Haines, Jesse J.
Baseball
b. July 22, 1893, Clayton, OH
d. Aug. 5, 1978
Haines was on the roster of the Detroit Tigers briefly in 1915 and 1916, but never appeared in a game for them. In 1918, he pitched 5 innings for the Cincinnati Reds, then was sent back to the minors. He finally made it in 1920 with the St. Louis Cardinals, who bought his contract for $10,000, a sizable sum at the time.
A right-hander, the 6-foot, 190-pound Haines had a 13-20 record as a rookie, despite a 2.98 ERA and 4 shutouts. He then had three straight winning seasons, topped by a 20-13 mark in 1923.
On July 7, 1924, Haines pitched a no-hitter to beat the Boston Braves 5-0, one of the few bright spots in an 8-19 season, and he was 13-14 in 1925. Then Rogers Hornsby took over as the St. Louis manager. He used Haines as a spot starter and occasional reliever in 1926, resulting in a 13-4 record that helped the Cardinals get into the World Series against the New York Yankees.
After relieving in a first-game loss, Haines shut out the Yankees 4-0 in the third game. He had a 3-2 lead in the seventh inning of the seventh game when he developed a blister on his pitching hand. Grover Cleveland Alexander relieved him with the bases loaded and two outs and struck out Tony Lazzeri to end the inning. Alexander went on to pick up a save, while Haines was the winning pitcher.
Haines had his finest season in 1927, leading the NL in complete games with 25 and in shutouts with 6 while compiling a 24-10 mark and a 2.72 ERA. He went 20-8 in 1928, but arm trouble then began to bother him. Nevertheless, he had three straight winning seasons, going 13-10 in 1929, 13-8 in 1930, and 12-3 in 1931, when he appeared in only 19 games.
Primarily a knuckleball pitcher, Haines was used mostly in relief for the last six years of his career. He retired after the 1937 season, at the age of forty-four.