Old Hoss Radbourn

Charles Gardner Radbourn pitched 11 major league seasons, won 310 games, and in 1884 produced the most extraordinary single season in pitching history. He went 60-12 with a 1.38 ERA, started 73 games, completed 73 games, and pitched 678.2 innings for the Providence Grays. Some older sources credit him with 59 wins, but Baseball-Reference, the Baseball Hall of Fame, and Retrosheet now agree on 60. No pitcher has won 50 games in a season since, and no pitcher ever will. The game changed around him before he was finished playing it, and by the time he retired, the workloads he endured were already impossible.

Rochester, New York

Radbourn was born in Rochester, New York, though his family soon moved to Bloomington, Illinois, where he grew up. He worked as a butcher before turning to professional baseball. He pitched for minor league teams in Dubuque, Iowa, and Peoria, Illinois, before reaching the National League with the Buffalo Bisons in 1880. After one season in Buffalo, he joined the Providence Grays, where he spent the prime of his career.

He threw right-handed, relied on a fastball and a sharp curve, and had exceptional control for his era. His nickname came from his durability. He pitched like a workhorse, and his teammates started calling him "Old Hoss" because he could carry the load day after day.

1884

The 1884 season defies modern comprehension. Providence's other pitcher, Charlie Sweeney, was suspended and then expelled from the team in midseason after a confrontation with the manager. Radbourn volunteered to pitch every remaining game. The Grays let him do it.

From July through September, Radbourn started almost every game the Grays played. He won 18 consecutive games at one point during the streak. He pitched with a sore arm, resting it between starts by playing right field. By September, he could barely lift his pitching arm above his shoulder on days he did not pitch. On the days he pitched, he made it work.

He finished the season 60-12 with a 1.38 ERA. He struck out 441 batters and walked 98 in 678.2 innings. He led the National League in wins, ERA, strikeouts, innings, complete games, and games started. The Grays won the National League pennant, and Radbourn then pitched all three games of a postseason championship series against the New York Metropolitans, defeating them of the American Association in three straight.

After Providence

Radbourn pitched for the Boston Beaneaters from 1886 to 1889, winning 20 or more games in three of those four seasons. His arm was never the same after 1884, and he compensated with guile and placement as his fastball deteriorated. He won 27 games in 1886 and 24 in 1887, still elite totals but a fraction of what he had done.

He joined the Boston Reds of the Players' League in 1890 and finished his career with the Cincinnati Reds in 1891, winning 11 games in his final season. He retired with 310 wins, an ERA of 2.68, and 4,527.1 career innings pitched.

Final Years

Radbourn opened a billiard hall in Bloomington, Illinois, after his playing career. In 1894, he was accidentally shot in the face during a hunting trip, losing his left eye. The disfigurement caused him to withdraw from public life. He refused to be photographed and rarely left his home. He developed paresis, a condition associated with late-stage syphilis, and his health declined rapidly.

He died on February 5, 1897, in Bloomington, at age 42. He was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1939 by the Veterans Committee.

His 1884 season stands as the most unrepeatable performance in baseball history. The game moved to two-pitcher rotations within a few years, then to three and four, and eventually to five-man rotations and bullpen specialization. The conditions that allowed one man to pitch 678 innings in a single season disappeared before Radbourn was buried.