Oct. 15, 1884: The legend of Old Hoss - won his 60th game of the baseball season, pitched 678.2 innings

BleedGopher

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per Axios Sports:

137 years ago today, Charles "Old Hoss" Radbourn won his 60th (!) game of the season for the NL's Providence Grays, capping perhaps the greatest pitching campaign ever.
  • By the numbers: Radbourn won the Triple Crown with a 60-12 record, 1.38 ERA and 441 strikeouts in 678.2 innings.
  • Wild stat: He started 64% of the Grays' games (73 of 114) and was never removed from the mound, pitching 73 complete games.
The backdrop: The Grays, in financial disarray and with just two starters, nearly disbanded before the 1884 season began, but soldiered on and got off to a hot start.

  • In July, their other starter got in a drunken, mid-game argument with the manager and quit on the spot, leaving Radbourn as the only reliable pitcher.
  • Radbourn offered to pitch every game the rest of the way as long as he was paid for doing the work of two men. The team obliged, and Radbourn pitched 40 of the Grays' final 43 games, winning 36.
To top it all off ... Radbourn led the Grays to the NL pennant and baseball's first-ever championship series against the New York Metropolitans, winners of the upstart American Association.

  • The three-game series was played at the Polo Grounds, and the Grays won all three (for some reason, they played the third game anyway).
  • Radbourn, naturally, pitched complete games on three consecutive days to clinch the title.
Win Twins!!
 




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