{{short description|Irish baseball player (1918-2004)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=July 2024}} {{Infobox baseball biography |name=Joe Cleary |position=Pitcher |image=Joe Cleary.jpeg |bats=Right |throws=Right |birth_date={{Birth date|1918|12|3}} |birth_place=Cork, Ireland |death_date={{death date and age|2004|6|3|1918|12|3}} |death_place=Yonkers, New York, U.S. |debutleague = MLB |debutdate=August 4 |debutyear=1945 |debutteam= Washington Senators |finalleague = MLB |finaldate=August 4 |finalyear=1945 |finalteam= Washington Senators |statleague = MLB |stat1label=Win–loss record |stat1value=0–0 |stat2label=Earned run average |stat2value=189.00 |stat3label=Strikeouts |stat3value=1 |teams= * Washington Senators ({{baseball year|1945}}) |highlights= }} '''Joseph Christopher Cleary''' (December 3, 1918 – June 3, 2004), nicknamed "Fire", was an Irish born Major League Baseball pitcher for one game in 1945. The right-hander was born in Cork, and he was the last native of Ireland or Northern Ireland to appear in a major league game until P. J. Conlon debuted for the New York Mets on May 7, 2018. He also holds the major league record for the highest ERA of any pitcher who retired a batter.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/31244f1f|last=Bevis|first=Charlie|title=Joe Cleary|work=Society for American Baseball Research|accessdate=2019-02-03}}</ref>
==Major League career== Cleary pitched one game in relief for the Washington Senators on August 4, 1945. In the 4th inning of game 2 of a doubleheader against the Boston Red Sox, he gave up 8 baserunners (5 hits and 3 walks) and 7 earned runs in just {{fraction|1|3}} of an inning. The only out that he recorded was a strikeout of opposing pitcher Dave Ferriss.<ref>{{cite web |title=Boston Red Sox at Washington Senators Box Score, August 4, 1945 |url=https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/WS1/WS1194508042.shtml |website=Baseball-Reference.com |publisher=Sports Reference |access-date=5 May 2021 |language=en}}</ref>
In Cleary's short MLB career he had a 0–0 record with 1 strikeout and an ERA of 189.00.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Joe Cleary Stats|url=https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/c/clearjo01.shtml|access-date=2021-03-23|website=Baseball-Reference.com|language=en}}</ref>
== Personal life == Joe Cleary was born in 1918 in Cork, Ireland and moved to the Upper West Side of New York City in 1928. Cleary attended Commerce High School where he played baseball, once headlining ''The New York Times''. Later, while still enrolled at Commerce, Cleary played on various semi-professional teams in Brooklyn in order to supplement his father's income. Such teams included the Brooklyn Bay Parkways and the Puerto Rican Stars.<ref>{{Cite web|last=O'Callaghan|first=Eoin|title='I can remember the faces in the dugout when I told him to go f**k himself': the remarkable tale of Joe Cleary|url=https://www.the42.ie/joe-cleary-baseball-4005815-May2018/|access-date=2021-03-23|website=The42|date=13 May 2018 |language=en}}</ref>
He died at the age of 85 in Yonkers, New York.{{citation needed|date=March 2021}}
==See also== *List of players from Ireland in Major League Baseball
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== {{Baseballstats|br=c/clearjo01|brm=cleary001jos}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cleary, Joe}} Category:1918 births Category:2004 deaths Category:Washington Senators (1901–1960) players Category:Major League Baseball pitchers Category:Major League Baseball players from Ireland Category:Orlando Senators players Category:Charlotte Hornets (baseball) players Category:Chattanooga Lookouts players Category:Buffalo Bisons (minor league) players Category:Jersey City Giants players Category:Gainesville G-Men players Category:Charleston Rebels players Category:Augusta Tigers players Category:Anniston Rams players Category:Greensburg Green Sox players Category:Burials at Gate of Heaven Cemetery (Hawthorne, New York) Category:Baseball players from Manhattan Category:Sportspeople from Cork (city) Category:Irish emigrants to the United States