Really fun card to create for the blog posted today, my "Minor League Days: Legends Edition" card for that clown-prince of baseball, Hall of Fame pitcher Rube Waddell, a man whose stories off the field rival his accomplishments on it:
Shown here as a
member of Los Angeles of the Independent League in 1902, he was already
a Major League veteran of five years when he found himself out West
playing in California, going 11-8 with a 2.42 earned run average over 19
starts.
Not yet the pitcher that he would go down in history
as, that would begin the very next season, his first with the
Philadelphia Athletics, as he would post the first of his four straight
20-win seasons, going 24-7 with a 2.05 ERA over 33 games, striking out
210 batters, which was good for the top mark in the American League, his
first of six straight strikeout titles, topped by his staggering 349
K's in 1904.
In 1905 he'd have his Triple Crown year, leading
the A.L. with 27 wins, a ridiculous 1.48 ERA and 287 strikeouts over 46
appearances, tossing seven shutouts while completing 27 of his 34
starts.
Of course, what made the legend of Waddell even more
unforgettable were his shenanigans off the field: chasing fire engines,
leading random parades, disappearing for stretches with no notice, and
so much more.
It's obvious today that there was something more
to the man, perhaps autism, perhaps mental challenges either dismissed
or just laughed at in that era.
However his legacy as one of
the true eccentric ballplayers in the long history of the game, along
with a Hall of Fame career that saw him post 193 Major League victories
along with 65 documented non-league wins between the Minors and
Independent ball, along with a fantastic 2.16 ERA in the Big Leagues
over his 13 seasons, leaves no argument that he is a true legend of the
game some 100 years later.