Hall of Fame pitcher, who played from 1889 to 1901, primarily with the New York Giants, compiling a lifetime 245-174 win-loss record and a 3.07 earned run average. Connie Mack, who managed in the major leagues for 50 years, insisted that Rusie had the greatest fastball he had ever seen. This assertion is backed up by the fact that in 1893 the pitching distance was moved back from 50 feet to 60 feet 6 inches to give batters a chance against Rusie's overpowering fastball. Rusie's catcher, Dick Buckley, once admitted to putting a sheet of lead in his glove to enable him to catch Rusie's fastball. Originally from Indiana, Rusie's nickname was the "Hoosier Thunderbolt." Upon retirement from baseball in 1901, he returned to Indiana and worked in a pulp and paper mill until moving to Seattle in 1911 to take a steamfitter's job. In 1921, John McGraw hired Rusie as the superintendent of the Polo Grounds in New York, a job Rusie held until 1929. He then returned to Seattle where he died on December 6, 1942 at the age of 71.
Hall of Fame pitcher, who played from 1889 to 1901, primarily with the New York Giants, compiling a lifetime 245-174 win-loss record and a 3.07 earned run average. Connie Mack, who managed in the major leagues for 50 years, insisted that Rusie had the greatest fastball he had ever seen. This assertion is backed up by the fact that in 1893 the pitching distance was moved back from 50 feet to 60 feet 6 inches to give batters a chance against Rusie's overpowering fastball. Rusie's catcher, Dick Buckley, once admitted to putting a sheet of lead in his glove to enable him to catch Rusie's fastball. Originally from Indiana, Rusie's nickname was the "Hoosier Thunderbolt." Upon retirement from baseball in 1901, he returned to Indiana and worked in a pulp and paper mill until moving to Seattle in 1911 to take a steamfitter's job. In 1921, John McGraw hired Rusie as the superintendent of the Polo Grounds in New York, a job Rusie held until 1929. He then returned to Seattle where he died on December 6, 1942 at the age of 71.
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