Rube Waddell

Rube Waddell (1876-1914), American professional baseball player, one of the most gifted left-handed pitchers in baseball history, especially noted for his speed and for his strikeout records. He was born George Edward Waddell in Bradford, Pennsylvania. In 1904, while pitching for the Philadelphia club, he struck out 349 batters. A league strikeout record, it was for many years carried incorrectly in the record books and for that reason is today marked as disputed; listed along with Waddell's record is the 348-strikeout total made by Cleveland pitcher Bob Feller in 1946. During his career Waddell pitched for a number of minor league teams and for the Louisville, Chicago, and Pittsburgh teams of the National League and the St. Louis and Philadelphia teams of the American League. He did his most outstanding work for the Philadelphia team, for which he pitched 250 games between 1902 and 1907, winning 131 and losing 81 for a percentage of .618. In his lifetime he pitched 406 games, winning 193 and losing 140, for a percentage of .580. Waddell was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1946.