:Joe Sprinz

{{Infobox baseball biography

|name=Joe Sprinz

|position=Catcher

|image=Joe Sprinz.jpeg

|bats=Right

|throws=Right

|birth_date={{Birth date|1902|8|3|mf=y}}

|birth_place=St. Louis, Missouri, U.S.

|death_date={{death date and age|1994|1|11|1902|8|3}}

|death_place=Fremont, California, U.S.

|debutleague = MLB

|debutdate=July 16

|debutyear=1930

|debutteam=Cleveland Indians

|finalleague = MLB

|finaldate=May 18

|finalyear=1933

|finalteam=St. Louis Cardinals

|statleague = MLB

|stat1label=Batting average

|stat1value=.170

|stat2label=Home runs

|stat2value=0

|stat3label=Runs batted in

|stat3value=2

|teams=

Cleveland Indians ({{mlby|1930}}–{{mlby|1931}})
St. Louis Cardinals ({{mlby|1933}})

}}

Joseph Conrad "Mule" Sprinz (August 3, 1902 – January 11, 1994) was an American professional baseball player{{Cite web|url=https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/s/sprinjo01.shtml|title=Joe Sprinz Stats|website=Baseball-Reference.com|language=en|access-date=2019-04-04}} who attempted to beat the world record for catching a baseball dropped from a great height.

Baseball career

Joseph Sprinz was a major league catcher who played for the Cleveland Indians from 1930 to 1931 and the St. Louis Cardinals in 1933.{{Cite web|url=http://www.wondersandmarvels.com/2017/03/joe-sprinz-speeding-baseball.html|title=Joe Sprinz and the Speeding Baseball|date=2017-03-15|website=Wonders & Marvels|language=en-US|access-date=2019-04-04}}

Sprinz spent 23 seasons in minor league baseball from 1924-1946, registering 7,364 plate appearances for 13 different teams, batting .270 and hitting 26 home runs. He spent the last nine of those seasons with the San Francisco Seals of the Pacific Coast League.{{Cite web|url=https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/s/sprinjo01.shtml|title=Joe Sprinz Stats|website=Baseball-Reference.com|language=en|access-date=2019-04-04}}

Attempt at world record

As a member of the San Francisco Seals, Sprinz attempted to beat the world record for catching a baseball dropped from a great height. On May 10, 1939, Sprinz was one of three players who caught balls dropped {{Convert|437|ft}} by Seals manager Lefty O'Doul from a tower at the Golden Gate International Exposition. O'Doul forbade the practice after the initial stunt but, that summer, Sprinz returned to the Exposition to make another attempt.

For a public stunt on his 37th birthday, August 3, 1939, Sprinz attempted to catch balls dropped from a blimp hovering approximately {{convert|800|ft}} overhead.{{cite news |last1=Allen |first1=Scott |title=Baseball's oddest arms race featured balls thrown from the Washington Monument |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2023/05/31/washington-monument-baseball-catches/ |access-date=14 May 2024 |newspaper=Washington Post |date=5 June 2023}} On his fifth attempt, a baseball entered his glove, slamming his glove hand into his face with such force that he broke his upper jaw in twelve places, fractured several of his teeth, and rendered him briefly unconscious.{{Cite web|url=https://www.drbicuspid.com/index.aspx?sec=log&itemID=315400|title=8 teeth sacrificed for the record|website=DrBicuspid.com|date=February 24, 2014 |access-date=2019-04-04}}Fundamentals of Physics ( 4 ed., Wiley, 1993 ), by David Halliday, Robert Resnick and Jearl Walker, on page 30, Chapter Two, "Motion along a Straight Line" He eventually spent three months in the hospital, but would make a full recovery.{{cite web |last1=Bois |first1=Jon |title=GOD HATES A COWARD |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lOR_45wZL2I |website=YouTube |publisher=Secret Base |access-date=16 May 2025 |date=16 May 2025}}

Sprinz has rejected deserving the Guinness World Record for the feat, recalling in 1975 "Naw, I never caught that thing ... I saw that item in the Guinness book, but they got it all wrong."{{cite news |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lOR_45wZL2I |access-date=16 May 2025 |agency=The Fremont Argus |date=30 July 1975 |title=God Hates a Coward | Pretty Good, Episode 18 }}

Baseball writer Lee Warren has speculated that, given the ubiquity of publicity stunts in Minor League Baseball, the San Francisco Seals were likely involved in arranging for Joe Sprinz to make an attempt at the world record despite the known danger. However, no firm evidence exists for this.{{Cite web|url=https://www.minorleagueball.com/2014/3/11/5491812/pcl-tales|title=Joe Sprinz's tries to catch a baseball from blimp|last=Warren|first=Lee|date=2014-03-11|website=Minor League Ball|access-date=2019-04-04}}{{Cite web|url=http://www.danieldemers.com/BASEBALL-PAGE2.php|title=IT'S A BIRD! IT'S A PLANE!... IT's BASEBALL?|website=www.danieldemers.com|access-date=2019-04-04}}