By Rit Carter
Bristol has a long and rich history with baseball dating back to just before the Civil War, but it was the New Departure teams that put Bristol on the baseball map with their popularity and competitiveness.
Countless semi-pro leagues like the Connecticut State League, and the Colonial League had teams here. When the Eastern League came to Bristol in 1973, Bristol at long last had a true professional team with the AA Bristol Red Sox.
Then there are the two Little League teams in 1976 and 1983 who went to Williamsport for the Little League World Series.
However, Bristol’s gold standard is the American Legion program which began play in 1928 and has won over 30 zone titles, 14 state senior division championships and four appearances in the American Legion World Series in 1974, 1984, 1997, and 2008.
We know the names of Bristol’s baseball greats and we’ve heard their stories.
But what if I told you there is a major league ball player from Bristol who played so long ago that Babe Ruth was a Red Sox, the Yankees were called the Highlanders, and there was no shrine to baseball in Cooperstown?
Not only that, but he set a record for strikeouts in a college game in 1911, was scouted by none other than Connie Mack, and when he was called up to the big leagues in 1912 with the Pittsburgh Pirates, he became a teammate of future Hall of Famer Honus Wagner.
However, by one of those oddities of fate and the abyss of time, he is not in Bristol’s Sports Hall of Fame (BSHOF), nor has he been nominated.
I kid you not.
His name is Joe Conzelman, and this is his story.
Joseph Harrison Conzelman was born July 14, 1889, in Bristol and was the oldest child of Joseph and Carrie Conzelman.
Conzelman grew up in Bristol when Bristol began emerging as a city. Like many of that time, he played ball on Federal Hill, and for Bristol High School, where he called third base home.
Following high school, he attended the Connecticut Agricultural College (UConn) and was captain of the football team while also playing basketball and baseball for the school. It was here that he developed as a pitcher.
Playing in the Independent League assured Connecticut Agricultural College that they did not play many games and the competition could be improved. Upon graduating in 1909 with a degree in Mechanic Arts, he attended Brown University, where there were sufficient games, and the opposing teams were vastly improved.
Pitching for the Ivy League School from 1910-1912, he excelled particularly in 1911. The Bruins went 20-5, and Joe Conzelman was a dominant force on the hill.
On April 15 vs. Penn State, he struck out nine and allowed five hits in a 6-2 win.
Only four days later, he threw a shutout over Wesleyan (5-0).
In Providence against Princeton on April 22, the New York Times described his outing as “pitching with the coolness of a veteran.” He K’d 13 and allowed but two hits in a 4-2 victory.
April 29, in a 7-6 loss to West Point, Conzelman struck out 13.
On May 5, he fanned 10 in a 3-0 win over the University of Virginia.
Saturday, May 10, in front of 3,500 fans at Andrews Field in Providence, he mowed down 13, allowing two hits in a 4-2 win over Princeton.
But it was Saturday, May 20, vs. Columbia, that was his Rembrandt.
When the Brown faithful filed into Brown’s Andrews Field that Saturday afternoon to see the home team, they had no idea that they would not only see a pitcher’s duel with Brown prevailing with 3 runs in the 9th, but history made too.
Columbia’s Coach Dave Fultz hoped his slumping team from Morningside Heights would turn things around against Conzelman. The Columbia skipper picked the wrong day and pitcher for such a prediction.
With temps in the mid-70s, the Bristol native scattered three hits and struck out 21 batters, equaling the record for strikeouts in a 3-1 win. Three times that day, he struck out the side in order (3 strikeouts in an inning).
Soon, a half dozen scouts started following the right-hander from Bristol.
In 1912, it was more of the same with three future major leaguers on the team (Kenneth Nash, Ed Warner, and Conzelman). Brown finished the season with a 19-5 mark.
Over the 1911 and 1912 seasons, Conzelman won 18 of his 22 starts, going 8-2 in 1911 and 10-2 in 1912.
Conzelman graduated from Brown with a degree in civil engineering. After fielding numerous offers for his pitching services, he came to terms with the Pittsburgh Pirates on June 20 for $3,500.
He was on the Pirates roster for 1912 but did not play.
Joe made his major league debut on May 1, 1913, vs. the St. Louis Cardinals before 3,000 spectators at Pittsburgh’s historic Forbes Field. He pitched an inning in relief, striking out two.
Joe Conzelman played professionally from 1913-1915 and was up and down between the Pirates and their minor league affiliates. He was primarily a relief pitcher, and, in that era, there were no righty-lefty maneuvers for strategy purposes, and starting pitchers threw until they could not throw anymore or were injured.
Even though he was in the bullpen, he did have several good outings as a starter.
On May 1, 1914, Joe held the Cincinnati Reds hitless through five innings, yielding four hits and two runs in a 4-2 win.
One month later, he stymied the Cardinals, striking out four while allowing four hits in a 4-1 complete-game victory.
Despite being a popular Pirate amongst teammates and fans for his gentlemanly stature, following the 1915 season, Joe Conzelman retired. The lean 6’0″, 170-pound right-handed pitcher who beguiled hitters with his strategic blend of fastballs and drop pitches, and Bristol’s finest athlete in his day, was done with baseball.
Conzelman left the game because he could make a better living as an engineer, and he was not getting quality playing time.
His career numbers show a record of 6-8, an ERA (earned run average) of 2.92, while pitching 163.1 innings and striking out 70.
Conzelman entered the major leagues at an interesting time.
Known as the dead ball era (1900-1920), the games were primarily low-scoring affairs where they did not rely on the three-run homer and instead relied on strategy and what we know now as small ball. In addition, the ballparks were cavernous (Forbes Field was 457 ft. to center field), and the pitchers could legally doctor the baseball.
A fascinating quirk was that fans were not allowed to keep foul balls. In those days, balls were not taken out of play by high maintenance pitchers because it had a slight imperfection, like a grain of dirt on the laces. The same ball was used until it was not recognizable. As a result, fans were known to be ejected from the game for not returning foul balls.
The era also saw the end of the wooden ballparks. Forbes Field, where the Pirates played their home games, and Shibe Park in Philadelphia ushered in the first stadiums made of steel and concrete in 1909.
In December 1915, Joe Conzelman married Antoinette Dunn from a prominent Pittsburgh family, and they had three children. Joan, Joseph Jr., who played football at Harvard, and Thomas, who died at 12 due to a bicycle accident.
But as skillful as Conzelman was on the diamond, he was more accomplished academically.
During his off-seasons with the Pirates, Joe furthered his education by taking postgraduate classes at Columbia University in highway engineering, where he published a paper, entitled “Financial Problems Involved in the Selection of a Suitable Type of Road or Pavement.” The effort resulted in an engineering degree.
And if that was not enough, in January of 1918, he entered the military and graduated from the United States Aeronautics in Urbana, Ill.
Following his playing days, he became president of the Alabama Asphalt and Limestone Co.
In 1971, he was acknowledged for his pitching accomplishments when he was enshrined into Brown University’s Sports Hall of Fame.
It is easy to see how he has been overlooked for consideration in the BSHOF. No one alive today saw him play, and not much has survived from that era of baseball in Bristol.
Hopefully, Conzelman’s baseball feats will be examined and considered for induction into the BSHOF in the coming years.
Once there, his name will be immortalized with Bristol’s other baseball greats like Dave Cichon, Mike Giovinazzo, Spec Monico, Joe Jandreau, and many others.
Joseph Harrison Conzelman died on April 17, 1979, in Mountain Brook, Ala., at 93.
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