Posts Tagged ‘19th Century Baseball History’

There is a fallacy in the belief that pitchers were always expected to finish what they started – back in the day. ‘Expected’ by whom? Certainly not in baseball history by captains and managers who were expected to run their own clubs. The expectation that they had – and of them – was to field the best possible nine at all times.

Does this translate into slotting a man – a pitcher – into a position for an entire game regardless of the kind of day he was having? Obviously, not.

The first major league reliever in baseball history took the position on April 25, 1876 – the third day of the National League’s first season. Joe Bordon of Boston was replaced by Jack Manning in the fifth inning after Bordon had ceded five runs. Manager Harry Wright made the change.

At the time, free substitutions weren’t legal – only allowed for injury or sickness – so Bordon and right fielder Manning simply switched responsibilities. Wright’s move paid off; only one additional run was scored by Brooklyn the rest of the game and Boston won 7-6.

The rule allowing substitutions regardless of injury wasn’t in place until 1889. That year, teams were permitted to subsitute any two players for any reason during the course of a game. The first free substitution took place on April 20, 1889 – the fourth day of the season – in an American Association game, Baltimore versus Columbus. Gus Weyhing made his major league debut, replacing Al Mays.

Moses Fleetwood Walker was the first acknowledged black player in major league baseball history.

Oberlin College, originally named Oberlin Collegiate Institute when it opened in 1833, was among the first American colleges to admit African-Americans, in 1835, and it was the first to formally count females among its regular student ranks.

In 1867 Oberlin fielded one of the first African-American college baseball players, left fielder Simpson Younger.  As a side note, he was born to Charles Younger, grandfather of the famous outlaws who rode with the James brothers, and his young slave Elizabeth.

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.