 George Edward Waddell
St. Louis N.L.
 1946: Elected to the Baseball
Hall of Fame
1902-07: AL Strikeout
Leader
1904: 349 K's (ML season
record broken in 1965 by Sandy Koufax)
1905: Won 27 games, 1.48
ERA (Both #1 AL)
Lifetime 2.16 ERA (#6
All-Time), 2316 K's
RUBE WADDELL
Waddell, George Edward
b: 10/13/1876, Bradford, Pa. d: 4/1/14, San Antonio, Tex.
BR/TL, 6'1.5", 196 lbs. Deb: 9/8/1897
==============================================================================
YEAR TM/L W L PCT G GS CG SH SV IP H HR BB
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1897 Lou-N 0 1 .000 2 1 1 0 0 14 17 0 6
1899 Lou-N 7 2 .778 10 9 9 1 1 79 69 4 14
1900 *Pit-N 8 13 .381 29 22 16 2 0 208^2 176 3 55
1901 Pit-N 0 2 .000 2 2 0 0 0 7^2 10 0 9
Chi-N 14 14 .500 29 28 26 0 0 243^2 239 5 66
Yr 14 16 .467 31 30 26 0 0 251^1 249 5 75
1902 Phi-A 24 7 .774 33 27 26 3 0 276^1 224 7 64
1903 Phi-A 21 16 .568 39 38 34 4 0 324 274 3 85
1904 Phi-A 25 19 .568 46 46 39 8 0 383 307 5 91
1905 Phi-A 27 10 .730 46 34 27 7 0 328^2 231 5 90
1906 Phi-A 15 17 .469 43 34 22 8 0 272^2 221 1 92
1907 Phi-A 19 13 .594 44 33 20 7 0 284^2 234 2 73
1908 StL-A 19 14 .576 43 36 25 5 3 285^2 223 0 90
1909 StL-A 11 14 .440 31 28 16 5 0 220^1 204 1 57
1910 StL-A 3 1 .750 10 2 0 0 1 33 31 1 11
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total 13 193 143 .574 407 340 261 50 5 2961^1 2460 37 803
Rube's career includes many record-setting accomplishments and would provide enough of a story
for most major leaguers. However, Rube was such a character of the game in both humor and pathos that his accomplishments
were complimentary to his personae. Rube had an overpowering fastball and was the dominant strikeout artist of
his time. His talent was considered second to none. Had he maintained a focus on his talents, his career story
would be more extraordinary. Rube followed the beat of a different drummer. He had many passions that did not include
baseball. An impulsive person, Rube would take off to go fishing during the middle of the baseball season and could
not be traced. Mysteriously disappearing for these excursions, he would then reappear and wait for his turn to
pitch as if nothing had happened. He would take off in the middle of a game to chase fire engines, play marbles
with the neighborhood kids or march in town parades. He once joined a circus side show and wrestled with alligators.
It was said that even during a pitching performance, he would cartwheel from the mound back to his dugout. While
pitching for Connie Mack and the Philadelphia A's, Rube had his greatest pitching seasons. He became a gate attraction
for a number of years. However, his erratic behavior soon tired with the fans and with Connie Mack and Rube was
sold in 1908 to the St. Louis Browns for $5000. He died an early death at 37 years after a bout with TB for a couple
of years. His body had weakened after he heroically helped a community save itself from the Spring floods of 1912
and had contracted a severe viral infection for his efforts.
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