Joe Adcock

Who was Joe Adcock?

Joseph Wilbur "Billy Joe" Adcock was a major league baseball player, best known as a first baseman and right-handed slugger with the powerful Milwaukee Braves teams of the 1950s, whose career included numerous home run feats. A sure-handed defensive player, he also retired with the third highest career fielding percentage by a first baseman. His nickname "Billy Joe" was modeled after Vanderbilt University basketball star "Billy Joe Adcock" and was popularized by Vin Scully.

Born in Coushatta, the seat of Red River Parish in northwestern Louisiana, Adcock attended Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge. He was signed by the Cincinnati Reds, but Ted Kluszewski had firm hold of the team's first base slot. Adcock played in left field from 1950 to 1952, but was unhappy and demanded a trade, which he received. His first season with the Braves was capped by a mammoth home run into the center field bleachers at the Polo Grounds on April 29, 1953, a feat that had never been done before and would only be accomplished twice more, by Hank Aaron and Lou Brock.

On July 31, 1954, Adcock accomplished the rare feat of homering four times in a single game, against the Brooklyn Dodgers at Ebbets Field. He also hit a double off the top of the wall to set a record for most total bases in a game that stood for 48 years, until broken by Shawn Green in 2002.