• Josh originally wore #61 with the Marlins. He wanted No. 19, but Mike Lowell already had it, so Josh went with the upside-down version of his first choice.
• Josh was named Baseball America’s 2001 Minor League Player of the Year. Between stints in Class A and Class AA, he went 14-1 with a 1.54 ERA and struck out 203 in 140 innings.
• When Josh made his first big-league start in Houston, his family and friends showed up in full force. The “Beckett Bunch” commandeered section 106 at Minute Maid Field, occupying 136 seats down the left field line.
• Josh’s complete-game, two-hitter in Game 5 against the Chicago Cubs in the 2003 playoffs was just the fourth such performance in NLCS history. The others to accomplish the feat were Ross Grimsley (Cincinnati Reds, 1972), Jon Matlack (New York Mets, 1973) and Dave Dravecky (San Francisco Giants, 1987).
• The last pitcher before Josh to close out a World Series with a shutout was Jack Morris in 1991. With his Game 6 gem, Josh also became just the fourth hurler in baseball history to eliminate New York at Yankee Stadium with a complete-game effort. The others were Johnny Beazley (1942), Johnny Podres (1955) and Lew Burdette (1957).
• During his 2007 playoff run, Josh struck out 35 hitters and walked only two in 30.1 innings of work.
• Upon signing with the Marlins, Josh donated $100,000 to the Florida Marlins Community Foundation to start a baseball tournament, which is now named in his honor. He has also adopted 50 classrooms through the Adopt-A-Classroom program.
• Josh has been bothered by blisters on his pitching hand in his career. To get rid of them, he tried all sorts of remedies, including using Stan’s Rodeo Blister Cream and sticking his right hand in a bucket of uncooked rice. One theory is that the rosin bag may irritate his skin.
• One of Josh’s worst habits is biting his nails. In fact, it probably contributed to his blister problem.
• Josh owns an impressive collection of baseball cards that numbers more than 10,000.
• Josh is a huge country music fan. His favorite singer is George Strait.
• Josh once stuffed 30 pieces of bubble gum into his mouth at the same. Former teammate Ryan Dempster then outdid him with 48 pieces.
• Josh won the Muy Grande Deer Contest in his home state in November of 2002. He bagged a buck that measured 188.4 inches. Josh also likes to fish.
• The Red Sox signed Josh to a three-year, $30 million extension in July of 2006.
• In 2006, Josh became the first Boston pitcher to hit a homer since the advent of the Designated Hitter.
• Josh appeared on the cover of ESPN The Magazine in August of 2006.

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