Rube Waddell was a big, hard-throwing lefty who won 193 games in his
career, and is in the Hall Of Fame. He was the greatest strikeout pitcher
of the deadball era; this was the fourth of six consecutive seasons he
led the AL in strikeouts. A year earlier, he struck 349 batters in a season,
a record that lasted until 1965. In his best years, he struck out over 8
batters per game, a figure not approached by Walter Johnson or Joe Wood or
any of the other great strikeout artists of the era.
Waddell is best known for his flakiness, and
there are many strange and funny stories about him. He wasn't a true flake,
like Lefty Gomez or Bill Lee or Mark Fydrich; Waddell was more of an overgrown
child, a hulking man with a terrifying curveball, but with a childlike mind
that was constantly seeking amusement. Waddell was obsessed with fire engines,
and there are stories of him running off the mound in mid-game to chase one.
Other times Waddell would mysteriously disappear before a game; Connie Mack
would hire private detectives to find him, and Waddell would often be
located at a firestation, or playing with kids in a playground.
Of course, he had the same vices as other
ballplayers, such as getting drunk and carousing with women. He didn't
handle it as well as others might, and often ended up in jail (or, on
one occasion, he is reported to have jumped out of a window to win a bet
that he could fly). He was undeniably a great pitcher, and a fine entertainer;
another of his stunts was to call in the outfield at the start of an inning,
and then strike out the side. Waddell died in 1914 from tuberculosis, after
helping firefighters repair a broken dike during a flood.
Nick Altrock had two good years for the
White Sox, and that was about the extent of his playing career. He too
was a flake, though different from Waddell. Altrock was a clown who delighted
fans with his antics before and after games, and even put a smile on league
president Ban Johnson's face. Altrock coached the Senators for 41 years,
from 1912-53. For years after he retired, Altrock would pick one game during
the season and go to bat in it. He did this until 1933, when he batted
for the last time at age 59. Officially, Altrock's career lasted 19 years,
though for many of those seasons he only made one appearance.
Eddie Plank was another lefty, and Waddell's
teammate in Philadelphia. Apart from greatness, they had little in common.
Plank was a college man, a good pitcher whose performance varied little
from year to year. He may not have been as great as Waddell, Johnson, Walsh,
and others, but he was consistent, and won 326 games in his career.
