“Rube”

[jerrys]

Apparently "Eddie" didn't like the name George either. But Waddell was unpredictable – early in his career, he would leave mid-game to go fishing. He had a longstanding fascination with fire trucks and had run off the field to chase after them during games. He performed as an alligator wrestler in the offseason. An alcoholic for much of his adult life his eccentric behavior led to constant battles with his managers and scuffles with teammates. He was reported 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, courted, married and became separated from May Wynne Skinner of Lynn, Massachusetts, his first of three marriages.

Waddell would play for Connie Mack's Athletics football team. On the first practice Waddell tackled and broke the quarterback's leg. Back to baseball. Connie Mack described his star left-hander as, "the atom bomb of baseball" long before the atom bomb was discovered. He struck out three batters on nine pitches - still holds the AL single-season strikeout record by a left-handed pitcher. In exhibition games Waddell enjoyed waving his teammates off the field and then striking out the side. But in a league game in Detroit, Waddell actually had his outfielders come in close and sit down on the grass to watch him strike out the side.

Waddell was diagnosed with tuberculosis and was placed in a sanitarium until his death on April 1, 1914 at the age of 37.