Friday, November 11, 2022

NEGRO BASEBALL LEAGUES ALL-TIME LEGENDS: DICK "CANNONBALL" REDDING

It's been a while since I added to my long-running "Negro Baseball Leagues All-Time Legends" thread, so today we add Dick "Cannonball" Redding:

 
One of the top pitchers of the dead-ball era, Redding was revered for his incredible fastball, he is widely considered to have had THE fastest fastball in Negro League history.
According to legend, he once threw seven no-hitters in a season, and over 30 in his career, though sadly accurate record-keeping was not kept at the time, leaving us to wonder just how incredible his numbers were before he left the game in 1932 after both playing and managing the Bacharach Giants.
What is recorded is a career record of 40-20 as a pitcher, mainly with the Lincoln Giants between 1911 and 1916, though these numbers are also admittedly incomplete.
Nevertheless, he did recieve some attention back in 1952 when the Pittsburgh Courier held their now famous Negro league poll of greatest players ever, while also being selected to the Hall of Fame's "Early Days" ballot in 2021, though failing to gain the necessary votes for induction, some 73 years after his death in 1948.