- Born
- Died
- Birth nameGeorge Edward Waddell
- Rube Waddell was born on October 13, 1876 in Bradford, Pennsylvania, USA. He was married to Madge Maguire, May Wynne Skinner and Florence Dunning. He died on April 1, 1914 in San Antonio, Texas, USA.
- SpousesMadge Maguire(April 4, 1910 - ?) (divorced)May Wynne Skinner(June 1903 - 1910) (divorced)Florence Dunning(1899 - 1901) (divorced)
- One of the most eccentric personalities in baseball, he would sometimes chase fire engines instead of pitch.
- First pitcher to strike out the side with nine pitches (1902).
- 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.
- 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.
- 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).
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content