Joe Nossek

Joseph Rudolph Nossek

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 0", Weight 178 lb.
• School Ohio University
• High School Euclid (OH) High School
• Debut April 18, 1964
• Final Game September 13, 1970
• Born November 8, 1940 in Cleveland, OH USA
• Died February 12, 2026 in Amherst, OH USA

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Biographical Information

Joe Nossek was a major league outfielder from 1964 to 1970. He played for the Minnesota Twins, Kansas City Athletics/Oakland Athletics and St. Louis Cardinals. He was never a regular, with his career high in games being 91 in 1966, when he was traded from Minnesota to Kansas City after just four games. He did not have much power, hitting just 3 homers in 295 games, and hit .228 in what was a very low hitting era. He spent all of 1968 in the minors, and only had sporadic appearances in the majors in his final two seasons. He did appear for the Twins in the 1965 World Series, after batting .218 in 87 games as a centerfielder for them in 1965. In the Fall Classic against the Los Angeles Dodgers, he went 4 for 20, with no runs or RBI, all of his hits being singles.

His minor league career lasted from 1961 to 1971. His best minor league season was 1963, when he hit .293 in 128 games for the Dallas-Fort Worth Rangers of the Pacific Coast League.

He was a coach for the Milwaukee Brewers (1973-1975), Minnesota Twins (1976), Cleveland Indians (1977-1981), Kansas City Royals (1982-1983), and the Chicago White Sox (1984-1986, 1991-2003). Nossek served as bench coach during his second stint with the White Sox and was known throughout baseball for his ability to steal signs from opposing teams. He managed the 1972 Danville Warriors.

Further Reading

• Rick Schabowski: "Joe Nossek", in Gregory H. Wolf, ed.: A Pennant for the Twin Cities: the 1965 Minnesota Twins, SABR, Phoenix, AZ, 2015, pp. 175-179. ISBN 978-1-943816-09-5

Related Sites

• Joe Nossek at the SABR Bio Project