Joe Tipton

Joe Hicks Tipton (1922-1994) was an American catcher who played seven seasons in Major League Baseball from 1948 through 1954. He appeared for the Cleveland Indians, Chicago White Sox, Philadelphia Athletics, and Washington Senators. In his rookie season of 1948 he served as the second-string catcher behind Jim Hegan on a Cleveland club that won the World Series. Across 417 career games Tipton batted .236 with 29 home runs and 125 runs batted in. He is often remembered in connection with one of the more lopsided trades in baseball history: on October 19, 1949, the White Sox dealt Tipton to the Philadelphia Athletics for second baseman Nellie Fox, who went on to a Hall of Fame career in Chicago. After his playing days, Tipton settled in Birmingham, Alabama, where he owned an automobile dealership. He died there in 1994 at age 72.