS          T10TH   82;
GIDP                1ST     22

1954 NL
HR/100 OUTS         10TH    6.18;
HR/100 PA           10TH    4.09;
HR/100 AB           10TH    4.60;
AVERAGE             9TH    .308;
SLG                 8TH    .520;
OPS                 8TH     .885;
RCAA                T9TH    29;
OWP                 7TH    .666;
RUNS CREATED/GAME   10TH    6.68;
ISOLATED POWER      10TH   .212;
BPA                 9TH    .539;
SACRIFICES          T10TH   11

1956 NL
HOME RUNS            T2ND    38;
HR/100 OUTS         1ST    10.98;
HR/100 PA           1ST     7.60;
HR/100 AB           1ST     8.37;
RBI                 2ND    103;
STRIKEOUTS          T6TH    86;
SLG                 2ND    .597;
OPS                 3RD     .934;
RCAA                T7TH    28;
OWP                 6TH    .669;
RUNS CREATED/GAME   8TH     6.79;
EXTRA BASE HITS     10TH    62;
ISOLATED POWER      2ND    .306;
SECONDARY AVERAGE   7TH    .379;
TOTAL AVERAGE       5TH     .916;
BPA                 3RD    .601;
SACRIFICES          T8TH    11

1959 NL
HOME RUNS            T9TH    25;
SACRIFICE FLIES     T8TH     6

1960 NL
HOME RUNS            7TH     25;
HR/100 OUTS         9TH     6.49;
HR/100 PA           8TH     4.39;
HR/100 AB           9TH     4.86;
RBI                 8TH     91;
STRIKEOUTS          T9TH    86;
AVERAGE             7TH    .298;
SLG                 7TH    .500;
OPS                 7TH     .854;
RCAA                8TH     29;
RCAP                9TH     22;
OWP                 6TH    .672;
RUNS CREATED/GAME   7TH     6.17;
ISOLATED POWER      8TH    .202;
TOTAL AVERAGE       7TH     .809;
BPA                 9TH    .515

1961 NL
GAMES               T9TH   152;
HOME RUNS            T4TH    35;
HR/100 OUTS         5TH     8.12;
HR/100 PA           5TH     5.56;
HR/100 AB           5TH     6.23;
RBI                 6TH    108;
STRIKEOUTS          4TH     94;
SLG                 10TH   .507;
ISOLATED POWER      9TH    .222;
SECONDARY AVERAGE   10TH   .329;
GIDP                T3RD    22

1962 NL
HOME RUNS            T8TH    29;
GIDP                T4TH    18

See also[]

References[]

  • "Former Milwaukee slugger Joe Adcock dies at 71", Minneapolis Star Tribune, Star Tribune, May 4, 1999. Retrieved on 2006-10-20. (in English)

External links[]

Preceded by:
George Strickland
Cleveland Indians Manager
1967
Succeeded by:
Alvin Dark
Preceded by:
Gil Hodges
Batters with 4 home runs in one game
1954-07-31
Succeeded by:
Rocky Colavito
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