Rube Waddell
George Edward " Rube " Waddell ( born October 13, 1876 in Bradford, Pennsylvania, † April 1, 1914 in San Antonio, Texas) was an American baseball player in Major League Baseball.
Biography
Waddell grew up in a farming area in Pennsylvania. According to his sister he was missing more often in school, but she found him always either playing baseball, fishing or in the pursuit of a fire department. He played baseball in local teams until he signed a contract with the Louisville Colonels and are there on September 8, 1897 his debut in the National League as a left-handed pitcher. Seven times he reached the most strikeouts in his respective league and recorded the most wins in 1905. In that year he also won the Triple Crown. He had his most successful years. Among manager Connie Mack with the Philadelphia Athletics for whom he played from 1902 to 1907
In 1905 he was able to achieve 26 wins for his team and helped the A's to win the championship in the American League. However, he could not play in the World Series due to an arm injury. Although rumors said that bookmakers would have paid him money not to stand in the series, but he had the injury suffered fooling around with his teammate Andy Coakley, in which he had fallen on his throwing arm. After this incident, he could not throw the whole season.
His appearance on the baseball field was not always very conventional. Sometimes he left the team bench during a game to follow passing fire brigades in fire. Outside of the baseball season, he earned money in wrestling with alligators. Even with alcohol problems he had to fight his whole life.
In 1910 he finished his career in the Major Leagues and played in the minor league baseball on. In 1912, he retired in helping with flooding in Kentucky a severe impairment of his health, so that he died in a sanatorium in San Antonio already on April 1, 1914 at the age of 37 years.
In 1946, he was picked up by the Veterans Committee in the Baseball Hall of Fame.