paxhandy.blogg.se

Along with Eddie Plank, he was one of the Athletics’ two most important starting pitchers and also the team’s top relief names Jim Buchanan of St.Louis as the American League leader in saves in 1905 with two, and Waddell none.

He led the league in strikeouts in 19 and in 1904 he struck out 349 hitters, a post-1900 major league record that lasted until broken by Sandy Koufax 61 years later.Except as noted, player statistics are from .Īlthough his strikeout total declined to a league-leading 287 in 1905, that season is generally considered the greatest of his career. From the time he made his debut with the Athletics at the end of June 1902, he dominated American League hitters. This may burst many of the widely held myths about what is supposed to have happened.īefore discussing the final month of the 1905 season, it is useful to review his career.īy 1905 Waddell had established himself as one of the finest pitchers in baseball in the eyes of most observers, second only to Christy Mathewson in terms of greatness. However, by returning to the newspapers of the period, it is apparent that important evidence has been overlooked that may offer a different view of Waddell and what occurred in 1905. A majority of those who voted on the verdict in this trial acquitted Waddell of the charge of bribery and faking the injury and most writers on the subject have generally taken a similarly sympathetic view. Abrams and Alan Levy, “The Trial of Rube Waddell,” Seton Hall Journal of Sports and Entertainment Law 19, (2009): 1–30. Biographies of Waddell and Connie Mack, his manager, have described it, and it has even been the subject of a mock trial staged at the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2008.Roger I. Whether Waddell was actually injured as he claimed, or was bribed to fake an injury, has remained at the core of the controversy. This was the first played by Philadelphia and would be his one opportunity to pitch on the grand stage.Ī story has been told about a bit of horseplay when Waddell tried to destroy the straw hat worn by Philadelphia Athletics teammate Andy Coakley at the train station in Providence, Rhode Island, on September 8, 1905, resulting in Rube injuring his shoulder, causing him to miss most of the last month of the regular season, and the whole World Series versus the New York Giants. One controversial aspect of Rube Waddell’s career, while he was still playing and a century later, is what happened during the last month of the 1905 season that resulted in his missing the World Series. Cleveland Plain Dealer, January 21, 1906 Waddell is, of course, the synonym for eccentricity in baseball.” “Hugh Fullerton has a theory regarding left-handed pitchers that their left arms affect their hearts and that affects their brain which is why they’re all eccentric.