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.
