BARNEY JOY (XTRA)
Francis Bernard Joy
Born: 1882-1-27
Died: 1938-5-25
1938 obit has good summary of life outside of baseball including post-career pic
1900-8-14 B. Inherited mother's estate - valued at $970
1906-6-22 Star. Pitching stats compared with those of Bill Hampton.
year in PCL:
1907-8-23 Babe Reuter, who Joy used to catch, wants to come to US and has offer from Portland. Jack Huston offered $4500 for Joy. Some club will probably have draft put in for him but he can be covered up somehow. "after game crowd of patriotic small boys attempted to carry him off field on shoulders"
Best liked on team. Rooters shout at him "hickey-hickey" instead of "wikiwiki"
1907-7-09 SF Bulletin. "Maybe if Bill Squires got as many chances to make good as Barney Joy he would turn out to be just as big a find. But what's the use of talking, as the poet says, May bees don't fly in July. Remember how, a month or so ago, every one was telling their next-door neighbors and relations about the quince that Danny Long had picked up in the South Sea Isles. Well, it don't look much that way now, does it? The big Hawaiian is going ahead and annexing game after game in championship form. In spite of the fact that the team behind him played ball that was anything but class A. he had such an assortment of benders to puzzle the Beavers with in yesterday's contest that he finished the afternoon one point to the good. At that the tailenders put up a game tussle and all but nosed out the Seals in the last few frames. Besides shooting the sphere over the pan in a manner that was pleasing to Danny Long's eye, Barney Joy further ingratiated himself in the good heart of the doughty manager by landing on the leather for two nice little hits that had much to do with the final scoring."
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1907-8-03 B. "Barney Joy is gradually catching onto the siang expressions. He heard one the other day which was never sprung in Honolulu. While standing on the coach- ing line Bill Devereaux piped over to big Barney, "Get Jerry, Barney! Get Jerry there!"
Joy was puzzled. Bill's language was anything but plain. Finally he asked one of the Seals, "Who is this fellow Jerry Devereaux is talking about? I don't know any Jerry."
After a good laugh Joy was enlightened as to who Jerry was.
1907-8-03 Oakland Tribune. Pitched one scoreless inning of relief.
1907-8-04 SF Call & Post. Seals had lost six straight times to Oakland - Joy saved their honor by winning 3-1. Barney Joy "was the kid of victory and he had enough to blank a hundred Oakland teams if his colleagues had not gone wrong with him at a critical moment."
Joy allowed an unearned run in the 9th. Joy gave up one hit in the first eight innings and a second in the ninth.
"Devereaux, as usual, started out to have a lot of fun with Barney Joy and while the Oaks were on an even footing the kidding act was all his. But when Bill was thrown out at second on a close slide in the eighth the pride of Honolulu handed a few to the brindle boy, who was so thoroughly sore and out of sorts that he failed to come back."
1907-8-07 SF Bulletin. "Too bad Barney Joy can't pitch every day." Cartoon.
1907-8-07 Oakland Tribune. "The kanaka grass burner had an assortment of curves, benders, and burners that played havoc with Dillon's men." Joy in "his very best form" - "seems to be a coming pitcher."
1907-8-07 SF Examiner. Described as "dusky-skinned." Cartoon of Joy - "Did you all notice Barney's haircut."
1907-8-07 LA Times. Actually tells how LA's first run was scored. Player scored during argument over play.
1907-8-09 SF Call and Post. "Joy did not let out all his speed yesterday, but played more for control of the ball." Consequently, only struck out two. Largest Friday crowd in history of new park.
"It may not look right on paper to the skeptical brigade, but it goes all the same, and the Seals hung another on the Angel band yesterday afternoon. Of course, the whole team is entitled to share the credit for the fifth straight victory of the home team without a miss, but those who watched the proceedings insisted and still insist that Barney Joy was the one man who turned the clever feat.
Barney deserves to be lauded stronger than any of his companions, for his magnificent pitching surely kept the Angels swinging for fair and hitting nothing most of the time. After putting a run through in the eye opening period, the champions fell to the shoots of the big Kanaka kid like a grove of bushers.
The fans nearly went wild when they heard that Barney was carded to do the twisting. Everybody was there to give him the joyous hand of welcome when he entered the box. This may have had a lot to do with his grand work, for he was inspired with a bunch of confidence as soon as he heard the multitude shouting for him and only him."
1907-8-09 Examiner. Joy asked to pitch the game because it was ladies' day. [1907-8-11 Examiner. "Barney Joy, the Honolulu lad, has been coming into his own in grand style of late. In the early part of the season he looked to be hopelessly amateurish. He had plenty of speed, but he lacked control, and as for fielding his position, he didn't know the first rudiments. Danny Long at that time came in for some rather severe criticism for the reason that he didn't give Barney opportunity enough to work. The kanaka was left home while the Seals made trips to Los Angeles and also to Portland, which hardly seemed the right way to treat him, inasmuch as he had come all the way from Honolulu to accept a salary which was probably smaller than that given any other box man in the league.
It now appears that an injustice was done to Long in both these criticisms. The reason Barney was left at home was because he flatly refused to go out to the park in the mornings and work, and, in fact, cared more for the idle life which is led over-seas in his native land of dreams than for the arduous job of getting up early in the morning, beating it to the ball park and getting the benefit of practice and wholesome coaching. He had a lot to learn, but didn't know it. Now it is all but impossible to keep him away from the park. He is out almost every morning, with two others of the team, shooting 'em over the plate, while one man acts as backstop and the other as batsman. The result is that he is getting what he lacked in the early stages. Control is coming to him, and all the while he is learning more and more inside baseball, so that right now he stacks up well against any pitcher in the league. In fact, there are those who do not hesitate to class him as the star slab artist of the quartet of clubs.
Long has been duly appreciative of the Honolulu boy's desire to do his best, and although the official figures haven't been given out, it is known that Barney has had two raises in his salary, and both of them of the handsome sort. So it seems that while Long hasn't been saying much about it, he has been helping Barney to make good, both by persuading him to work and by tendering him some financial encouragement. Barney is by far the best box-office attraction of any of the pitchers in the league. As a matter of cold fact, he is the only star, from a box-office standpoint, at present on any of the pitching staffs."
1907-8-11 Chronicle. "where the question used to be, 'When is the feller going to win a game?' it is now 'When is this feller going to lose a game?' " Joy has the Indian sign on the Angels - won his third straight win against them, and his fifth for the season. "Mighty fine work for a man that was considered a gilded brick a few weeks back."
1907-8-11 C&P. Record crowd of 7K cheered Joy to victory.
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1907-8-13 Chronicle. Jack Huston [St. Louis Nationals' scout] offered $4500 for Joy before leaving town but Long refused him.
1907-8-14 Oregonian. Beat Joy on bunts - scored two earned runs mainly via bunts in 4th, and scored two runs in 5th when Joy made wild throw on bunt.
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1907-8-18 Oregon Daily Journal. Solid pic. Is most popular pitcher in Coast League.
1907-8-21 C&P. Did not walk a batter - is acquiring control.
1907-8-25 B. Was mowing the Commuters down until the 8th - didn't even allow a baserunner until the 5th.
1907-8-25 Examiner. Sequence of scores in 8th: 1b, e (1/2), 1b (1/2/3), wp (1/2), 3, hbp (1/2/3), bb (rbi, 1/2/3), sac fly 7.
Pic of Barney going up in air in 8th.
With the bases loaded, no out: "The Commuters did everything they could to excite Joy. They ran around the bags, jumped in the air, crawled on the ground, and even went so far as to shout at him in words which resembled the Hawaiian tongue. The combined efforts of the shouters had their effect."
1907-8-28 C&P. "Like the Seals, the Beavers were weak with the stick, three hits being the best they could extract from the puzzling benders of Joy, who seemed to grow more effective as the innings rolled by."
[1907-8-30 B. Mike (Mique) Fisher disposed of his punk shop on Fillmore street. "there will be nothing stirring in Europe until he has visited the Hawaiian islands with his all-star aggregation, which will be in November. The ball tossers and their followers will miss Fisher, for his dump was their headquarters. There, the players assembled nightly to fan, play the machine and listen to Fisher's perpetual flow of hot air. Barney Joy could always be found at 'the smallest retail cigar store in the world.' " [1907-8-30 Chronicle. Today is ladies' day. Joy likes to show for the ladies but wrenched his ankle on Wednesday (8-28) - may not be able to play. [1907-8-31 Chronicle. May have to take rest - twisted ankle going into 2nd on Wednesday and it's giving him trouble. It is hoped he will not miss time. [1907-9-01 Chronicle. Joy thinks his ankle can stand pitching - he will pitch in the doubleheader today.
1907-9-01 Chronicle. 4334 saw morning game and 8000 saw Joy pitch in the afternoon. "Barney Joy is one grand southpaw pitcher, as his work yesterday afternoon proved," but he must look to his laurels - Hartman of Portland, who beat him 1-0, may be even better.
1907-9-01 Examiner. Seals' inning streak snapped in afternoon game. For their series were 5-1 v. Portland. Oscar Jones relieved Joy in the 8th.
1907-9-01 C&P. Barney Joy played well throughout the game - if everyone had played like him, Portland would not have gotten that one run.
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1907-9-03 Bakersfield. Boston Nationals drafted Barney Joy. Joy pitched his first game on the continent at Bakersfield - Bakersfield fans wish him well.
1907-9-03 Examiner. Has done much better work - did not appear to be trying very hard.
1907-9-03 Oak Trib. "Barney Joy runs with all the grace and ease of a sick hay wagon." Seals disappointed to lose Joy by draft - will get only $1000 for him.
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1907-9-06 B. "When Barney Joy was told that Boston had sent in a draft for his services next year he innocently asked: "Where is this place Boston?"
The reply was: "It is about3000 miles east of here." "Gee!" he rejoined, shrugging his expansive shoulders, "but that is a long way to go to play baseball. Don't think I want any of that." "But they will treat you right," continued the bug: "Boston is a good baseball city."
"That may be," said Barney, "and so is San Francisco. I am pretty well pleased with this city, and besides, I am as far away from dear old Honolulu as I care to go at present."
1907-9-06 Chronicle. Joy walked eight - had bad day. "Several friends of Barney Joy from the islands came out to see him work and they were disappointed at his showing."
Joy is billed to pitch both games on Sunday.
1907-9-06 Bulletin. "Muscular and massive though he is," Joy may have been overworked these past few weeks.
[1907-9-07 Bulletin. Henry Harris, or Uncle Hank as he has been known to baseball fans for fifteen years, came out to see Joy yesterday. Oy vey. [
1907-9-07 Oak Trib. Danny Long will give Oakland fans a chance to see Barney Joy on Sunday. Joy is just as popular in Oakland as he is in San Francisco.
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1907-9-07 LA Evening Express. Good pic of Joy.
1907-9-08 Oak Trib. SF doubleheader was played at Freeman's Park in Oakland. Joy only allowed one run until the 9th inning, when he allowed five runs on six hits. "This blowing up of the big fellow has happened several times of late."
"Whether Barney Joy possesses the bull dog qualities of courage that is so necessary to a great pitcher, the writer has been unable to determine; but it certainly looked toward the end of yesterday's game that Barney's college colors are a decided ochre."
1907-9-10 C&P. Joy allowed three runs in the first inning but shut out LA from then one; was taken out in ninth with score tied 3-3. Game won 4-3 after 12 innings.
1907-9-10 Oak Trib. "The belief that Barney Joy is the possessor of a cabbage for a head will be the belief of the twenty-first century, for it is the belief, beholden of H. G. Lowry, primate of the Press Box.
The one failure of Joy's life will be his inability to impress Sisyphus Lowry that he possesses anything but a cabbage where a head should rest. Some day, say 100 years from now, they will print Mr. Lowry's lucubrations on the subject, and Joy's standing will be placed for posterity.
The twenty-first century, if it concerns itself at all about Barney Joy will see him, not as he really is, but as Mr. Lowry sees him.
THAT Barney Joy possesses not one whit more grace than a pachyderm he showed in his fielding yesterday. Something useful may be turned out of his rare behemoth of a man, but we thank our stars and the cat of Egypt that it is not our task. Possessed of mulish strength it strikes us strongly that Barney is also possessed of a mulish mind. In the opening inning Barney tangled himself up with his feet in trying to scrape up Dillon's grounder and we can assure you that it was no graceful picture that Barney presented when he tried beloberedly to unfasten himself from the coils of his own feet.
They say that great bodies move slowly, and the adage was never better illustrated than in the person of Barney Joy, when he attempted to field Dillon's bunt in the opening spasm."
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1907-9-23 B. "The local baseball fans will laugh, but it's a cinch that Barney Joy will not wear a happy countenance when he peruses the article penned by a New York scribe to the effect that the Hawaiian is a full-blooded negro. It will pay the Eastern reporters to smoke up on their Coast League dope a trifle, as Barney is far from being a negro, and his name is not "Bill."
It is true that the few colored players who endeavored to butt into the big leagues back East were forced to retire because the men on the opposing side generally jumped on them with sharpened spikes, but when big Barney shows up on the field and they see that he has no trace whatever of negro blood in his veins, the typewriter artists will get busy predicting a bright future, while the ball players will soon learn to like the good- natured pitcher. Manager Tenney needn't worry about the cold shoulder at the hotels or on the dining cars because of the chocolate hue of Barney, as he just has a natural tan that will wear off when not exposed to the sun's rays. The article reads:
"The announcement that the Boston National League Club has signed a negro pitcher for next season has started a zephyr along the baseball circuit which is liable to develop into a hurricane before Manager Tenney solves the hotel and dining car problem which stares him in the face.
"Bill Joy (that is his name) is a cracking good pitcher, and is a native-born Hawaiian.
"Some ten years or more ago the same thing was tried in the National League, but the negro second baseman who was with Boston found it so uncongenial that he had to quit. The negro infielder who played with Harvard for several years and then signed a contract in the New England League lasted little more than a month."
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1907-9-23 SF Chronicle. Did not journey north with the Seals.
1908-2-15 Dick Reuter signed by SF; Joy by Boston NL
1912-3-12 Cohn indignant to hear that Joy did not take the boat from Hawaii Cohn wanted him to take and will not report to Walla Walla until 4-03 or so.
1912-4-06 (Spokane) Will not come to pitch for Spokane - shows an indifference that does not please President Cohn. "Word from the islands" says that "Joy was way over weight and out of condition."
1921-9-05 Visiting in Honolulu from Kohala, "where he has been engaged for some time as head machinist in one of the sugar mills of that district."
1932 account of St. Louis College sports history - H.A.C. was a team of SLC alumni
had Henry Oana too 1930-12-18 16-year-old son, Rufus Dickson Joy, died.
1938-5-26 B. Obit. One of first newsboys in Honolulu.
1938-5-28 A. Pallbearers listed - baseball teammates.
