Richard Redding (April 15, 1890 – October 31, 1948), nicknamed "Cannonball", was an American
pitcher
In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...
,
outfielder
An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder. As an outfielder, their duty is to c ...
, and
manager in
baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...
's
Negro leagues
The Negro leagues were United States professional baseball leagues comprising teams of African Americans and, to a lesser extent, Latin Americans. The term may be used broadly to include professional black teams outside the leagues and it may be ...
, regarded as perhaps the fastest pitcher in the history of black baseball (which makes the origin of his nickname no mystery). In his career, he played for the
Philadelphia Giants,
New York Lincoln Giants,
Lincoln Stars
The Lincoln Stars are a Tier I junior ice hockey team playing in the United States Hockey League (USHL). The Stars' home ice is the Ice Box on the former Nebraska State Fair grounds and adjacent to the University of Nebraska–Lincoln.
History ...
,
Indianapolis ABC's,
Chicago American Giants,
Brooklyn Royal Giants, and
Bacharach Giants
The Bacharach Giants were a Negro league baseball team that played in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
Founding
The club was founded when two African-American politicians moved the Duval Giants of Jacksonville, Florida, to Atlantic City in 1916 an ...
.
[
]
Career
Born in
Atlanta
Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...
in the era of
racial segregation
Racial segregation is the systematic separation of people into race (human classification), racial or other Ethnicity, ethnic groups in daily life. Racial segregation can amount to the international crime of apartheid and a crimes against hum ...
, Redding was functionally illiterate and was not allowed to play in the Major Leagues because of his race. Against all levels of competition he threw seven
no-hitters in one year and approximately thirty in his career. Quiet and clean-cut off the field, he was as intimidating as anyone on it. He had a limited pitching repertoire, but his main pitch, his
fastball
The fastball is the most common type of pitch thrown by pitchers in baseball and softball. " Power pitchers," such as former American major leaguers Nolan Ryan and Roger Clemens, rely on speed to prevent the ball from being hit, and have thr ...
, was feared by batters all over the league. It was likely faster than
Bob Feller's and was far more accurate than
Steve Dalkowski
Stephen Louis Dalkowski Jr. (June 3, 1939 – April 19, 2020), nicknamed Dalko, was an American left-handed pitcher. He was sometimes called the fastest pitcher in baseball history and had a fastball that probably exceeded . Some experts believe ...
's. Redding gained an extra advantage by throwing "brushback" pitches inside.
Redding's career began in 1911 with the Philadelphia Giants. That year, at the age of 20, he won 17 consecutive games. Early in his career he was at his best, and in 1914, playing for the New York Lincoln Giants, he was 12–3 against official competition and 31–9 in barnstorming. He served in
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
in 1918, and was a player-manager from 1919 to 1922. His playing career was essentially over by the mid-1920s, but he managed the Brooklyn Royal Giants from 1927 to 1932. His career win–loss record is known to be 81–62.
Ten years after retiring in 1938, Redding suffered a sudden bout of
mental illness in 1948 and died in a mental hospital in
Islip, New York
Islip ( ) is a town in Suffolk County, New York, United States, on the south shore of Long Island. The population was 335,543 at the 2010 census, making it the fourth most populous city or town in the state.
The Town of Islip also contains a ...
later that year at age 55.
A few years after his death, Redding received votes listing him on the 1952 ''
Pittsburgh Courier
The ''Pittsburgh Courier'' was an African-American weekly newspaper published in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, from 1907 until October 22, 1966. By the 1930s, the ''Courier'' was one of the leading black newspapers in the United States.
It was acqu ...
'' player-voted poll of the Negro Leagues' best players ever.
["1952 Pittsburgh Courier Poll of Greatest Black Players"](_blank)
/ref>
Hall of Famer Buck Leonard
Walter Fenner "Buck" Leonard (September 8, 1907 – November 27, 1997) was an American first baseman in Negro league baseball and in the Mexican League. After growing up in North Carolina, he played for the Homestead Grays between 1934 and 1950, ...
once said about Redding: "was a nice fellow, easy going. He never argued, never cursed, never smoked as I recall; I never saw him take a drink."
On November 5, 2021, he was selected to the final ballot for the National Baseball Hall of Fame's Early Days Committee for consideration in the Class of 2022. He received three votes or less of the necessary twelve votes.["Fowler, Hodges, Kaat, Miñoso, Oliva, O'Neil Elected to Hall of Fame"](_blank)
baseballhall.org. December 5, 2021. Retrieved December 5, 2021.
Career statistics
Comprehensive statistics for some Negro league and Cuban League seasons
Negro leagues
Pre-league play in the United States
The following statistics, compiled from box scores by John Holway, provide an incomplete record of games played against other major black teams. Because black teams of that era played most of their games against white semi-pro or professional teams, the available statistics represent a very small sample.
Source: Holway, pp. 84, 90, 94, 99, 105–06, 113, 116, 126, 130–31.
Cuban League
Source: Figueredo, pp. 99, 103, 114, 138–39, 146.
Notes
References
*
*
*
External links
an
Baseball-Reference Black Baseball stats
an
Seamheads
{{DEFAULTSORT:Redding, Dick
1890 births
1948 deaths
Baseball pitchers
Philadelphia Giants players
Lincoln Giants players
Indianapolis ABCs players
Bacharach Giants players
Brooklyn Royal Giants players
Chicago American Giants players
Lincoln Stars (baseball) players
American expatriates in Cuba
Baseball players from Atlanta
Deaths in mental institutions
20th-century African-American sportspeople
United States Army personnel of World War I
Burials at Long Island National Cemetery