Welcome to the Baseball History Podcast: Featuring This Week in Baseball History, baseball dictionary and a tour of baseball cities. I’m your game announcer Bob Wright.
This is game 35 of the 2007 baseball season
In the first inning let’s take a look at This Week in Baseball History for the 1 week of June.
June 2
1891 Charles Garder Radbourn wins his 300th game beating the Beaneaters at South End Grounds in Boston, 10-8. ‘Old Hoss’, who will finish 484 of the 497 games he starts, will end his 11-year career this season with 309 victories.
Charles Gardner Radbourn was born December 11, 1854 in Rochester, New York. Nicknamed Old Hoss for his dependability and endurance, Radbourne was a marvel even in an era when teams commonly used only two starting pitchers.
He was the author of the winningest season in big league history with 60 victories in 1884. Though his career spanned just 11 seasons, Radbourn amassed 310 victories, winning 20 or more games nine times and finishing 484 of the 497 games he started.
As a starting pitcher for the Providence Grays, Boston Beaneaters, Boston Reds and Cincinnati Reds, Radbourn compiled a 309-195 career record.
Already an outstanding pitcher in 1882 when he led the National League in strikeouts and shutouts, in 1883-84 Radbourne won more games for Providence than four entire National League teams. He made 68 starts in 1883, winning a league-high 49 games, including a no-hitter over Cleveland July 25.
The next season, Radbourne completed all 73 of his starts and won the National League’s pitching Triple Crown with a 1.38 Earned Run Average, 60 wins and 441 strikeouts in 678.2 innings. He also won 18 consecutive games that year and pitched 11 shutouts.
After the season, Providence met New York, champions of the American Association, in a forerunner to the modern World Series. With Radbourne pitching every inning, the Grays swept three games in New York and the series was defaulted before ever reaching Providence.
Radbourne joined Boston in 1886, but was not nearly as dominating as he had been in Providence, often losing as many as he won.
He continued to pitch submarine-style even after the overhand delivery was legalized.
In 1890 he led the Players’ League in winning percentage for the Boston league champions, but in mid-1891 he dropped out of baseball.
His 60 wins in a season, or 59, according to some sources; is a record which is expected to never be broken.
There is a discrepancy in Radbourn’s victory total in 1884. The classic MacMillan Baseball Encyclopedia, as well as the current Sporting News Baseball Record Book both credit Radbourn with 60 wins. Other sources, including the baseball reference and baseball almanac links give Radbourn “only” 59 wins. Some older sources, such as his tombstone plaque, counted as high as 62.
There is no dispute about the 678⅔ innings pitched, only over the manner in which victories were assigned to pitchers. That can be a contentious issue, as the rules in the early years allowed more latitude to the official scorer than they do today.
According to at least two write ups in the game of July 28 at Philadelphia, Joe Miller pitched five innings and left trailing 4-3. Providence then scored 4 in the top of the sixth. Radbourn came in to relieve, and pitched shutout ball over the final four innings, while the Grays went on to score 4 more and to win the game 11-4. The official scorer decided that Radbourn had pitched the most effectively, and awarded him the win. Under the rules of the day, the scorekeeper’s decision certainly made sense. However, under modern scoring rules, Miller would get the win, being the “pitcher of record” when he left the game, and Radbourn would have been credited with a save, for closing the game and “pitching effectively for 3 or more innings.” Some modern statisticians have retroactively awarded the win to Miller. This may be a disputable practice, but it provides the explanation for the 59 vs. the 60 wins for Radbourn in 1884.
He died February 5, 1897, in Bloomington, Illinois.
Charles Radbourn was elected into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1939.
In this inning we’ll open up the Baseball Dictionary
Under the letter: O
official game
Any non-tied game that completes four-and-a-half innings with the home team in the lead or five innings with the visitors leading. The concept comes into play when a game is stopped for rain, darkness, or other reason. If a game is not an official game, it must be played over from the start or, in the case of a curfew or light failure, from the point at which play was suspended.
For those of you that want to stick around, here’s an
Extra Inning
Bob,
I’ve been enjoying your Baseball History podcast – I recently discovered it and have managed to catch up from your first podcast in a few weeks. However, I’ve got a few corrections for you.
–In your piece about Eddie Matthews, you indicated that Matthews was the only person to have been a player, coach and manager for the same team. One of the players that was left out of the correction of this mistake was Alan Trammell, who served in all three capacities with the Detroit Tigers. I also think he’d be a decent person to devote a podcast to.
–In your podcast on Chuck Klein, you indicated that he was one of only a dozen players who have hit four home runs in a game. In fact, that achievement has occurred 15 times in baseball history.
–In your podcast on Babe Ruth, you listed him as the all-time leader in walks in a season, walks in a career, and single-season slugging percentage. All of these records have since been surpassed.
Thanks,
Guy
Guy, I want to thank you for the corrections. I always try for accuracy but I also have to depend on listeners to keep everything straight.
If you would like to a part of Baseball History Podcast, submit your written contribution for the tour segment. I will only be doing the tour when one is sent in by a listener. You can do the segment on any stadium or team; past or present; Minor League, Major League, Negro League or any league outside of the US. Write about 1 page in a conversational tone, send it to me, I will record it, and you will get the credit.
You can email me at baseballhistory@gmail.com. You can leave a voice mail at: 206-888-6506. If you need more baseball, I invite you to check out Just Baseball at justbaseballpodcast.com. Well, that’s it for today’s game of Baseball History Podcast. I’ll see you later at the ballpark.
TWIBH- Charles
Radbourn,
Dictionary- Official Game
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