The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1914-10-13
BIRTHDAY or -RUBE
 WADDEId1, MOST EGz
 CENTRIC OF TVIRLERs

Irresponsible, childish, whimsical ifnpetueus eccentric to the point of madness or genius-such was ssRube'' Wadde11. the great pitcher who will go down in baseball history as the oldest character in the game. To- day is the thirty-etghth anniversary of the birth of George Edward Wad- dell He arrived in this world at But Ter, Pa. on the thirteenth day of Oc- tober, 1S76,-which, incidentally, was oyan. Whether or not the fact that he was born on the thirteenth in huenced his future career the reader may decide for himself. Certainly the jinx of bad luck seemed always to hover over him. driving him from pillar to post He died the victim; of tuberculosis in San Antonio, Tex, on the first of April last and it was &Ie unk1ndest cut Of all that the fates should have chosen that day for his passing
 sWadden was professional pitch or for. seventeen years. and in that period he held jobs with a dozen diff ferent clubs At his best he was one of the greatest pitchers in the bust ness. but owing to his eccentric hab-. It's he was seldom at his best A star of the diamond, the highest sal ary he ever received was $3,00o. The immortal t-Rube'' pitched his first pro fessiona1 bah with Oil City, Pa, in
 
 college nine he was fried out by the sLoTisyf1le Nationals He was soon dropped, and after a few weeks with Detroit he went back to Pennsylvania and played with the Home estead club In 1899 he pitched for Columbia, and in 1900 he was given another chance with Louisville. Pittsburgh was the next stop, but he soon Jumped the National League and joined the Amer lean League, with the Milwaukee club n he a RI< 7 tionaIs. but in 1909 he jumped again, this time to the outlaws Of Los An. ge1es. In 1902 he returned to the fed with the Athletics, and Connie Mack succeeded in keeping him in condition to pitch winning ball for six seasons. In 1908 he went off the reservation,'' and Connie sold him to the Browns. For a little while he pitched great ball, but in 1909 he slumped again, and was turned over to Newark Minneapolis next claim ed his services, and for a couple of years the sRube" was on the pay roll of the Mil1ers Last year he dipped farther back, and was turned League club Tuberculosis already Ahad him in it's clutches, and about year ago he went to a ranch in Texas where he made a game but losing fight against the white plague.
 Waddeu never harmed anybody
 
 1ovable character He was not the wfId-eyed, pugnacious character he was so often pictured. He had a childish longing for notoriety, and he 1ndu1ged every caprice that occurred to him. He was always broke. and always trying to make a touch, but no doWn-and-outer ever appealed to him in vain. He was as frank as child, and when he didn't like a feI- low player he didn't go behind his back to say so- To keep something going on was his greatest arnbiti on. He wanted excitement, and plenty of it, and when there was none to be had he started something Praise and aduIation were sweet to him, and he had to be jo1lied along. Strict dis cipline never got anything out of the sRube.s but an appeal to his pride ae7d a little stsalye' would send him oul there ready to pitch his head off. On those suspicious occasions when the Rube was on his mettle his fast ball would whine like a rife ball and his curves would baff7e the best Of batters- But Connie Mack earned every victory he got out of sWaddell, for the pitcher had to be handled as carefully as a prina donna There have beens and are, many eccentric EwfrIers. but the diamond will never nlaa the like of .Rube again.