Eddie Joost

[Steve Jeltz]

I haven't seen his name mentioned on this forum often, just wondering what your opinion of him is. Joost was a 2 time All Star and garnered some MVP votes in 5 of his 8 seasons in Philly. Joost never hit for a high batting avg., but he had some pop in his bat and drew more walks than strikeouts in his career.

[KCGHOST]

The guy had a pretty respectable career as a middle-infielder. Lost two years to the war. His .185 average in 1943 is the lowest BA by a player in a single season with at least 400 AB's in the modern era.

[JoostSuderFain]

Eddie Joost is probably one of my favorite players (despite me only being 36 years old).

I first met him at a baseball card show in Bensalem, PA in 1992 or so. Not many people attended the show, so my father and I actually had the pleasure of sitting and talking to him for over an hour.

He related stories of his time on the 1939 Reds, as well as some great stories of Mr. Mack.

My only Philadelphia A's jersey has been numbered with 1, and at a Philadelphia A's Historical Society breakfast, he asked to get a photo with me wearing that jersey.

Incredibly nice man, one of my favorites to have sat and talked baseball with.

He once said, before a game, that Dizzy Dean was walking across a field and asked Joost what his batting average was right before he got signed to the Majors. Joost said, "Oh, I hit about .290." Dean laughed and said, "You ain't gonna hit me, then!"

[icee82]

I have written him several letters through the years and he has always been gracious enough to answer. I have multiple autos from him. I am a huge Reds' fan. In fact, I wrote him a letter last year about the scoreboard at Crosley in 1937. He did not know the answer to my question but he was kind enough to respond.

[philliesfiend55]

JOOST HAD A COUPLE OF GOOD YEARS TO COUNTER THAT.185 YEAR.
I BELIEVE HE FINSHED AT ABOUT .240 LIFETIME.
He really earned his pay with his glove however. He had the reputation as one of the best fielders of his day (mid'30s to mid-'50s).
He' played on the 1940 Worlds Champion Cincy Reds team. He's now one of the oldest living MLB players. Coincidentally his teammate from the '40 Reds infield, Lonnie Frey is still around and is even older than Joost, and another infielder from that team Bill Werber lived to be 100, until passing away earlier this year.

[pgsuperfan]

He also managed the HOLLYWOOD STARS (PCL) back in 1956

[icee82]

Joost is now the only living member of the 1939 and 1940 Reds' team.

[philliesfiend55]

Wall Of Fame

I went to a game at Veterans Stadium, Philadelphia (Opening Night, 1996) where the Phillies inducted two years worth of Wall Of Famers (from 1994 and 1995) to the Philly Wall Of Fame, which at that time included both Phillies and Athletics, and Joost was among them. They had stopped the induction ceremonies during the Strike-Torn '94 and '95 seasons.
It was supposed to be held on Opening Day, which got rained out and then was moved to what turned out to be Opening Night, '96.
The Phillies actually had two Wall Of Fame ceremonies that year - Opening Night in April for the Classes Of "94 & '95 and then in August (which is when Wall Of Fame Day has traditionally been) for the Class Of '96.

Honored at the Opening Night ceremonies for the Classes of '94 & '95 were:
Phillies: Wille "Puddin' Head" Jones and Dick Allen
and
Athletics: Eddie Joost and Bobby Shantz.

In August that same year they honored for the Class Of '96:
Phillies: Sam Thompson
and
Athletics: Ed Rommel.

The twist on the story is that when the Phillies moved from Veterans Stadium
to Citizens Bank Park for the start of the 2004 season they stopped honoring Athletics players and in fact removed the plaques of the Athletics from the Wall Of Fame. They were all sold (including Joost's plaque) to the Philadelphia Athletics Museum north of the city in Hatboro, PA, where they asre still on display. Previously known as the Philadelphia Baseball Wall Of Fame ( a more general name to include Athletics stars) at the new park the display is now simply known as the Phillies Wall Of Fame.

There were 25 Athletics in the Wall Of fame at the time the Athletics annual elections were discontinued. 31 Phillies have been elected in 32 years (In 1983 on the 100th anniversary of the first Phillies team (1883) they elected a Centennial Team Of Phillies Stars (1883-1983) instead of one individual). Annual Elections began in 1978.

*Philly-brownsfan*

[philliesfiend55]

Withdrawn Honor Is No Honor At All

Inordinately informative. Thank you for your great post.
Z

Thanks for noticing and appreciating the post , Z.

Once I received a job offer only to find that the employer rescinded the offer a few days before I was due to start the job. I imagine that the empty feeling I had when told that job was no longer available was the same feeling Mr. Joost (and other living Athletics Wall Of Famers) experienced X 10, that the honor that they had been bestowed with had been in effect withdrawn or rescinded when the Phillies deleted the Athletics portion of the Wall Of Fame prior to the start of the 2004 season. Living A's Joost, Shantz, Gus Zernial and a few others would have been effected by the Phillies decision to end the Athletics' participation in the Wall Of Fame. A statue outside Citizens Bank Park of Connie Mack is the only trace remaining that there once was an American League team in Philadelphia at the Phillies' current ballpark.