Former Braves pitcher has died

The Brave the organization recently lost a member of its 1966 squad, which was its first team in Atlanta.

Former pitcher Joey Jay died last month. He was 89 years old.

“Joseph Jay, a devout Christian from Largo, Florida, returned to God at St. Józefa September 27, 2024 read the obituary statement from a florida funeral home.

“Joseph will forever be remembered for his love and devotion to God and family.

“Józef left behind a loving wife of 70 years, five children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.”

According to Anthony Franco of MLB Trade RumosJay began his MLB career for a $20,000 signing bonus in 1953 with the Milwaukee Braves. He was only 17 years old then.

Because of the bonus, Jay, along with several other very young MLB players who signed significant rookie contracts at the time, earned the nickname “the bonus kid.”

Jay did he made his MLB debut on July 21, 1953 at the age of 17. He made his first start on September 20 of the same year, throwing seven straight innings that were officially considered a complete game because rain shortened the competition.

Jay spent his first eight professional baseball seasons in the Braves organization. In 1956, when he was only 20 years old, he played exclusively in the lower leagues.

After the 1960 season, the Braves traded Jay to the Cincinnati Reds for goalie Roy McMillan. With the Reds, Jay became an instant All-Star. He led the National League with 21 wins and 4 shutouts in 1961. He repeated those numbers (21 wins, 4 shutouts) and in 1962 played a career-best 16 complete games.

Midway through his sixth season in Cincinnati, the Reds traded Jay back to the Braves, who moved to Atlanta. During the second half of the 1966 season, Jay went 0-4 in nine appearances for the Braves. This was his last appearance in the major leagues.

Jay finished his career with a 99-91 record and 3.77 ERA with 999 strikeouts in 1,546.1 innings. He started 203 matches of his 310 appearances.

After baseball, Jay successfully started the company business careers in oil drilling and other fields such as taxi companies, limousine fleets, carpet cleaning companies and building maintenance companies.