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Smead Jolley was a slugging outfielder on the worst team in baseball, the Red Sox. He was second on the team with a .309 batting average and banged out 18 homers and drove in 99 runs in 1932. Jolley belted a homer that was said to be close to 500 feet, deep into the center-field bleachers. The Boston Globe wrote, “When Jolley goes to bat, all the outfielders back up against the fences,” But Boston Globe columnist Dave Egan declared, “He’s giving away more runs than he knocks in with his bat.” Later in May, Jolley hit a long home run in the early part of the game, then staggered under a high fly ball that landed behind him while the batter scrambled around the bases for an inside-the-park home run. In June, he took a header on Duffy’s Cliff, then caught the fly high fly ball while in a seated position. Then in Cleveland, Jolley turned two line drives at him into doubles. His bad baserunning knocked down Mel Harder who was fielding a grounder he hit, and was called out for interference, leaving the Red Sox one run short of catching the Indians in a 5-4 game. Three days later, Jolley’s baserunning cost the Sox a game in Detroit when he held up at second on a ball that should have been a double. Seeing the batter running toward him at second, Smead suddenly broke for third and was tagged out. In September, Jolley caught his first major league game and won the game with a three-run homer. He never committed an error but there were four stolen bases against him. Ossie Bluege stole bases three days in a row against him, remembering later, “He could never fathom those shinguards." Invariably while chasing foul balls, he’d get himself tangled up in them, and the ball would drop in safely. Smead Jolley was only on the Red Sox for two years, but he furnished many a laugh during that time. He passed away after a stroke, on November 17, 1991 in Alameda, California, at the South Shore Convalescent Hospital, at the age of 89. |
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