The next card from my early WTHBALLS custom set, "19th Century Base
Ball Stars" is of HOF pitcher Charles Radbourn, he of the STILL record
60 win season in 1884:
The man won 310 games
over just eleven seasons of Major League ball, not only winning those 60
games in 1884 when Providence found themselves with only one pitcher
down the stretch, giving Radbourne the opportunity of pitching every
day, but 48 wins the year prior, as well as seven other 20+ win
campaigns between 1881 and 1891.
Of course, his 1884 season is
the stuff of legends, as his 60-12 record still rings ludicrous, while
also starting 73 games, COMPLETING ALL OF THEM, tossing eleven shutouts,
tossing 678.2 innings and striking out 441 batters.
Oh, and his earned run average? That was a microscopic 1.38!!
How are those numbers even real!?
By
the time he left the game after a year with Cincinnati in 1891, he
finished with 310 wins over 527 appearances, with 502 starts, 488 of
them completed, 35 shutouts, a 2.68 ERA over 4527.1 innings, and 1830
strikeouts.
Just amazing.
If you haven't read his
biography "59 in '84", I suggest you give it a whirl. Some funny
anecdotes in there as well as serious baseball history for fans of the
early game.