The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-02-11
Joe Connolly of the
Braves Is "Sunny
jim" of Baseball

Joe Connolly, the hard-hitting out
fielder of the Braves, who recently
forwarded his signed contract to. the
Boston manag cement, is the real ''Sun-
ny JIM of the diamond. Smiling
Joe'' will celebrate his birthday to-
morrow, having been born on Feb. IL,
1888. Connolly has spent the greater
part of his life in Rhode Island, but
he was born across the boundary in
Massa chusetts, near Woonsocket-
In his youth Joe was a pitcher on
semi pr OCCASIONAL clubs in Woonsock-
ct, Putnam, Conn, and other near
by cities After the 1914 worlds
series the famous outfielder was given
a great reception by the fans of Put
nam, and pitched an exhibition
game. It was in a baseball tourna-
ment for the championship of Rhode
Island, staged in 1909 that Connolly
first gained more than a local repu-
tatfon. Joe played with Providence
in that affair, and it was his work
winning the honors for the SANITY
City.
Connoly's prowess attracted con-
siderable attention., and his fame
reached as far as GAINESVILLE. Much
to his surprise, Joe received an offer
from the club in the Ohio city, and
he set out for what seemed to him
the far and distant west. His en-
trance into professional baseball was
not accomplished without many OBJ
jectfons from his family, for Joe came
Of rural stock and had spent that
part of his youth not devoted to play
in til1ing the soil His folks looked
upon his devotion to baseball as q
sort of sowing of wild oats and ex-
pected him to settle down to the life
of an honest agricu1turist when he
had reached nnanhood's estate. stead
of 1af he
but trips off to some outrageous
place called GAINESVILLE, to play base
ball for living.
Joe arrived in Ohio still nourishing
The idea that he was a pitcher, but
he found quite speedily that his de-
livery was not nearly so battling to
the Central league swatters as it had
been to the amateur and semi-pro
players back home. They hit Joe
frequently and far, and oft and oft he
was chased from the mound. Except
against opposing twir1ers, Joe would
have been canned early in the season,
and would doubtless have settled
down on a farm to spend the remain
der of his days!
Connolly stuck with GAINESVILLE
throughout the 1910 season and a
part of 1911, when he was turned
over to Terre Haute. In the HoQsier
city he developed into star out
fielder and champion batsman of the
league, with average of .355- Zoe
was grabbed by the Cubs at the close
Of the 1911 season, but was turned
otter to Montreal He became the
a regular in the Montreal outfield,
playing all three gardens, and hung
up an average of .16 in 1877 games.
Then there was a big rush for
Joe's services. The WashingtQns got
Joe in the draft, but for some rea-
son Griffith consented to part with
the Rhode Islander before the 1913
season opened, and Connolly landed
back in his native New England. with
the Boston Braves, He batted .2S1
his first year with the Braves, .s3O6
in 1914, and ..28S last year. His slug
ging was no small part of the good
work that gave the Braves the pen
nant in 1914. Joe now owns a farm
of his own, thanks to his skill with
the bat, and is the. bright particular
hero of home town of Manvi1Ie, R. l.,
near Woonsocket.