Rube Waddell: The Zany, Brilliant Life of a Strikeout Artist [Paperback]

Alan Howard Levy (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 2001 | ISBN-10: 0786407867 | ISBN-13: 978-0786407866

George Edward "Rube" Waddell was one of the zaniest characters ever to play baseball. The legendary Connie Mack, who saw quite a few cards during his nearly seven decade stint in the majors, once observed that no other screwball he ever saw could hold a candle to Rube. Mack also said that Rube's curveball was the best he'd ever seen. Indeed, Waddell was one of the greatest pitchers in the history of the game. Rube won 191 games in 13 seasons, had four straight 20-win seasons for Mack and the Philadelphia A's, and claimed six consecutive strikeout titles. In 1904 he struck out 349 batters, a record that held for six decades. This biography traces his early life in western Pennsylvania, the fits and starts of his first years in professional baseball, his big years with the A's, and his subsequent fade into obscurity and his early death in a sanatorium on April Fool's Day, 1914.

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About the Author

Longtime baseball fan Alan H. Levy is a professor of American history at Slippery Rock University in Pennsylvania. He is the author of several books on American music, and a biography of the noted composer Edward MacDowell. Levy has also written about the debates over federal support for the arts in America.

Product Details

• Paperback: 327 pages
• Publisher: McFarland & Company (March 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786407867
• ISBN-13: 978-0786407866
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.9 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,059,785 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Rube was the one and only, June 19, 2001

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Jonathan Brookner (Fairfield, CT USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Rube Waddell: The Zany, Brilliant Life of a Strikeout Artist (Paperback)

After Amos Rusie of the 1890s, Rube Waddell was the second pitcher in major league history to make his mark as a strikeout king. But he made an even bigger mark during his day for being the craziest, most entertaining player in an era that didn't cloak eccentrics. Rube really did sit his teammates down while he struck out the side, did cartwheels to the dugout, and made rude noises while throwing change-ups or coaching the bases. Off the field, he really did disappear when needed to join firemen to put out blazes, to go fishing, alligator wrestling, and mainly to go drinking.

This book's real value is the author's combing through the newspapers of the day to dig up every story of the crazy pitcher. We meet a fellow who never became an adult human, for all the good (love of dogs and all-round cheeriness), and bad (immaturity that could explode into actions like beating up his parents-in-law). This guy could charm anyone he wanted to out of the price of some drinks. Levy brings to the first half of the book an average of a guffaw-causing anecdote per page.

The flaw of the book is a big one- while as a teller of stories, Levy should take his own place at the corner tap, as a baseball historian he loses credibility. He becomes tedious in making excuses for almost every loss Waddell ever suffered. But the excuses don't hold water, because Levy, despite being a college professor, hasn't depicted baseball as it was played in the first decade of the 20th century. (for example-it was a dead ball era without much hitting, but Levy blames seasons-long lack of hitting support for Waddell's inability to lead the A's to more championships- even in years when the team was one of the league hitting/scoring leaders). He must not have ever picked up a Baseball Encyclopedia either, for all the straight factual errors. Just one example is his statement that in 1904 no other pticher had 200 strikeouts- Cy Young being closest with 180. Actually, four other pitchers had 200 strikouts, with Young the least of those at 200 exactly.

His need to pair Rube with Cy Young in the minds of readers, and to cover up the greatness of teammate Eddie Plank actually takes away from the true appreciation we should have for Waddell. He somehow has never heard of Amos Rusie, and is also unaware of a strange 40s movie starring the comedian Joe E. Brown as a Rube character who strikes out batters at will, cartwheels to the dugout, chases fires, and only differs from Rube in being innocent regarding women. For fun stories, buy it. To get a fun as well as clear picture of baseball at the time, and read about truly all-round great stars, read Scott Longert's "Addie Joss", Henry Thomas's "Walter Johnson,", the DeValeria's "Honus Wagner," David Anderson's "More than Merkle,", or Christy Mathewson's own "Pitching in a Pinch."

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Didn't know he was a Minneapolis Miller, February 14, 2002

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Dave Schwinghammer "Dave Schwinghammer" (Little Falls, Minnesota USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Rube Waddell: The Zany, Brilliant Life of a Strikeout Artist (Paperback)

According to some, Rube Waddell was the greatest pitcher to ever play the game. In 1904, he struck out 345 batters, during a time when hitters choked up on the bat, just trying to make contact with two strikes. Rube was also the first great drawing card. Because of him, new stadiums were built in Brooklyn, Philadelphia and Boston. Levy says, "He was among the game's first real drawing cards, among its first honest-to-goodness celebrities, and the first player to have teams of newspaper reporters following him, and the first to have a mass following of idol-worshiping kids yelling out his nickname like he was their buddy."

Rube was also one of the game's all-time greatest "characters". He would call his infielders into the dugout and strike out the side. He would do handstands and cartwheels after a victory. He would make animal noises while pitching. Unfortunately, he would also get into bar fights, drink too much, and disappear on a whim.

Eventually, Rube's manager, Connie Mack, got tired of Rube's unreliability and shipped him off to the St. Louis Browns, where he lasted two mores years before being banished to the minors. He pitched for the Minneapolis Millers for two years after that, hoping to be noticed by a major league team. It never happened.

The Millers trained in Hickman, Kentucky, which was plagued by floods. Always the fireman, Rube pitched in, sandbagging alongside black laborers (Quite the no-no in those days). He contracted pneumonia and was told to move to a warmer climate. Dropped by the Millers, Rube played for a team in Virginia, Minnesota, his skills increasingly abandoning him. Rube refused to take care of himself and he eventually would up being arrested as a vagrant in St. Louis and was diagnosed with tuberculosis. He spent his last days in a sanitarium in Texas, his weight dropping to a hundred pounds. When some major leaguers who were in Texas for spring training came to see him he said, "I'll be over tomorrow and show you bums how to run. May weight is down to fighting trim now. I'm in shape."

Rube was married three times, during a time when divorce was almost unheard of, his last spouse leaving him because, "Rube's just too crazy."

Alan H. Levy is a history professor at Slippery Rock. I think he relied too much on newspaper accounts and not enough on interviews (albeit they're hard to find after almost a hundred years). He does quote from Connie Mack and Mugsy McGraw's biographies, but none of these characters really come to life, not even Rube. Rube's three wives are practically invisible. I also had a hard time with Levy's somnolent final chapter, possibly because the main point of interest was already dead.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Biography Long Overdue, March 1, 2002

By 

C. W. Emblom "Bill Emblom" (Ishpeming, Michigan USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Rube Waddell: The Zany, Brilliant Life of a Strikeout Artist (Paperback)

Thanks to author Alan Levy we at long last have a biography about Rube Waddell, a great pitcher at the beginning of the 20th century. Contemporaries of Waddell such as Cy Young, Christy Mathewson,Grover Alexander, and Walter Johnson have at least one biography written about them and now Rube joins them in this respect. Author Levy states that Waddell had four loves in life which were pitching, fishing, fighting fires, and liquor not neccessarily in that order. Students of baseball history remember Waddell as a baseball zany for his antics both on and off the field, but what is often overlooked is that he was a very caring person who would give of himself to others. It was in this capacity of standing hour on end in cold water fighting back floodwaters by piling sandbags that led to pneumonia and eventually tuberculosis. Baseball was simply a game to Waddell whether he was throwing his fastball past major league hitters or playing with a bunch of ten year olds. Both Rube Waddell and Babe Ruth were alike in that they both were childlike in the body of an adult. Author Levy gives an excellent account of the scuffle which Waddell got into over a teammate's straw hat that led to him injuring his arm and prevented him from going up against Christy Mathewson in the 1905 World Series in which Matty pitched three shutouts. It would have been interesting to see what the matchups of Waddell and Mathewson would have provided us. It was traditional for straw hats to be destroyed after Labor Day and Rube wanted to destroy the teammate's hat. I don't see that there was any dark deeds involved between Waddell and gamblers who didn't want Waddell to pitch in the Series. Athletics manager Connie Mack gave Waddell some free reign when the two were together while Waddell gave Pirates manager Fred Clarke fits with his erratic behavior. It's true that Rube Waddell had destructive habits, but I also come away feeling that Rube Waddell had a caring side for other people that is too often overlooked.