Dogs, fire trucks and fastballs, the crazy story of baseball legend Rube Waddell

Rube Waddell was described by his biographer, Alan Levy as a, "decidedly different sort of child," a statement both so broad, yet so accurate, there may be no better way to introduce one of baseball's quirkiest legends.

Waddell was born in rural Pennsylvania in 1876. Throughout his life he had a fascination with fire trucks and firemen, this possibly started when, aged three, he left his family home and stayed in a nearby fire station where he lived for multiple days.

Like many legendary sportspeople, Waddell’s prowess was developed at an early age through strange means. In this instance, he grew his throwing strength by constantly hurling rocks at birds around his family home. He rarely attended school and was usually found fishing or following a fire truck.

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It wasn’t until he was 18 that Rube started to play any form of organized baseball, playing one year in college for Butler in his home state of Pennsylvania. He would also turn out for local teams, getting paid $25 a game, per the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Rube earned his first professional contract with the Louisville Colonels, earning him $500. He never settled in Louisville, being loaned to Detroit to gain experience and pitching for whoever would pay him at the time. He played in Canada and in Homestead, Pennsylvania whilst still under contract with the Colonels.

Whilst still a Louisville player, Rube would turn out for a lower league Grand Rapids side in Michigan, ending the season with an impressive 26-8 record. With a merger of Louisville and the Pittsburgh-based Pirates occurring in 1900, Rube was able to play professional ball in his home state.

The Pirates' manager at the time was the famously stern Fred Clarke, whom Waddell did not get on well with. Suspended by management due to this personality clash, Waddell would pitch for the Milwaukee Brewers of the newly formed American League showcasing his talents with a complete game shutout in the second game of a doubleheader.

Throughout his career, Rube would often go missing before during and after games, regularly simply stopping his pitching routine if something else interested him more. This often came in the form of fire trucks, his lifelong obsession, if one were to drive by during a game, more often than not he would chase after it, occasionally assisting with the firefighting if needed. Occasionally he would miss the start of games playing marbles under the bleachers.

Despite the Pirates’ attempt to remedy the relationship with Rube, their patience wore thin and shipped him out, selling his rights to the Chicago Cubs. As ever, this was a strained relationship leading to Waddell spending most of his time in California rather than play for Chicago.

Waddell was like a big kid for most of life, impulsive and with a lack of attention span, but for the most part he was thought of as having a kind heart. This was often on display during games where he was supposed to be pitching. If he spotted a dog in the stands, he would leave the mound immediately and spend time petting and playing with them, leading some opposing fans to deliberately bring dogs into games to distract the talented pitcher.

Waddell’s best stint as a professional came during his time as an Athletic, signing for the Philadelphia side in 1902 after being escorted back to Philly by two Pinkerton (private police force of the day) agents hired by Athletics manager Connie Mack.

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As the starting pitcher for Philadelphia, Waddell was truly dominant, leading the side to the 1902 American League crown, showcasing his lightning-fastball and vicious curveball. During this season he was one of the first pitchers in pro ball to throw a perfect inning, consisting of three stuck-out batters on only nine pitchers.

Whilst an Athletic, there were many rumors Waddell was going to play professional gridiron at the same time, despite this being discouraged by management. In his usual fashion, this didn’t stop Rube who would turn out for local club teams in his home state of Pennsylvania throughout 1902 and even playing pro-soccer in St. Louis to almost everyone’s shock.

Through most of Waddell’s adult life, he was constantly battling a crippling alcohol problem. This issue would put a strain on all of his relationships, romantic and sporting. He married three times and two of those wives left him due to his irritability and unreliability when on the drink. In 1905 he even spent time in jail for throwing flat-irons at one set of in-laws whilst drinking.

At the absolute pinnacle of his sport, Waddell was the best pitcher in baseball in 1903, striking out opposing batters with impunity. Striking out 302 batters, beating the next best pitcher by 115 strikeouts.

This was a truly bizarre year for Waddell, perhaps summed up best by this excerpt from Lee Allen’s ‘American League Story’: "sleeping in a firehouse at Camden, New Jersey, and ended it tending bar in a saloon in Wheeling, West Virginia. [He] toured the nation in a melodrama called The Stain of Guilt… saved a woman from drowning, accidentally shot a friend through the hand, and was bitten by a lion."

The Philadelphia Athletics were perhaps the best team in baseball in 1905, with Waddell leading them throughout. Unfortunately for Rube, he missed his only opportunity to play in a World Series upon injuring his left arm during a play fight with a teammate. This incident led to many rumours about gambling debts and being paid to miss the series, but this seems unlikely.

After the completion of the 1907 season, Rube was seen as becoming more and more of a liability so the Athletics were happy to see him leave for the St. Louis Browns. Famously using a local paper to look for a wife, with the headline "Unkissed Girl Sought by Rube Waddell" blazoned on The Scranton Republican Newspaper. The Browns owner Robert Hedges even hired Rube as a hunter in the off-season to keep track of his location.

Despite the best efforts of the Browns to keep a lid on Waddell’s behaviour, his drinking problems only increased. At one point he was so drunk he passed out in the middle of game, this incident along with his general demeanour led to huge falling outs with teammates and other staff members. His career at the top was over, with a three-year stint in the minor leagues following.

With alcoholism ravishing his body of any of the athletic gifts he was blessed with, his playing career was drawing to a rather meek end. He was never employed by a big league team again, but he did have stints with the Minneapolis Millers, Minneapolis Rough Riders and Virginia Ore Diggers. His name alone would often draw larger crowds than usual to these games.

During a spring training camp with the Minneapolis Millers, Waddell’s good side was once again on display, standing shoulder-deep in freezing waters to construct a sandbag barricade to save the Kentucky town of Hickman. This proved too much for his weakened body, succumbing to tuberculosis after a year of serious ill health.

Waddell was a fascinating character during his life, with natural gifts most pitchers could only dream of, but unable to ever control his quirks and alcoholism he perhaps never fulfilled his potential. He did, however, capture the heart of the American public, and as John Thorn put it in his 2011 article ‘Rube Waddell: Baseball’s Peter Pan’: “Honour your childhood, cherish a sense of play, and show a healthy disrespect for convention and order”.

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