Hess, Otto

Otto was born in Bern. In 1888, he and his parents emigrated to the United States . With the beginning of the Spanish-American War , in 1898, Hess was called up for military service, which took place in the Philippines . He returned to the USA in 1902. Accurate data on the initial stage of his baseball career has not been preserved. In the Major League Baseball, Otto first played in August 1902 as part of the Cleveland Broncos . Until the end of the championship, he spent seven games for the team ^[1] .

The 1903 season Hess spent in the Kansas City Blue Stockings, who played in the Western League. The head coach of the team was the future member of Baseball Hall of Fame Charles Nichols . A year later, Otto returned to Cleveland and spent twenty-one games for the club in the 1904 championship, fifteen of which were full . That year, he earned a reputation as an unpredictable pitcher who could knock one batter out after another, and failed in the next inning . For example, on July 14 in a match with New York Highlanders , Hess missed ten points in one inning. Naps head coach Bill Armor also tried to use Otto in the attack, and he played outfielder positions for twelve games, but beat them to only 12.0% ^[1] .

In 1905, Nap Lazhue began to perform the duties of the head coach. Under his leadership, Hess spent the best for the season as a batter, having noted two home runs . In the role of the starting pitcher, he played in twenty-five games, scoring ten wins with an ERA index of 3.16. The team in the first part of the championship struggled to win the league, but then, having lost a number of leading players due to injuries, rolled back to fifth place. The following year, Naps had the best season in their history, winning 89 matches with 64 losses, but remained third. Again injured leading pitchers, followed by an unsuccessful game segment in August. Otto, who was the only left-handed pitcher in the squad, took part in forty-three games. In August, he had to play seven matches in a pitcher position and another six in the outfield. September 25 against “ Philadelphia Athletics ” Hess spent one of the best games in his career, stopping a step from the know-hitter . On October 3, he won his twentieth win of the season ^[1] .

1906 was the peak of his career. The following season, Otto injured his leg and was able to participate only in seventeen games of the team. Waiting for his return in the spring of 1908, but because of a hand injury, he entered the field in just four games, and then was sent to the Columbus Senators from the American Association. Then the contract Hess redeemed the team " New Orleans Pelicans ", for which he played from 1909 to 1911. For three years, he was one of the best pitchers of the Southern Association, scoring 66 wins and 29 defeats. In 1910 and 1911, the Pelicans won the championship, and Otto was the best in the league in terms of the number of victories ^[1] .

At the end of the year, he moved to Boston Braves , returning to Major League Baseball. For most of the 1912 season, Hess, like the team as a whole, performed poorly. By the end of August, he had four victories and seventeen defeats. In September, Otto was transformed and won eight games in a row, but the Braves were the worst in the National League . In 1913, George Stallings took over as manager of the club, who almost completely renewed the roster. Hess remained one of the team's starting pitchers, but inferior in effectiveness to younger Bill James , Dick Rudolph and Lefty Tyler ^[1] .

In the championship season in 1914, Otto was on the sidelines of the team. Rudolph, James and Tyler three won 69 matches, while all the other team pitchers won only 25 victories. He took part in fourteen games. Stollings at the end of the season called him "our old and reliable Otto Hess." However, his career in the Major League Baseball was nearing completion. In the spring of 1915, Otto played for the club in four games and was dismissed in June ^[1] .

In 1916 and 1917, Hess played in the junior leagues for the Vernon Tigers and Atlanta Crackers . Then the United States entered the First World War and he was again called up for military service. Otto Hess was one of five Major League Baseball players who took part in the Hispanic-American and First World Wars. In France, he contracted tuberculosis , from which he later died in a veteran hospital in Tucson ^[1] .

• Performance statistics at baseball-reference.com (English)