Orval Overall (February 2, 1881 – July 14, 1947) 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 ...

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

. He was a member of the Chicago Cubs dynasty of the early 1900s, making eight appearances for the Cubs in the

World Series The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, contested since 1903 between the champion teams of the American League (AL) and the National League (NL). The winner of the World ...

, including five as the starting pitcher (winning three with a tie and a loss).

Biography

Overall was born in

Farmersville, California Farmersville is a city in the San Joaquin Valley in Tulare County, California, United States, just to the east of Visalia, California. The population was 10,588 at the 2010 census, up from 8,737 at the 2000 census. The current population of Far ...

. He attended the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

, where he was a member of Sigma Nu and captain of the football team. He was named an All-American in football. Orval overall

Overall started his professional baseball career in 1904. With the Pacific Coast League's Tacoma Tigers, he pitched 510.2 innings, going 32–25 with a 2.78

earned run average In baseball statistics, earned run average (ERA) is the average of earned runs allowed by a pitcher per nine innings pitched (i.e. the traditional length of a game). It is determined by dividing the number of earned runs allowed by the number ...

. He was drafted by the Cincinnati Reds in September. In 1905, his rookie season, he was the ace of the Reds pitching staff and won 18 games. He struggled early in 1906, though, and was traded to the Chicago Cubs. In 18 games for Chicago, Overall went 12–3 with a 1.88 ERA. The 1906 Cubs set a major league record for wins in a season and won the

National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team ...

pennant. Overall pitched even better in 1907. He went 23–7 with eight

shutouts In team sports, a shutout ( US) or clean sheet ( UK) is a game in which one team prevents the other from scoring any points. While possible in most major sports, they are highly improbable in some sports, such as basketball. Shutouts are usuall ...

and a 1.68 ERA. He also won a game in the

1907 World Series The 1907 World Series was the championship series in Major League Baseball for the 1907 season. The fourth edition of the World Series, it featured the defending National League champion Chicago Cubs and the American League champion Detroit Tig ...

, and the Cubs won their first title. In 1908, Overall "slumped" to just 15 wins but also won twice in the

1908 World Series The 1908 World Series was the championship series in Major League Baseball for the 1908 season. The fifth edition of the World Series, it matched the defending National League champion Chicago Cubs against the American League champion Detroit Ti ...

as Chicago repeated as champions. In that Series, Overall set a Cubs record for most strikeouts in a World Series game by a single pitcher (10), which still stands. In the series-clinching game, he shut out the Detroit Tigers on three hits. In the first inning of that game, he became the only pitcher to strike out four hitters in one inning in a World Series game, and the last to do it in a playoff game until

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fa ...

. In 1909, he won 20 games and set a career-low in ERA (1.42). He also led the NL in strikeouts, with 205. Overall retired after the 1910 season. He made a brief comeback in 1913. In total, he played seven years in the major leagues, compiling a record of 108–71 with a 2.23 lifetime ERA. He was the vice-president and manager of a bank after his baseball career ended."Orval Overall's Obit"
''thedeadballera.com''. Retrieved 2010-10-19. Overall died at the age of 66 in

Fresno, California Fresno () is a major city in the San Joaquin Valley of California, United States. It is the county seat of Fresno County and the largest city in the greater Central Valley region. It covers about and had a population of 542,107 in 2020, maki ...

, and was buried at the Inglewood Park Cemetery in Inglewood, California.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Overall, Orval 1881 births 1947 deaths Major League Baseball pitchers National League strikeout champions Cincinnati Reds players Chicago Cubs players Tacoma Tigers players Fresno Raisin Eaters players San Francisco Seals (baseball) players California Golden Bears baseball players California Golden Bears football players Baseball players from California People from Farmersville, California Burials at Inglewood Park Cemetery

Biography

See also

References

External links