Rube Waddell
Encyclopedia
George Edward Waddell was an American southpaw pitcher
in Major League Baseball
. In his thirteen-year career he played for the Louisville Colonels
(1897, 1899), Pittsburgh Pirates
(1900–01) and Chicago Orphans
(1901) in the National League
, and the Philadelphia Athletics
(1902–07) and St. Louis Browns
(1908–10) in the American League
. Waddell earned the nickname "Rube" because he was a big, fresh kid. The term was commonly used to refer to hayseeds or farmboys. He was born in Bradford, Pennsylvania
.
Waddell was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame
in 1946.
Waddell, a remarkably dominant strikeout pitcher in an era when batters mostly slapped at the ball to get singles, had an excellent fastball
, a sharp-breaking curve
, a screwball
, and superb control (his strikeout-to-walk ratio was almost 3-to-1). He led the Major Leagues in strikeouts for six consecutive years.
) have suggested that Waddell may have suffered from a developmental disability
, mental retardation
, autism
, or attention deficit disorder (ADD). Essentially, none of these mental issues was either known of or properly diagnosed at the time. Though eccentric and childlike, Rube Waddell was not illiterate (as some sources have claimed). Ken Burns
' baseball documentary claims Waddell lost track of how many women he'd married.
At first because of his immature behavior, and later because of his alcoholism
, Waddell's career wound through a number of teams. His first pro contract was with Louisville (for $500), pitching two league games and a couple of exhibitions with the team at the end of the 1897 season. When the season ended, he was loaned to the Detroit Wolverines of the Western League to gain professional seasoning.
After issues with paying rent and his being fined by owner George Von derBeck, Waddell left Detroit in late May to pitch in Canada
before eventually returning to Homestead, Pennsylvania
to pitch semi-pro baseball there. Pittsburgh retained his rights, however, and he was loaned to Columbus of the Western League in 1899, continued with the team when the franchise moved mid-season to Grand Rapids, and finished with a record of 26–8. He rejoined Louisville in the final month of the 1899 season and won seven of nine decisions. When the National League contracted to eight teams for the 1900 season, Louisville ownership bought the Pittsburgh franchise and the Louisville franchise was terminated. Louisville's top players, including Waddell, Honus Wagner
, Fred Clarke
, and others, were transferred to Pittsburgh.
Waddell debuted with the Pittsburgh Pirates
in 1900, leading the National League
in ERA, but his erratic behavior led manager Fred Clarke to suspend him. After pitching semi-pro ball in small towns such as Punxsutawney
, Connie Mack
learned of Waddell's availability, and with Pittsburgh's approval, convinced Waddell to pitch for Milwaukee for several weeks in the summer of 1900. Milwaukee was in the newly-named American League
(formerly the Western League), which was not yet directly competing with the National League. When Waddell displayed his prowess for Milwaukee, Pittsburgh management asked for Rube's return. By 1901, Waddell had worn out his welcome, however, and his contract was sold to the Cubs
, then managed by Tom Loftus
, who had had success with Waddell in Columbus/Grand Rapids. Loftus did not have the latitude to cope with Rube that he had while he was the owner/manager in Columbus. When problems led to Rube's getting suspended, Waddell began pitching for semi-pro teams in northern Illinois
, as well as Racine
and Kenosha
, Wisconsin
.
Frank Chance
and Joe Cantillon
invited Waddell to join a barnstorming
team that travelled to California
. While there, Waddell was convinced to stay and joined the Los Angeles Loo Loos in a league that one year later would become the Pacific Coast League
. Connie Mack, now in Philadelphia, was desperate for pitching, and when he learned Rube was pitching in California, he dispatched two Pinkerton agents to sneak Waddell back to Philadelphia, where he would lead the Philadelphia Athletics to the 1902 American League crown. Mack later described his star left-hander as, "...the atom bomb of baseball long before the atom bomb was discovered."
Waddell's pitching repertoire usually consisted of only two pitches: one of the fastest fastball
s in the league and a hard curve
. However, Rube could throw every pitch, including slow curves, screwballs, "fadeaways", and a flutterball on demand. Mack once said that Waddell's curve was, "even better than his speed... [He] had the fastest and deepest curve I've ever seen."
Waddell enjoyed waving his teammates off the field and then striking out the side. He actually did so only in exhibition games, since the rules prohibit playing with fewer than nine men on the field in regulation play. But, in a league game in Detroit, Waddell had his outfielders come in close and sit down on the grass. He struck out the side. Once the stunt almost backfired. Pitching an exhibition in Memphis, he took the field alone with his catcher, Doc Powers, for the last three innings. With two out in the ninth, Powers dropped a third strike, allowing the batter to reach first. The next two hitters patted flies that fell behind the mound. Waddell ran himself ragged but finally fanned the last man.
In his career, Waddell had a record of 193–143, 2,316 strikeout
s, and a 2.16 earned run average
, with 50 shutout
s and 261 complete games in 2961 innings pitched.
In his prime, Rube Waddell was the game's premier power pitcher
. In 1903, Waddell had 302 strikeouts, 115 more than the runner-up (Bill Donovan), and followed that up with 349 strikeouts in 1904, 110 more than the runner-up (Jack Chesbro
). No other pitcher would compile consecutive 300-strikeout seasons until Sandy Koufax
in 1965 and 1966.
Waddell's 349 strikeouts was the modern-era record for more than 60 years, and remains sixth on the modern list. (In 1946, it was initially believed that Bob Feller
's 348 strikeouts had broken Waddell's single-season mark. However, research into Waddell's 1904 season revealed uncounted strikeout numbers, lifting him back above Feller.) Waddell still holds the American League single season strikeout record by a left-handed pitcher.
In time, however, Rube's drinking, exacerbated by an horrific marriage to May Wynne Skinner (his second of three wives), and a series of injuries in 1905 and 1906, began to erode his relationship with other players on the Athletics. One-time friend Ossee Schreckengost
, who regularly fetched alcohol and fishing poles with Rube, squabbled with both Waddell and Mack as Schreckengost was treated differently for the same problems. Other players complained about Rube's lack of dependable behavior, and following a season where Rube was the goat of a series that cost the team the 1907 pennant to the Detroit Tigers
, Mack finally lost patience with him and sold Waddell to the St. Louis Browns
for $5000.
Waddell enjoyed one successful season, helping the Browns compete in the greatest AL pennant race ever. To make sure Waddell stayed out of trouble during the offseason, Browns owner Robert Hedges
hired him as a hunter over the winter of 1908 and 1909. However, further issues with drinking and marital strife with third wife, Madge Maguire, led to his being released in 1910. Waddell finished the season pitching with Joe McGinnity for Newark in the Eastern League. He never played another major league game.
While at spring training with the Millers, Waddell helped save the city of Hickman, Kentucky
from a devastating flood in the spring of 1912. Catching pneumonia, he lost much of the nature that had sustained him – and a second flood in Hickman and case of pneumonia in 1913 took the rest. While in Minneapolis in 1913, he was diagnosed with tuberculosis, and eventually sent to live with his sister in Texas. Never recovering, he was placed in a sanitarium in San Antonio until he died the next spring.
Rube Waddell died in 1914 on April 1, "April Fool's Day", in San Antonio, Texas
at the age of 37.
He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1946
by a veterans committee that looked to enshrine a number of players from his era and the previous century who had contributed to the growth of the game. One of Waddell's contributions was that he was perhaps the greatest drawing card in the first decade of the century, a man whose unique talents and personality drew baseball fans around the country to the ball park.
In 1981, Lawrence Ritter
and Donald Honig
included him in their book The 100 Greatest Baseball Players of All Time. Under what they called "the Smoky Joe Wood Syndrome," they argued in favor of including players of truly exceptional talent whose career was curtailed by injury (or, in Waddell's case, substance abuse), despite not having had career statistics that would quantitatively rank them with the all-time greats.
in the first National Football League
in 1902. He played as a fullback
for the Philadelphia Athletics
. Newspapers of the time charitably referred to Waddell as "eccentric" while others ranked him between "screwball" and "nutsy." When football began, Connie saw a chance to keep his star in line for a few months more. He signed the lefty on as an extra lineman, against Waddell's recommendation that he be placed at halfback. While there is no mention of Waddell’s name in any lineups or game accounts, Wallace may have let the lefty into a few games when the score was safe. Regardless, it was no secret to anyone that the Rube was there to be watched. Mack was still more committed to baseball than football and worried more about losing Rube Waddell than any football game. In Elmira, Waddell was tempted to remain in a town that was home to one of the biggest manufacturers of fire engines, which he loved. Mack had to convince Rube to stay with the team.
The night before the first championship game with Pittsburgh, Connie caught Rube sneaking into the hotel long after curfew. After being delivered a lecture by Mack, Waddell turned return to his hotel room. However, a loaded pistol dropped out of his pocket and fired. The bullet missed Mack's head by inches.
Pitcher
In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throwsthe baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw a walk. In the numbering system used to record defensive plays, the...
in Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...
. In his thirteen-year career he played for the Louisville Colonels
Louisville Colonels
The Louisville Colonels were a Major League Baseball team that played in the American Association throughout that league's ten-year existence from 1882 until 1891, first as the Louisville Eclipse and later as the Louisville Colonels , the latter name derived from the historic Kentucky colonels...
(1897, 1899), Pittsburgh Pirates
Pittsburgh Pirates
The Pittsburgh Pirates are a Major League Baseball club based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. They play in the Central Division of the National League, and are five-time World Series Champions...
(1900–01) and Chicago Orphans
Chicago Cubs
The Chicago Cubs are a professional baseball team located in Chicago, Illinois. They are members of the Central Division of Major League Baseball's National League. They are one of two Major League clubs based in Chicago . The Cubs are also one of the two remaining charter members of the National...
(1901) in the National League
National League
The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League , is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball, and the world's oldest extant professional team sports league. Founded on February 2, 1876, to replace the National Association of Professional...
, and the Philadelphia Athletics
Oakland Athletics
The Oakland Athletics are a Major League Baseball team based in Oakland, California. The Athletics are a member of the Western Division of Major League Baseball's American League. From to the present, the Athletics have played in the O.co Coliseum....
(1902–07) and St. Louis Browns
Baltimore Orioles
The Baltimore Orioles are a professional baseball team based in Baltimore, Maryland in the United States. They are a member of the Eastern Division of Major League Baseball's American League. One of the American League's eight charter franchises in 1901, it spent its first year as a major league...
(1908–10) in the American League
American League
The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, or simply the American League , is one of two leagues that make up Major League Baseball in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western League, a minor league based in the Great Lakes states, which eventually aspired to major...
. Waddell earned the nickname "Rube" because he was a big, fresh kid. The term was commonly used to refer to hayseeds or farmboys. He was born in Bradford, Pennsylvania
Bradford, Pennsylvania
Bradford is a small city located in rural McKean County, Pennsylvania, in the United States 78 miles south of Buffalo, New York. Settled in 1823, Bradford was chartered as a city in 1879 and emerged as a wild oil boomtown in the Pennsylvanian oil rush in the late 19th century...
.
Waddell was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame
National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum
The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is an American history museum and hall of fame, located at 25 Main Street in Cooperstown, New York, operated by private interests serving as the central point for the study of the history of baseball in the United States and beyond, the display of...
in 1946.
Waddell, a remarkably dominant strikeout pitcher in an era when batters mostly slapped at the ball to get singles, had an excellent fastball
Fastball
The fastball is the most common type of pitch in baseball. Some "power pitchers," such as Nolan Ryan and Roger Clemens, have thrown it at speeds of 95–106 mph and up to 108.1 mph , relying purely on speed to prevent the ball from being hit...
, a sharp-breaking curve
Curveball
The curveball is a type of pitch in baseball thrown with a characteristic grip and hand movement that imparts forward spin to the ball causing it to dive in a downward path as it approaches the plate. Its close relatives are the slider and the slurve. The "curve" of the ball varies from pitcher to...
, a screwball
Screwball
A screwball , is a baseball pitch that is thrown so as to break in the opposite direction of a slider or curveball. Depending on the pitcher's arm angle, the ball may also have a sinking action....
, and superb control (his strikeout-to-walk ratio was almost 3-to-1). He led the Major Leagues in strikeouts for six consecutive years.
Personality issues
Waddell was unpredictable, and had a habit of leaving the dugout in the middle of games to follow passing fire trucks to fires. He performed as an alligator wrestler in the offseason. He was easily distracted by opposing team fans who used to hold up puppies and shiny objects, which seemed to put Waddell in a trance on the mound. An alcoholic for much of his adult life, Waddell reportedly spent the entirety of his first signing bonus on a drinking binge (Sporting News called him "the sousepaw"). Waddell's eccentric behavior led to constant battles with his managers and scuffles with bad-tempered teammates, and complaints from his teammates forced his trade from Philadelphia to St. Louis in early 1908 despite his importance to the team and his continued success. Recent commentators (such as Bill JamesBill James
George William “Bill” James is a baseball writer, historian, and statistician whose work has been widely influential. Since 1977, James has written more than two dozen books devoted to baseball history and statistics...
) have suggested that Waddell may have suffered from a developmental disability
Developmental disability
Developmental disability is a term used in the United States and Canada to describe lifelong disabilities attributable to mental or physical impairments, manifested prior to age 18. It is not synonymous with "developmental delay" which is often a consequence of a temporary illness or trauma during...
, mental retardation
Mental retardation
Mental retardation is a generalized disorder appearing before adulthood, characterized by significantly impaired cognitive functioning and deficits in two or more adaptive behaviors...
, autism
Autism
Autism is a disorder of neural development characterized by impaired social interaction and communication, and by restricted and repetitive behavior. These signs all begin before a child is three years old. Autism affects information processing in the brain by altering how nerve cells and their...
, or attention deficit disorder (ADD). Essentially, none of these mental issues was either known of or properly diagnosed at the time. Though eccentric and childlike, Rube Waddell was not illiterate (as some sources have claimed). Ken Burns
Ken Burns
Kenneth Lauren "Ken" Burns is an American director and producer of documentary films, known for his style of using archival footage and photographs...
' baseball documentary claims Waddell lost track of how many women he'd married.
Pitching career
Alcoholism
Alcoholism is a broad term for problems with alcohol, and is generally used to mean compulsive and uncontrolled consumption of alcoholic beverages, usually to the detriment of the drinker's health, personal relationships, and social standing...
, Waddell's career wound through a number of teams. His first pro contract was with Louisville (for $500), pitching two league games and a couple of exhibitions with the team at the end of the 1897 season. When the season ended, he was loaned to the Detroit Wolverines of the Western League to gain professional seasoning.
After issues with paying rent and his being fined by owner George Von derBeck, Waddell left Detroit in late May to pitch in Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
before eventually returning to Homestead, Pennsylvania
Homestead, Pennsylvania
Homestead is a borough in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, USA, in the "Mon Valley," southeast of downtown Pittsburgh and directly across the river from the city limit line. The borough is known for the Homestead Strike of 1892, an important event in the history of labor relations in the United...
to pitch semi-pro baseball there. Pittsburgh retained his rights, however, and he was loaned to Columbus of the Western League in 1899, continued with the team when the franchise moved mid-season to Grand Rapids, and finished with a record of 26–8. He rejoined Louisville in the final month of the 1899 season and won seven of nine decisions. When the National League contracted to eight teams for the 1900 season, Louisville ownership bought the Pittsburgh franchise and the Louisville franchise was terminated. Louisville's top players, including Waddell, Honus Wagner
Honus Wagner
-Louisville Colonels:Recognizing his talent, Barrow recommended Wagner to the Louisville Colonels. After some hesitation about his awkward figure, Wagner was signed by the Colonels, where he hit .338 in 61 games....
, Fred Clarke
Fred Clarke
Fred Clifford Clarke was a Major League Baseball player from 1894 to and manager from 1897 to 1915. A Hall of Famer, Clarke played for and managed both the Louisville Colonels and Pittsburgh Pirates. He was a left fielder and left-handed batter.Of the nine pennants in Pittsburgh franchise...
, and others, were transferred to Pittsburgh.
Waddell debuted with the Pittsburgh Pirates
Pittsburgh Pirates
The Pittsburgh Pirates are a Major League Baseball club based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. They play in the Central Division of the National League, and are five-time World Series Champions...
in 1900, leading the National League
National League
The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League , is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball, and the world's oldest extant professional team sports league. Founded on February 2, 1876, to replace the National Association of Professional...
in ERA, but his erratic behavior led manager Fred Clarke to suspend him. After pitching semi-pro ball in small towns such as Punxsutawney
Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania
Punxsutawney is a borough in Jefferson County, Pennsylvania, United States, northeast of Pittsburgh. In 1907, Punxsutawney and Claysville boroughs were consolidated and incorporated as Greater Punxsutawney. A high-grade soft coal was mined in the surrounding region...
, Connie Mack
Connie Mack (baseball)
Cornelius McGillicuddy, Sr. , better known as Connie Mack, was an American professional baseball player, manager, and team owner. The longest-serving manager in Major League Baseball history, he holds records for wins , losses , and games managed , with his victory total being almost 1,000 more...
learned of Waddell's availability, and with Pittsburgh's approval, convinced Waddell to pitch for Milwaukee for several weeks in the summer of 1900. Milwaukee was in the newly-named American League
American League
The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, or simply the American League , is one of two leagues that make up Major League Baseball in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western League, a minor league based in the Great Lakes states, which eventually aspired to major...
(formerly the Western League), which was not yet directly competing with the National League. When Waddell displayed his prowess for Milwaukee, Pittsburgh management asked for Rube's return. By 1901, Waddell had worn out his welcome, however, and his contract was sold to the Cubs
Chicago Cubs
The Chicago Cubs are a professional baseball team located in Chicago, Illinois. They are members of the Central Division of Major League Baseball's National League. They are one of two Major League clubs based in Chicago . The Cubs are also one of the two remaining charter members of the National...
, then managed by Tom Loftus
Tom Loftus
Thomas Joseph Loftus is a former manager in the American Association, the National League, and the American League. His playing career began in 1877 with the St. Louis Brown Stockings of the National League, but he only played in nine career games in 1877 and 1883 as an outfielder...
, who had had success with Waddell in Columbus/Grand Rapids. Loftus did not have the latitude to cope with Rube that he had while he was the owner/manager in Columbus. When problems led to Rube's getting suspended, Waddell began pitching for semi-pro teams in northern Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
, as well as Racine
Racine, Wisconsin
Racine is a city in and the county seat of Racine County, Wisconsin, United States. According to 2008 U.S. Census Bureau estimates, the city had a population of 82,196...
and Kenosha
Kenosha, Wisconsin
Kenosha is a city and the county seat of Kenosha County in the State of Wisconsin in United States. With a population of 99,218 as of May 2011, Kenosha is the fourth-largest city in Wisconsin. Kenosha is also the fourth-largest city on the western shore of Lake Michigan, following Chicago,...
, Wisconsin
Wisconsin
Wisconsin is a U.S. state located in the north-central United States and is part of the Midwest. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michigan to the northeast, and Lake Superior to the north. Wisconsin's capital is...
.
Frank Chance
Frank Chance
Frank Leroy Chance was a Major League Baseball player at the turn of the 20th century. Performing the roles of first baseman and manager, Chance led the Chicago Cubs to four National League championships in the span of five years and earned the nickname "The Peerless Leader".Chance was elected to...
and Joe Cantillon
Joe Cantillon
Joseph D. Cantillon , nicknamed "Pongo Joe," was an American manager and umpire in Major League Baseball during the first decade of the 20th century. He also was a longtime manager in minor league baseball...
invited Waddell to join a barnstorming
Barnstorming
Barnstorming was a popular form of entertainment in the 1920s in which stunt pilots would perform tricks with airplanes, either individually or in groups called a flying circus. Barnstorming was the first major form of civil aviation in the history of flight...
team that travelled to California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
. While there, Waddell was convinced to stay and joined the Los Angeles Loo Loos in a league that one year later would become the Pacific Coast League
Pacific Coast League
The Pacific Coast League is a minor-league baseball league operating in the Western, Midwestern and Southeastern United States. Along with the International League and the Mexican League, it is one of three leagues playing at the Triple-A level, which is one step below Major League Baseball.The...
. Connie Mack, now in Philadelphia, was desperate for pitching, and when he learned Rube was pitching in California, he dispatched two Pinkerton agents to sneak Waddell back to Philadelphia, where he would lead the Philadelphia Athletics to the 1902 American League crown. Mack later described his star left-hander as, "...the atom bomb of baseball long before the atom bomb was discovered."
Waddell's pitching repertoire usually consisted of only two pitches: one of the fastest fastball
Fastball
The fastball is the most common type of pitch in baseball. Some "power pitchers," such as Nolan Ryan and Roger Clemens, have thrown it at speeds of 95–106 mph and up to 108.1 mph , relying purely on speed to prevent the ball from being hit...
s in the league and a hard curve
Curveball
The curveball is a type of pitch in baseball thrown with a characteristic grip and hand movement that imparts forward spin to the ball causing it to dive in a downward path as it approaches the plate. Its close relatives are the slider and the slurve. The "curve" of the ball varies from pitcher to...
. However, Rube could throw every pitch, including slow curves, screwballs, "fadeaways", and a flutterball on demand. Mack once said that Waddell's curve was, "even better than his speed... [He] had the fastest and deepest curve I've ever seen."
Waddell enjoyed waving his teammates off the field and then striking out the side. He actually did so only in exhibition games, since the rules prohibit playing with fewer than nine men on the field in regulation play. But, in a league game in Detroit, Waddell had his outfielders come in close and sit down on the grass. He struck out the side. Once the stunt almost backfired. Pitching an exhibition in Memphis, he took the field alone with his catcher, Doc Powers, for the last three innings. With two out in the ninth, Powers dropped a third strike, allowing the batter to reach first. The next two hitters patted flies that fell behind the mound. Waddell ran himself ragged but finally fanned the last man.
In his career, Waddell had a record of 193–143, 2,316 strikeout
Strikeout
In baseball or softball, a strikeout or strike-out occurs when a batter receives three strikes during his time at bat. A strikeout is a statistic recorded for both pitchers and batters....
s, and a 2.16 earned run average
Earned run average
In baseball statistics, earned run average is the mean of earned runs given up by a pitcher per nine innings pitched. It is determined by dividing the number of earned runs allowed by the number of innings pitched and multiplying by nine...
, with 50 shutout
Shutout
In team sports, a shutout refers to a game in which one team prevents the opposing team from scoring. While possible in most major sports, they are highly improbable in some sports, such as basketball....
s and 261 complete games in 2961 innings pitched.
In his prime, Rube Waddell was the game's premier power pitcher
Power pitcher
In baseball, a power pitcher is a pitcher who relies on the velocity of his pitches, sometimes at the expense of accuracy. Power pitchers usually record a high number of strikeouts and statistics such as strikeouts per 9 innings pitched are common measures of power...
. In 1903, Waddell had 302 strikeouts, 115 more than the runner-up (Bill Donovan), and followed that up with 349 strikeouts in 1904, 110 more than the runner-up (Jack Chesbro
Jack Chesbro
John Dwight Chesbro was a Major League Baseball pitcher for the Pittsburgh Pirates , New York Highlanders , and Boston Red Sox . His 41 wins during the 1904 season remains an MLB record for the modern era...
). No other pitcher would compile consecutive 300-strikeout seasons until Sandy Koufax
Sandy Koufax
Sanford "Sandy" Koufax is a former left-handed baseball pitcher who played his entire 12-year Major League Baseball career for the Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers...
in 1965 and 1966.
Waddell's 349 strikeouts was the modern-era record for more than 60 years, and remains sixth on the modern list. (In 1946, it was initially believed that Bob Feller
Bob Feller
On December 8, 1941, Feller enlisted in the Navy, volunteering immediately for combat service, becoming the first Major League Baseball player to do so following the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7. Feller served as Gun Captain aboard the USS Alabama, and missed four seasons during his service...
's 348 strikeouts had broken Waddell's single-season mark. However, research into Waddell's 1904 season revealed uncounted strikeout numbers, lifting him back above Feller.) Waddell still holds the American League single season strikeout record by a left-handed pitcher.
In time, however, Rube's drinking, exacerbated by an horrific marriage to May Wynne Skinner (his second of three wives), and a series of injuries in 1905 and 1906, began to erode his relationship with other players on the Athletics. One-time friend Ossee Schreckengost
Ossee Schreckengost
Ossee Freeman Schreckengost was a Major League Baseball catcher and first baseman...
, who regularly fetched alcohol and fishing poles with Rube, squabbled with both Waddell and Mack as Schreckengost was treated differently for the same problems. Other players complained about Rube's lack of dependable behavior, and following a season where Rube was the goat of a series that cost the team the 1907 pennant to the Detroit Tigers
Detroit Tigers
The Detroit Tigers are a Major League Baseball team located in Detroit, Michigan. One of the American League's eight charter franchises, the club was founded in Detroit in as part of the Western League. The Tigers have won four World Series championships and have won the American League pennant...
, Mack finally lost patience with him and sold Waddell to the St. Louis Browns
Baltimore Orioles
The Baltimore Orioles are a professional baseball team based in Baltimore, Maryland in the United States. They are a member of the Eastern Division of Major League Baseball's American League. One of the American League's eight charter franchises in 1901, it spent its first year as a major league...
for $5000.
Waddell enjoyed one successful season, helping the Browns compete in the greatest AL pennant race ever. To make sure Waddell stayed out of trouble during the offseason, Browns owner Robert Hedges
Robert Hedges (baseball)
Robert Hedges was the owner of the St. Louis Browns of the American League from through . Hedges was instrumental in bringing Branch Rickey into the Browns' front office. He sold the Browns to Phil Ball after the 1915 season.-References:...
hired him as a hunter over the winter of 1908 and 1909. However, further issues with drinking and marital strife with third wife, Madge Maguire, led to his being released in 1910. Waddell finished the season pitching with Joe McGinnity for Newark in the Eastern League. He never played another major league game.
Final years
After his major league career was over, Waddell pitched for parts of three more years in the minor leagues, including a 20-win season for the Minneapolis Millers in 1911. In addition to pitching for the Millers, he pitched for the Minneapolis Rough Riders and with Virginia (MN) in the Northern League in 1913. However, that season, Waddell's health had declined such that he no longer resembled the muscular and long limbed hero of the previous decade.While at spring training with the Millers, Waddell helped save the city of Hickman, Kentucky
Hickman, Kentucky
Hickman is a city in Fulton County, Kentucky, United States. The population was 2,560 at the 2000 census. Named for Captain Paschal Hickman, a Kentucky officer who was killed by Indians in the Massacre of the River Raisin during the War of 1812, it is the county seat of Fulton County.Hickman is...
from a devastating flood in the spring of 1912. Catching pneumonia, he lost much of the nature that had sustained him – and a second flood in Hickman and case of pneumonia in 1913 took the rest. While in Minneapolis in 1913, he was diagnosed with tuberculosis, and eventually sent to live with his sister in Texas. Never recovering, he was placed in a sanitarium in San Antonio until he died the next spring.
Rube Waddell died in 1914 on April 1, "April Fool's Day", in San Antonio, Texas
San Antonio, Texas
San Antonio is the seventh-largest city in the United States of America and the second-largest city within the state of Texas, with a population of 1.33 million. Located in the American Southwest and the south–central part of Texas, the city serves as the seat of Bexar County. In 2011,...
at the age of 37.
He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1946
Baseball Hall of Fame balloting, 1946
Elections to the Baseball Hall of Fame for 1946 were conducted by methods refashioned and then fashioned again during the year. As in 1945 the Baseball Writers Association of America voted by mail to select from recent players and elected no one...
by a veterans committee that looked to enshrine a number of players from his era and the previous century who had contributed to the growth of the game. One of Waddell's contributions was that he was perhaps the greatest drawing card in the first decade of the century, a man whose unique talents and personality drew baseball fans around the country to the ball park.
In 1981, Lawrence Ritter
Lawrence Ritter
Lawrence S. Ritter was an American writer whose specialties were economics and baseball.Ritter was a professor of economics and finance, and chairman of the Department of Finance at the Graduate School of Business Administration of New York University. He also edited the academic periodical...
and Donald Honig
Donald Honig
Donald Martin Honig is a novelist, historian and editor who mostly writes about baseball.While a member of the Bobo Newsom Memorial Society, an informal group of writers, Honig attempted to get Lawrence Ritter to write a sequel to The Glory of their Times. Ritter declined but gave Honig his blessing...
included him in their book The 100 Greatest Baseball Players of All Time. Under what they called "the Smoky Joe Wood Syndrome," they argued in favor of including players of truly exceptional talent whose career was curtailed by injury (or, in Waddell's case, substance abuse), despite not having had career statistics that would quantitatively rank them with the all-time greats.
Highlights
- Won Triple CrownTriple crown (baseball)In Major League Baseball, a player earns the Triple Crown when he leads a league in three specific statistical categories. For batters, a player must lead the league in home runs, run batted in , and batting average; pitchers must lead the league in wins, strikeouts, and earned run average...
for pitchers (1905: 27–10, 287, 1.48) - 4-time 20-game winner (24, 21, 25, 27: 1902–05)
- Two ERAEarned run averageIn baseball statistics, earned run average is the mean of earned runs given up by a pitcher per nine innings pitched. It is determined by dividing the number of earned runs allowed by the number of innings pitched and multiplying by nine...
titles (1900, 1905), along with two second-place finishes in the category - Six consecutive AL strikeout titles (1902–07), and five consecutive strikeout titles (1903–07) in the entire Major Leagues.
- Led his league eight times in strikeouts per nine innings (1900, 1902–1908; he finished second in 1901)
- Set league record for strikeouts in a game up to that time (16, 1908)
- Set record for strikeouts in a season for an AL lefty (349, 1904)
- On July 1, 1902, Waddell became the second pitcher to strike out three batters on nine pitchesPitchers who struck out three batters on nine pitchesIn Major League Baseball, 43 pitchers have thrown a nine-pitch, three-strikeout half-inning, throwing nothing but strikes...
, in the third inning of a 2–0 win over the Baltimore OriolesBaltimore OriolesThe Baltimore Orioles are a professional baseball team based in Baltimore, Maryland in the United States. They are a member of the Eastern Division of Major League Baseball's American League. One of the American League's eight charter franchises in 1901, it spent its first year as a major league...
. - Collected 50 shutouts.
Other sports
While a member of the Athletics, Waddell also played professional footballAmerican football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
in the first National Football League
National Football League (1902)
The National Football League was the first attempt at forming a national professional football league in 1902. The league has no ties with the modern National Football League. In fact the league was only composed of teams from Pennsylvania, which was hardly "national". Two of the teams were based...
in 1902. He played as a fullback
Fullback (American football)
A fullback is a position in the offensive backfield in American and Canadian football, and is one of the two running back positions along with the halfback...
for the Philadelphia Athletics
Philadelphia Athletics (NFL)
The Philadelphia Athletics were a professional American football team based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1902. The team was member of what was referred to as the National Football League. This league has no connection with the National Football League of today. The whole "league" was a curious...
. Newspapers of the time charitably referred to Waddell as "eccentric" while others ranked him between "screwball" and "nutsy." When football began, Connie saw a chance to keep his star in line for a few months more. He signed the lefty on as an extra lineman, against Waddell's recommendation that he be placed at halfback. While there is no mention of Waddell’s name in any lineups or game accounts, Wallace may have let the lefty into a few games when the score was safe. Regardless, it was no secret to anyone that the Rube was there to be watched. Mack was still more committed to baseball than football and worried more about losing Rube Waddell than any football game. In Elmira, Waddell was tempted to remain in a town that was home to one of the biggest manufacturers of fire engines, which he loved. Mack had to convince Rube to stay with the team.
The night before the first championship game with Pittsburgh, Connie caught Rube sneaking into the hotel long after curfew. After being delivered a lecture by Mack, Waddell turned return to his hotel room. However, a loaded pistol dropped out of his pocket and fired. The bullet missed Mack's head by inches.
Notable games
- Waddell was the opposing pitcher for Cy YoungCy YoungDenton True "Cy" Young was an American Major League Baseball pitcher. During his 22-year baseball career , he pitched for five different teams. Young was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1937...
's perfect gamePerfect gameA perfect game is defined by Major League Baseball as a game in which a pitcher pitches a victory that lasts a minimum of nine innings and in which no opposing player reaches base. Thus, the pitcher cannot allow any hits, walks, hit batsmen, or any opposing player to reach base safely for any...
on May 5, 1904, and hit a flyball for the final out. In 1905, Waddell beat Young in a 20-inning game. In 1907, the two men pitched a scoreless 13-inning tie. - On August 19, 1900, Waddell pitched the first game of a doubleheader for Milwaukee, winning in the 17th inning on his own triple. His manager, Connie Mack, offered Waddell a three-day fishing vacation if he agreed to pitch the second game (which had been shortened to 5 innings). Waddell threw 5 scoreless innings for the victory, and headed to Pewaukee Lake for fishing. Waddell also won both halves of a 1902 doubleheader (relieving in the second game).
- On July 29, 1908, Waddell set the AL strikeout record with 16 in a game. This took place against his former Philadelphia A's team, which had traded him away five months earlier as a disruptive influence.
- Jimmy AustinJimmy AustinJames Phillip "Jimmy" Austin was a professional baseball player and coach.-Early years:Austin was born in Swansea, Wales, the son of a shipbuilder. He was one of only three Major League baseball players to be born in Wales...
has claimed that, in 1909, he hit a home run off of a tipsy Waddell who then glared angrily at him during his entire trot around the bases. However, maintaining the 360-degree pivot made Waddell dizzy, and he passed out on the mound. Evidence indicates, however, that this story could not have happened as Jimmy Austin described it. Austin likely merged three different games against Waddell into one memory. In their first meeting, Austin banged out a triple to the deepest part of center field in the first inning, but was stranded by Waddell, who retired the rest of the batters in order. In their second meeting, Waddell was removed from a game after being hit by a batted ball. In their third meeting, Austin likely faced a Waddell who had been bored by playing for a poor Browns club. In that game, Austin batted with runners on first and second and bunted. Rube twisted as he threw to third—and got the force out. However, he feigned injury and appeared less than cooperative to manager Jimmy McAleerJimmy McAleerJames Robert "Loafer" McAleer was an American center fielder, manager, and stockholder in Major League Baseball who assisted in establishing the American League. He spent most of his 13-season playing career with the Cleveland Spiders, and went on to manage the Cleveland Blues, St. Louis Browns,...
, so McAleer pulled Waddell from the game. Oddly, Austin was removed from the bases when he tried to advance an extra base on a single to left field.
See also
- List of Major League Baseball leaders in career wins
- List of Major League Baseball ERA champions
- Triple Crown
- List of Major League Baseball strikeout champions
- List of Major League Baseball wins champions
- MLB All-Time Hit Batsmen ListMLB All-Time Hit Batsmen ListThis is a list of top 100 Major League Baseball pitchers who have the most hit batsmen of all time. There is an of hitters who have been hit by pitch the most times.Active players are denoted in bold text.-The List:* Bold denotes active player...
- Pitchers who have struck out three batters on nine pitches
- Top 100 strikeout pitchers of all timeTop 100 strikeout pitchers of all timeIn baseball, a strikeout occurs when the batter receives three strikes during his time at bat. Strikeouts are associated with dominance on the part of the pitcher and failure on the part of the batter....
- Major League Baseball titles leadersMajor League Baseball titles leadersAt the end of each Major League Baseball season, the league leaders of various statistical categories are announced. Leading the league in a particular category is referred to as a title....
External links
- Page at Baseball Library
- Ron Schuler's Parlour Tricks: Rube Waddell
- Bio, mythology, and other information about Rube Waddell
- Rube Waddell video on YouTube
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