Leslie Ambrose "Bullet Joe" Bush (November 27, 1892 - November 1, 1974) born in Brainerd, Minnesota was a Pitcher for the Philadelphia Athletics (1912-17 and 1928), Boston Red Sox (1918-21), New York Yankees (1922-24), St. Louis Browns (1925), Washington Senators (1926), Pittsburgh Pirates (1926-27) and New York Giants (1927). He is credited with having developed the forkball pitch.^[1]

Bush helped the Athletics win the 1913 World Series and the 1914 American League Pennant, the Red Sox win the 1918 World Series, the Yankees win the 1922 AL Pennant and 1923 World Series and the Pirates win the 1927 National League Pennant. Bush also pitched a no-hitter in 1916.

Bush finished 4th in voting for the 1922 American League MVP for leading the League in Won-Loss % (.788) by having a 26-7 Win-Loss record, 39 Games, 30 Games Started, 20 Complete Games, 8 Games Finished, 3 Saves, 255 ⅓ Innings Pitched, 240 Hits Allowed, 109 Runs Allowed, 94 Earned Runs Allowed, 16 Home Runs Allowed, 85 Walks Allowed, 92 Strikeouts, 1 Hit Batsmen, 5 Wild Pitches, 1,062 Batters Faced and a 3.31 ERA.

He led the American League in Walks Allowed (109) in 1924, Losses (24) in 1916 and Wild Pitches in 1916 (15), 1923 (12) and 1924 (7). In 1916, when he led the league in losses, he won 15 games; the entire team won only 36! This was 41.7% of the team's total wins.

Bush currently ranks 71st on the Major League Baseball career shutouts list (35), 38th on the MLB career walks allowed List (1,263), 62nd on the MLB career losses list (183) and 92nd on the MLB career batters faced list (13,185).

In 17 years he had a 195-183 Win-Loss record, 489 Games, 366 Games Started, 225 Complete Games, 35 Shutouts, 93 Games Finished, 20 Saves, 3,087 ⅓ Innings Pitched, 2,992 Hits Allowed, 1,443 Runs Allowed, 1,205 Earned Runs Allowed, 96 Home Runs Allowed, 1,263 Walks Allowed, 1,319 Strikeouts, 62 Hit Batsmen, 90 Wild Pitches, 13,185 Batters Faced, 1 Balk and a 3.51 ERA.

Bush died in Fort Lauderdale, Florida at the age of 81.

[edit] See also

• List of Major League Baseball leaders in career wins
• List of Major League Baseball no-hitters

[edit] Notes

[edit] External links

• Career statistics and player information from Baseball-Reference
• Baseball Library
• The Deadball Era
• Retrosheet