| SERIES: 1956-63 Artvue Hall of Fame Plaque Postcards SUBJECT: Rube Waddell APPROXIMATE SIZE: 3-1/2"x5-1/4" ISSUER: Artvue ORIGINAL or REPRODUCTION: Original vintage item produced in the time period shown COMMENTS / CONDITION: 1956-63 - Rube Waddell baseball card VG or better condition as shown. See scans of actual card offered for condition and further details. BIO: George Edward Waddell was born in 1876 in Bradford, PA and died in 1914 in San Antonio, TX. He played major league baseball from 1897 to 1910 as pitcher for the Louisville Colonels, Pittsburgh Pirates, Chicago Orphans, Philadelphia Athletics and the St. Louis Browns, and was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1946. Rube's pitching skills were only half of his fame. The other half of his fame rested on his various odd behaviors tied to his lack of maturity and zest for life. Since fires were a large part of his childhood life in Pennsylvania, Waddell had a fascination with fire departments. There are several documented examples of his working for fire departments and dropping what he was doing to chase fire engines or join crews working fires. He was a vibrant baserunning coach, shooing runners along, and mocking opposing pitchers. He would try anything - he proved that he could wrestle alligators (just once, earning the ire of a showman as well as his manager), would lead marching bands, he acted in a travelling play, was a master rifleshot, could play golf with skill and power, played soccer and football - even playing professionally for a football team Mack owned in 1902. He would play marbles with kids before and during games; fans loved him for his willingness to talk to and play with anyone at any time. Rube tended bar and tossed back plenty of beverages, getting him in trouble with his wives and his managers. He married two fame chasers (he was married three times in all), and then got involved in nationally famous divorces owing to the spectacular nature of the fights between spouses. Rube was easily distracted and could be convinced to play semi-pro baseball or go fishing (with or without manager approval), and he frequently forgot promises made to players and managers. He was a big kid in a man's body. At the same time, he had a heroic nature - diving into freezing water to help with rescue missions, or fighting fires, or working to save towns from floods. More stories about Rube have been passed down than most any other player; many being retold in the 1940s. Rube's life was an exaggeration, and those retelling his life for many years took liberties with the details. By 1910, he was released and sent to Newark in the Eastern League. Rube pitched reasonably well for the 1911 Minneapolis Millers in the American Association, but during spring training the following season, he got sick while helping the city of Hickman, KY deal with severe flooding. His selfless acts earned him the deserved reputation as a hero, but his inability to keep himself from getting even more sick destroyed what had been a near super-human physical presence. He pitched through illnesses with the Millers in 1912 and briefly in 1913 before being sold to a low level Virginia (MN) squad in the old Northern League. By the end of the year, Rube's health left him completely, contracting tuberculosis and dying in a sanitarium in San Antonio, TX on April Fool's Day, 1914. He was just 37. SKU: CL02398
Item: CL02398
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