Joseph Strauss (November 16, 1858 in Cincinnati, Ohio – June 24, 1906 in Cincinnati, Ohio), was a professional baseball pitcher and outfielder in Major League Baseball from 1884 to 1886. He played for the Kansas City Cowboys, Brooklyn Grays, and Louisville Colonels.

Joseph R. Straus, III, known as Joe Straus (born September 1, 1959), is the current Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives. He represents District 121, which comprises northeastern Bexar County, including part of San Antonio, Texas, and several surrounding communities. Straus joined the House after defeating fellow Republican Glenn Scott Starnes, later the city manager in Eagle Pass, Texas, in a special election held in February 2005. Straus was first elected Speaker on January 13, 2009. He was elected to a second two-year term on January 11, 2011.

A lifelong San Antonian, Straus currently serves on the Board of Governors of the Cancer Therapy and Research Center as well as on the Texas Cord Blood Bank. Previously, he served on the board of directors of the San Antonio Zoological Society, the Texas Nature Conservancy, the Southwest School of Art and Craft, and the Winston School.

Representative Straus has previously served on the Management Committee of the Bexar County Republican Party, as a precinct chairman, and on numerous campaign committees for federal, state, and local candidates. He served in the administration of U.S. President George H. W. Bush from 1989 through 1991 as Deputy Director of Business Liaison at the U.S. Department of Commerce and also under Ronald W. Reagan as Executive Assistant to the Commissioner of Customs. In 1986, he was U.S. Representative Lamar Smith's campaign manager in Smith's first race for Congress.