They were two right-handed pitchers, each born in 1947. Joe Coleman was born in early February of that year, the son of a major-league pitcher also named Joe Coleman. He grew up around the game, and was the third player selected in the very first Major League baseball draft in 1965. He even got a $75,000 signing bonus, at a time when such money was practically unheard of.
He was drafted by the lowly Washington Senators, who threw caution to the wind and brought up the younger Joe Coleman to the majors by the end of the season. Just a few months out of high school, Joe Coleman won both of his late-season starts, and had a nifty 1.50 ERA with two complete games to his credit. That’s not such a bad way to start a professional career.
Jim Todd, who was born in late September of 1947, was a three-sport athlete in Pennsylvania, and after high school he played college ball at Millersville State College. He was drafted by the Chicago Cubs in the 10th round of the 1969 draft, by which point Joe Coleman was already in his fifth season in the majors and a regular starting pitcher for the still-less-than-respectable Senators.
Jim Todd didn’t have the fast track to the majors, the way Joe Coleman did before him. By the time Jim Todd made his debut in the majors in 1974, Joe Coleman had already been an All-star in 1972, and had won 20 games in a season two times. But there they were, two 26-year-olds, both of them pitching in the major leagues.
Flash forward a couple of years, to the 1977 season. Joe Coleman was traded to the Oakland A’s for Jim Todd, during Spring Training. While Todd was shown on a baseball card as part of the A’s, and Coleman was depicted as a Chicago Cub, the front offices of these two franchises considered them to be of equal value, and each pitcher traded leagues, back in the days when that really meant something.
The trade signalled that an end was coming soon for each player, one of whom who had just turned 30 (Coleman) and one who was a few months shy of that milestone. Jim Todd spent most of the 1977 season in the minors, and after the season was over he was traded to the expansion Seattle Mariners. After a season in Seattle in 1978, he returned to Oakland for another season in 1979. After a few games at triple-A in 1980, he was out of the game at age 32.
Joe Coleman, who had such a large jump on Jim Todd (and just about every other big leaguer, as well) in getting to the majors, didn’t make it to the 1980s on a big league roster. In one of his final big league games—ironically enough against the Cubs team that he once pitched for—he endured a very rough 5 inning stretch at Wrigley Field. He was left off the Pirates’ post-season roster that year, but the team still voted him half of a World Series share. He was released in the off-season, bringing his long career to an end.
The final act of Jim and Joe, the two ships that passed by each other in Spring Training long ago, happened this year, when each player passed away, Jim in February (on Joe Coleman’s 78th bithday) and Joe just a few days ago in July. Although their career arcs were not very similar, they spent roughly the same time on this earth, from start to finish. And that’s a coincidence that I couldn’t pass up.
Until next time….
While they’re not quite Adams and Jefferson, those are some amazing dueling arcs!