Democratic messenger. [volume] (Snow Hill, Md.) 1869-1973, 1908-11-28
A BASEBALL WONDER.
"0ld Hoss" Radbourne, Greatest
OF All Pitchers.
THE HERCULES OF THE GAME
His Marvellous Feat OF Pluck. Strength
and Endurance That Won the Pen.
nant For Providence In 1894 Rec
ord In Games Won.

ord In Games Won.
Pitchers may come and pitchers may
go, but the name OF "Old IIoss" Rad
bourne goes on forever. have talked
10 many great ball players who have
lamented to me the fact thai baseball
fame Is SO ephemeral that II was not
worth the gaining. and. while no doubt
this is In Il great measure true. there
Is one pitcher who has left name
that promises to roll on for many.
many years.
Each year hundreds OF pitchers claim
attention of the world. and each year
they are promptly forgotten. But III.
nois produced man who. although
now years deceased. has brighter
name than any OF the great multitude
In the great campaign of 1854 when
the Providence club. then member Of
the National league. was fighting bit.
ter game with Philadelphia. II catastro-
phe occurred that seemingly would
disrupt It's chances Of winning the pen
nant. player named Sweeney. who
was pitching was ordered To 90 into
right field TO change places with 10y
clone" Miller. At that time It was not
permissible to take a pitcher out Of the
game Whereupon Sweeney promptly
walked out Of the game. leaving the
team with only eight men and with
one pitcher. Charles Radbourne.
Two men tried to cover the field.
with the result that Providence was
completely showed under meeting
of the directors was held to decide
whether or not the club should be dis
banded. Certainly professional team
was never IN sorrler plight
Radbourne was approached and the
proposition put to him Il can win it
all right" said he quietly and In Il
matter Of fact tone
And then followed the most remark
able battle for n pennant that the
world has ever seen Radbourne cs-
tablishcd Il record that has never been
equalcd. one that will live when more
expensive contests will have been
blisSfnlly forgotten. OF twcmty -Sevcn
consecutive games Radbournc won
twenty-slX. In four games with Bos-
ton he had three shutouts. only one
run was scored and only seventeen
hits We're made This defeat was suf
fered at the hands OF Buffalo by a
score OF . TO o, and even then only
five hits were made off him. showing
that the defeat was not due To poor
pitching Needless To say. Providence
won the pennant. or. rather. Rad
bourne won the pennant.
But the great player had to pay the
price. No arm could stand the awful
strain without great agony Morning
after morning when Radbourne arose
he could not lift his arm as high as
his waist. He had to brush his hair
with his left hand But he did not
give up the game He would slip out
to the park about two hours before
the rest Of the team put in an ap-
pearance and would begin the excru.
chatting process of limberng up. He
would pitch the bail only few feet
when he would first go out. but he
would keep on trying time after time.
rubbing his arm with his left hand.
Sometimes his face would be drawn
up into contortions. but never n word
of complaint left his lips.
Half an hour before the game was
To begin the players would slip out TO
see how "Old Hoss" was getting along
They would sit silently on the bench.
waiting for his arm to get into contli.
ton. When he was able 10 throw
from second to home base rousing
cheer would go up for they knew
that meant the winning OF the game
for them
Radbourne claimed for his home
Bloomington. Ill. After his great sea
son with Providence managers all over
the country We're upon his heels. Flat.
tering offers poured in. aud he was not
under contract with Providence for the
next season either When the contest
was over the late Ned Allen. president
Of the team that season, sent for Rad.
bourne. lie laid the release before
him and close beside II blank con
tract. Radbourne looked nj them both
for several minutes and then slowly
took up pen and filed the blank out
for sum only $1,000 higher than he
had been getting and tore up the re
lease. Allen almost fell on his neck
and wcpt for JOY
Radbourue'S last year III baseball was
with Cincinnati In 1891. but II was Il
sad year II seems a pity that the ca.
recr OF so great ball player should
end 80 sadly That year his work
showed great deterioration. for the aw.
full strain made In 1854 was beginning
Ia tell on his arm. Al the end ~ the
season he was too proud to 90 into
minor league baseball and So entirely
withdrew from the game He return
ed TO Bloomington where he opened
billiard hall. He had little to say and
In unwinking silence would sit IN q
corner and watch the young men laugh
as they played. He would talk about
himself only when corncrcd. and then