Joe Connolly

Who was Joe Connolly?

Joseph Aloysius Connolly was a left fielder in Major League Baseball who played his entire career for the Boston Braves from 1913 through 1916. Listed at 5 ft 7.5 in, 165 lb., Connolly batted left-handed and threw right-handed.

A native of North Smithfield, Rhode Island, Connolly was a prominent member of the 1914 Boston Braves World Champions. As for his defense at left field, the Boston Sunday Post wrote "he is fairly fast, the possessor of a strong wing and he covers a good extent of territory."

Connolly made his professional debut as a pitcher in 1906 with the Putnam, Connecticut team of the New England League. From 1908 to 1912, he divided his playing time with Class-A Little Rock and Class-B Zanesville teams, playing some outfield when he was not pitching. In 1909, while in Zanesville, he posted a 23–8 record and hit .308 during the season. The following year, despite he pitched for a sixth-place team that ended 16 games below .500, he went 16–17, including a no-hitter, a one-hitter, a two-hitter, and four three-hitters, but he was beginning to experience arm trouble. In 1911 he played exclusively at left field, but financial problems forced Zanesville to send him to Terre Haute of the Central League, as he led the league hitters with a .355 batting average, adding 27 stolen bases. The Chicago Cubs signed Connolly and then traded him to the Montreal Royals of the International League, where he hit .316 in 1912. Drafted by the Washington Senators of Clark Griffith in 1913, he was sold immediately to the Boston Braves, to become the team's regular left fielder. Thought his rookie Major League season ended prematurely when he broke his ankle, Connolly led the Braves in average, runs, RBI, triples, and slugging percentage, in 126 games played.