Books by
Michael Barr
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Watching
Clayton Kershaw pitch against San Diego last Saturday reminded me
that one of the greatest left-handed pitchers of all time spent his
last days in Boerne
before dying in a sanitarium in San
Antonio.
George Edward "Rube" Waddell was born in Butler, Pennsylvania on October
3, 1876. He was tall with long arms and big hands. He was born to
throw a baseball.
He broke into the majors in 1900. His fastball had lightning speed,
and he threw an assortment of pitches that curved, hopped and dropped.
Philadelphia Phillies manager Connie Mack said "for pure stuff alone
Rube Waddell was the best left-hander who ever threw a baseball."
Rube was a strikeout artist. In 1902 he struck out 106 batters in
a span of 10 games. The next year he fanned 130 batters in 12 games.
He struck out 10 men or more 54 times. In 1904 he struck out 343 batters
in 377 innings - a modern-day record until Sandy Koufax broke it in
1965.
"When he was on," said Connie Mack, "he was near unhittable." |
As
good as he was, and he is a Hall of Famer, Waddell is best remembered
as an eccentric. He possessed a variety of quirks too numerous to
mention. He lived up to his nickname and then some.
A friend described Rube as having "the body of a giant, the heart
of a child and the mind of a butterfly." He was easily distracted
by children's laughter, the sound of music or a wandering thought.
In Brooklyn, on a day he was scheduled to pitch, Rube went missing.
A coach found him playing marbles with children on a street corner.
"Tell them to hold up the game until I'm through," Rube told the coach.
That afternoon he pitched a 3-hitter.
One year Rube didn't show up for training camp. Connie Mack found
him days later in a minstrel show, wearing a tall furry hat, swinging
a baton and leading a marching band down the street.
He disappeared every once in a while during baseball season to go
fishing.
He was fascinated with fires trucks. He would leave the dugout between
innings to chase a screaming fire engine down the street.
One night he dove off a ferry boat between Philadelphia and Camden,
New Jersey to save what he thought was a young woman drowning in the
icy waters of the Delaware River. The woman turned out to be a log.
Rube liked to drink. When he signed with Philadelphia, his entire
signing bonus went to pay his bar tab.
Connie Mack tried to keep Waddell from drinking, but Rube often wandered
off the reservation. It didn't help that he had a second job tending
bar at several Philadelphia saloons.
But when Rube was on a mission, he had a childlike ability to focus
completely on a cause he believed in.
In 1912 Waddell lived in Hickman, Kentucky. That winter the rain fell,
and the Mississippi River rose. Waddell stood for hours, up to his
armpits in icy water, stacking sand bags to protect the town from
flood waters. The town stayed dry, but Waddell developed pneumonia
and later tuberculosis.
By the fall of 1913, Rube was broke, sick and unable to care for himself.
The Elks Lodge in Hickman raised money to send him to live with his
sister in San Antonio.
That winter he recovered enough to spend time with his parents who
were living in Boerne,
but as spring approached, his condition worsened. The family placed
him in Lutheran Sanitarium in San
Antonio. By the end of March he was down to 100 lbs.
He died, without a cent to his name, on April Fool's Day, 1914. He
was 37 years old.
The family buried Waddell in an obscure San Antonio cemetery. A pine
board marked his final resting place until John McGraw, Hall of Fame
Manager of the New York Giants, raised money for a suitable tombstone.
Several months ago I found Rube Waddell's grave in Mission Burial
Park. A visitor before me, who knew the story, left a toy fire truck.
So good to know someone remembers. |
 |
George Edward
Waddell
1876-1914
Rube Waddell's grave in Mission Burial Park, San Antonio
Photo
by Michael Barr,
January 2018 |
Toy firetruck
on Rube Waddell's tombstone
Photo
by Michael
Barr,
January 2018 |
© Michael
Barr
"Hindsights" October
1, 2018 Column
Sources:
"Great Baseball Pitcher Is Playing A Game For His Life," San Antonio
Light, March 1, 1914.
"Rube Waddell Intrepid Even On Death Bed," San Antonio Light, April
2, 1914.
"Dizzy Dean and Rube Waddell: Naturals - They Come Once in a Generation,"
The Sporting News, December 13, 1934.
"All Time King of Screwballs? Rube Waddell Logical Choice," Chicago
Tribune, January 5, 1967. |
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