Did Radbourn have the first great season of the overhand era in baseball history?

Old Hoss Radbourn was playing ball for top clubs in his hometown Bloomington, Illinois by 1874. This was obviously during the underhand era in baseball history. Overhand pitching wouldn’t become remotely prevalent until 1883. The National League didn’t permit it legally until the following year, 1884. So, at age 29 in 1884, did Radbourn adopt the overhand style during his 59-win landmark season?

It seems that he did. The New York Times on November 20, 1884 gives such an indication.

At their November meetings, some National League executives pressured to have “pitchers to lower the arm to the shoulder. This, however, was opposed by the delegate from Providence. They were fearful that this would impair the effectiveness of their crack pitcher, Radbourne (sic), and fought stubbornly against it.”

There is another indication that he did indeed throw overhand from the Daily Inter Ocean:

 ”…his days of usefulness are about at an end. Radbourne’s (sic) effectiveness lies in his command of the ball. He formerly brought the ball from over his head, but has given it up entirely, as it injures his arm.”

It seems that Radbourn at least experiemented with overhand pitching in 1884 and thus had the first great pitching season in baseball history. With his heavy pitching toll in 1884 and other years, Rad reverted to sidearm pitching to lessen the strain on his arm.

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