George Edward (Rube) Waddell (October 13, 1876 – April 1, 1914) was an American southpaw pitcher in Major League Baseball (MLB). In his thirteen-year career he played for the Louisville Colonels (1897, 1899), Pittsburgh Pirates (1900–01) and Chicago Orphans (1901) in the National League, and the Philadelphia Athletics (1902–07) and St. Louis Browns (1908–10) in the American League. Born in Bradford, Pennsylvania, Waddell was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1946.Waddell was a remarkably dominant strikeout pitcher in an era when batters mostly slapped at the ball to get singles. He had an excellent fastball, a sharp-breaking curve, a screwball, and superb control (his strikeout-to-walk ratio was almost 3-to-1). He led the major leagues in strikeouts for six consecutive years.
Opposing players, knowing that Waddell wasn't the quickest thinker in the world, would do their best to confuse him to gain an edge. Several hours before one game in which Waddell was scheduled to pitch, an opposing player talked Waddell into showing up early at the park. The player then took Waddell to deep center field and expressed his doubts about Waddell's ability to throw a ball from center field to home plate. Waddell succeeded, and the opposing player was able to get Waddell to make throws to home for half an hour. Finally, Waddell's manager Connie Mack showed up and put a stop to it. "You shouldn't be doing this type of thing on the day you pitch," Mack told Waddell. As it turned out, the opposing player's con did no good: Waddell went on that game to throw a complete-game shutout.
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Because of Waddell's notoriously-short attention span, some think he may have suffered from Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (an unknown condition at the turn of the 20th century).
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Had a reputation for burning a hole in his pocket and for thinking in the short term rather than long. Waddell once approached his manager, Connie Mack, telling him that he (Waddell) had received an offer from another team to pitch for them. He showed Mack his signing bonus - a $2,000 check - to prove it. Mack asked Waddell to give him a few hours to match the offer. Mack went to his bank, withdrew $500 and got it in $1 bills, and took it to Waddell. Waddell then looked at the $500 in cash, at the check for $2,000 and accepted the cash.
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Despite his off-field antics, which included excessive drinking and multiple divorces, Waddell ironically was known as an excellent control pitcher whose sharp breaking curveball was an excellent complement to his fastball.
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Among his favorite activities were pretending to be an automated mannequin and playing marbles with schoolchildren.
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According to one story about his eccentric behavior, Waddell was completing warm-up tosses before starting a game. The other team's third base coach started up with his normal banter of "You bum! You can't pitch! Get off the mound!" Waddell reportedly looked at the coach with a wounded look on his own face, dropped his glove on the mound, walked out to the outfield, climbed over the fence and into the bleachers next to the fans. Despite the pleas of his teammates, he remained there all afternoon. Despite Waddell's issues, he is considered by most baseball historians to be one of the greatest left-handed pitcher of the early 20th century.
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Made major league debut on 8 September 1897.
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Oakland Athletics All-Time ERA Leader (1.97).
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1905 American League Triple Crown Award Winner by leading League with 1.48 ERA, 27 Wins and 287 Strikeouts. In same season also led League in winning percentage (73%), Hits allowed per 9 innings pitched (6.33), strikeouts per 9 innings pitched (7.86) and games (46).
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He was the greatest strikeout artist at the turn of the twentieth century.
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First pitcher to strike out the side with nine pitches (1902).
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One of the most eccentric personalities in baseball, he would sometimes chase fire engines instead of pitch.
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After he hurt his arm horsing around with another teammate in 1905, he was never the same pitcher again.
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In 1904, he set the American League record for the most strikeouts in a season (349), which was later broken by Nolan Ryan in 1974.
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Elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame by the Committee on Baseball Veterans in 1946.
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Pitched for the Louisville Colonels (1897 and 1899), Pittsburgh Pirates (1900-1901), Chicago Cubs (1901), Philadelphia A's (1902-1907) and St. Louis Browns (1908-1910).
Self
Title
Year
Status
Character
Game of Base Ball
1903
Documentary short
Himself
Rube Waddell and the Champions Playing Ball with the Boston Team
1902
Documentary short
Himself
Known for movies
Rube Waddell and the Champions Playing Ball with the Boston Team 1902 as Himself
$400,000