Joe Cunningham Stats

Joe Cunningham was born on Thursday, August 27, 1931, in Paterson, New Jersey. Cunningham was 22 years old when he broke into the big leagues on June 30, 1954, with the St. Louis Cardinals. His biographical data, year-by-year hitting stats, fielding stats, pitching stats (where applicable), career totals, uniform numbers, salary data and miscellaneous items-of-interest are presented by Baseball Almanac on this comprehensive Joe Cunningham baseball stats page.

"You know, (Early) Wynn didn't like it when batters hit the ball up the middle and through the mound and in one game, I singled up the middle against him. Do you know what he did the next time I stepped up to the plate? He knocked me down and hit me with the pitch. I got up, went to first and scored a run. The third time I came up, I hit the ball up the middle again for another single and we eventually won the game, 3-1. I never really understood why he would get so upset with a ball hit up the middle. That's just the way I hit. I used to hit the ball past the pitcher a lot. Wynn would just get as mad as a hell when you hit it back at him." - Joe Cunningham (Kuenster, Bob. Baseball Digest: Once In A Lifetime. 2003 December. Page 66.)

Birth Name:	Joseph Robert Cunningham, Jr.
Nickname:	Jersey Joe or Joe or Smokey Joe
Born On:	08-27-1931 (Virgo)
Born In:	Paterson, New Jersey
Died On:	03-25-2021 (500 Oldest Living)
Died In:	Chesterfield, Missouri
Cemetery:	Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery, St. Louis, Missouri

High School:	Lodi High School (Lodi, NJ)
College:	None Attended
Bats:	Left	Throws:	Left
Height:	6-01	Weight:	190
First Game:	06-30-1954 (Age 22)
Last Game:	04-17-1966
Draft:	Not Applicable

Did Not Pitch

Joe Cunningham Joe Cunningham Hitting Stats
Year	Age	Team	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	GRSL	RBI	BB	IBB	SO	SH	SF	HBP	GIDP	AVG	OBP	SLG
1954	23	Cardinals	85	310	40	88	11	3	11	0	50	43	5	40	1	0	2	3	.284	.375	.445
1956	25	Cardinals	4	3	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	.000	.250	.000
1957	26	Cardinals	122	261	50	83	15	0	9	1	52	56	6	29	1	6	5	3	.318	.439	.479
1958	27	Cardinals	131	337	61	105	20	3	12	0	57	82	3	23	1	1	3	9	.312	.449	.496
1959	28	Cardinals	144	458	65	158	28	6	7	0	60	88	9	47	2	3	5	9	.345	.453	.478
1960	29	Cardinals	139	492	68	138	28	3	6	0	39	59	4	59	3	3	6	8	.280	.363	.386
1961	30	Cardinals	113	322	60	92	11	2	7	0	40	53	3	32	3	1	11	1	.286	.403	.398
1962	31	White Sox	149	526	91	155	32	7	8	0	70	101	3	59	10	8	7	8	.295	.410	.428
1963	32	White Sox	67	210	32	60	12	1	1	0	31	33	2	23	2	3	4	4	.286	.388	.367
1964	33	White Sox	40	108	13	27	7	0	0	0	10	14	1	15	1	0	3	0	.250	.352	.315
1964	33	Senators	49	126	15	27	4	0	0	0	7	23	0	13	1	0	2	4	.214	.344	.246
1965	34	Senators	95	201	29	46	9	1	3	0	20	46	0	27	1	0	1	7	.229	.375	.328
1966	35	Senators	3	8	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	.125	.125	.125
Career			G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	GRSL	RBI	BB	IBB	SO	SH	SF	HBP	GIDP	AVG	OBP	SLG
12 Years			1,141	3,362	525	980	177	26	64	1	436	599	36	369	26	25	49	56	.291	.403	.417

Joe Cunningham Joe Cunningham Fielding Stats
Team	POS	G	GS	OUTS	TC	TC/G	CH	PO	A	E	DP	PB	CASB	CACS	FLD%	RF
1954 Cardinals	1B	85	84	2,253	892	10.5	882	814	68	10	96	n/a	n/a	n/a	.989	10.57
1956 Cardinals	1B	1	0	6	2	2.0	2	2	0	0	0	n/a	n/a	n/a	1.000	9.00
1957 Cardinals	1B	57	22	810	296	5.2	296	279	17	0	17	n/a	n/a	n/a	1.000	9.87
1957 Cardinals	RF	47	42	1,032	81	1.7	79	78	1	2	0	n/a	n/a	n/a	.975	2.07
1958 Cardinals	1B	68	31	1,029	352	5.2	351	328	23	1	19	n/a	n/a	n/a	.997	9.21
1958 Cardinals	LF	24	20	528	33	1.4	33	32	1	0	1	n/a	n/a	n/a	1.000	1.69
1958 Cardinals	RF	42	40	978	58	1.4	56	54	2	2	1	n/a	n/a	n/a	.966	1.55
1959 Cardinals	1B	35	10	432	168	4.8	167	158	9	1	22	n/a	n/a	n/a	.994	10.44
1959 Cardinals	LF	21	13	348	20	1.0	19	18	1	1	0	n/a	n/a	n/a	.950	1.47
1959 Cardinals	RF	109	104	2,550	188	1.7	183	179	4	5	1	n/a	n/a	n/a	.973	1.94
1960 Cardinals	1B	15	14	366	124	8.3	124	114	10	0	7	n/a	n/a	n/a	1.000	9.15
1960 Cardinals	RF	116	108	2,832	198	1.7	188	182	6	10	1	n/a	n/a	n/a	.949	1.79
1961 Cardinals	1B	10	6	186	70	7.0	70	69	1	0	8	n/a	n/a	n/a	1.000	10.16
1961 Cardinals	LF	1	1	24	2	2.0	2	2	0	0	0	n/a	n/a	n/a	1.000	2.25
1961 Cardinals	RF	85	76	1,920	139	1.6	134	132	2	5	1	n/a	n/a	n/a	.964	1.88
1962 White Sox	1B	143	142	3,777	1,380	9.7	1,372	1,282	90	8	118	n/a	n/a	n/a	.994	9.81
1962 White Sox	RF	5	3	66	6	1.2	6	6	0	0	0	n/a	n/a	n/a	1.000	2.45
1963 White Sox	1B	58	57	1,476	565	9.7	559	535	24	6	39	n/a	n/a	n/a	.989	10.23
1964 White Sox	1B	33	30	777	281	8.5	280	264	16	1	25	n/a	n/a	n/a	.996	9.73
1964 Senators	1B	41	33	930	330	8.0	329	316	13	1	28	n/a	n/a	n/a	.997	9.55
1965 Senators	1B	59	43	1,236	423	7.2	417	393	24	6	44	n/a	n/a	n/a	.986	9.11
1966 Senators	1B	3	3	63	14	4.7	14	10	4	0	1	n/a	n/a	n/a	1.000	6.00
Career	POS	G	GS	OUTS	TC	TC/G	CH	PO	A	E	DP	PB	CASB	CACS	FLD%	RF
1B Totals		608	475	13,341	4,897	8.1	4,863	4,564	299	34	424	n/a	n/a	n/a	.993	9.84
RF Totals		404	373	9,378	670	1.7	646	631	15	24	4	n/a	n/a	n/a	.964	1.86
LF Totals		46	34	900	55	1.2	54	52	2	1	1	n/a	n/a	n/a	.982	1.62
12 Years		1,058	882	23,619	5,622	5.3	5,563	5,247	316	59	429	n/a	n/a	n/a	.990	6.36

Joe Cunningham Joe Cunningham Miscellaneous Stats
Baserunning Statistics				Other Positions			Common Hitting Ratios			Common Pitching Ratios
Team	SB	CS	SB%	PH	PR	DH	AB/HR	AB/K	AB/RBI	K/BB	K/9	BB/9
1954 Cardinals	1	1	.500	0	0	n/a	28.2	7.8	6.2	-	-	-
1956 Cardinals	0	0	.000	3	1	n/a	0.0	3.0	0.0	-	-	-
1957 Cardinals	3	3	.500	38	3	n/a	29.0	9.0	5.0	-	-	-
1958 Cardinals	4	4	.500	29	1	n/a	28.1	14.7	5.9	-	-	-
1959 Cardinals	2	6	.250	11	1	n/a	65.4	9.7	7.6	-	-	-
1960 Cardinals	1	7	.125	13	0	n/a	82.0	8.3	12.6	-	-	-
1961 Cardinals	1	0	1.000	27	2	n/a	46.0	10.1	8.1	-	-	-
1962 White Sox	3	3	.500	4	0	n/a	65.8	8.9	7.5	-	-	-
1963 White Sox	1	0	1.000	9	0	n/a	210.0	9.1	6.8	-	-	-
1964 White Sox	0	1	.000	8	0	n/a	0.0	7.2	10.8	-	-	-
1964 Senators	0	1	.000	8	2	n/a	0.0	9.7	18.0	-	-	-
1965 Senators	0	1	.000	37	2	n/a	67.0	7.4	10.1	-	-	-
1966 Senators	0	0	.000	0	0	n/a	0.0	8.0	0.0	-	-	-
Career	SB	CS	SB%	PH	PR	DH	AB/HR	AB/K	AB/RBI	K/BB	K/9	BB/9
12 Years	16	27	.372	187	12	n/a	52.5	9.1	7.7	-	-	-

Joe Cunningham Joe Cunningham Miscellaneous Items of Interest
Team \| Roster	Uniform Numbers	Salary	All-Star	World Series
1954 St. Louis Cardinals	28	Undetermined	-	-
1956 St. Louis Cardinals	28	Undetermined	-	-
1957 St. Louis Cardinals	28	Undetermined	-	-
1958 St. Louis Cardinals	28	Undetermined	-	-
1959 St. Louis Cardinals	28	Undetermined	Stats	-
1960 St. Louis Cardinals	28	Undetermined	-	-
1961 St. Louis Cardinals	28	Undetermined	-	-
1962 Chicago White Sox	5	Undetermined	-	-
1963 Chicago White Sox	5	Undetermined	-	-
1964 Chicago White Sox	5	$34,250.00	-	-
1964 Washington Senators	3	" "	-	-
1965 Washington Senators	3	$28,000.00	-	-
1966 Washington Senators	3	Undetermined	-	-
Joe Cunningham Stats by Baseball Almanac

Joseph Robert Cunningham, Jr. was a Major League Baseball player with the St. Louis Cardinals (1954, 1956-1961), Chicago White Sox (1962-1964), and Washington Senators (1964-1966). Smokey Joe, his nickname, made his big league debut on June 30, 1954, and became the first Lodi High School graduate to play in the majors!

During Cunningham's debut, in the top of the fifth inning, with baserunners on first and second, Joe homered in his third career at bat (3 RBI). Two innings later, he singled and drove two more runs (2 RBI). The five-RBI performance was the first by a Cards' player in their first career game during the entire 20th century!

Joe Cunningham Rookie Baseball Card

Joe Cunningham Rookie Card | 1955 Topps Baseball Card (#37 | Checklist)
Baseball Almanac Collection

Did you know that Joe Cunningham homered two additional times in his second career game, on July 1, 1954, both off Warren Spahn, and set a team record for most home runs (3) during a Cardinals first two Major League games?

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