George Edward "Rube" Waddell

[Crash Course]

He pitched in the major leagues from 1897 to 1910.

[KCBOOMER]

Waddell was one of the all-time flakes in baseball history. The stories of the goofy things he did are almost countless. A fine pitcher with a blazing fastball he once struck out 349 batters in a season. He only lasted thirteen seasons (one of which was a cup of coffee), but posted a 193-143 record. He didn't play for the best of teams so he had a SNWL of 212-124. His RSAA is 254 is very good, even by short-career HoF standards. He died at age 38.

One of the most interesting stories about occurred after his death in San Antonio, Texas. There was no grave marker put on his grave after he died. Some years later someone told Connie Mack and John McGraw about that and they raised funds to have a grave marker erected.

[nyy26wc]

254 RSAA
254 GAA (goofyness above average)

[mainsr]

Bill James, I think it was, put forth the proposal that Waddell was probably mentally ill, or mildly retarded, or both. How exactly does one chase a fire engine, anyway?

Easy yes.

[nyy26wc]

How exactly does one chase a fire engine, anyway?

By moving one foot in front of the other.