Richard Rudolph (August 25, 1887 – October 20, 1949) was an American

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("Pitch (baseball), pitches") the Baseball (ball), baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of out (baseball), retiring a batter (baseball), batter, ...

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

who played for the

New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East division. The ...

and

Boston Braves The Boston Braves were a Major League Baseball club that originated in Boston, Boston, Massachusetts, and played from 1871 to 1952. Afterwards they moved to History of the Atlanta Braves#Milwaukee, Milwaukee (and became the Milwaukee Braves). ...

through 13 seasons spanning 1910–1927. He attended

Fordham University Fordham University is a Private university, private Society of Jesus, Jesuit research university in New York City, United States. Established in 1841, it is named after the Fordham, Bronx, Fordham neighborhood of the Bronx in which its origina ...

. Though he stood only 5' 9.5" and weighed just 160 lbs., Rudolph was a large contributor for the 1914 "Miracle Braves" team that went from last place to first place of the

National League National League often refers to: *National League (baseball), one of the two baseball leagues constituting Major League Baseball in the United States and Canada *National League (division), the fifth division of the English football (soccer) system ...

in two months, becoming the first team to win a pennant after being in last place on the Fourth of July.The 1914 Boston Braves at www.thisgreatgame.com
The Braves then went on to sweep

Connie Mack Cornelius McGillicuddy (December 22, 1862 – February 8, 1956), better known as Connie Mack, was an American professional baseball catcher, manager, and team owner. Mack holds records for the most wins (3,731), losses (3,948), ties (76), and ga ...

's heavily favored

Philadelphia Athletics The Philadelphia Athletics were a Major League Baseball team that played in Philadelphia from 1901 to 1954, when they moved to Kansas City, Missouri, and became the Kansas City Athletics. Following another move in 1967, they became the Oakland ...

in the

1914 World Series The 1914 World Series was the World Series, championship series of Major League Baseball's 1914 Major League Baseball season, 1914 season. The 11th edition of the World Series, it was played between the American League champion and defending Wor ...

, becoming the first MLB club ever to win a series in just four games, as Rudolph pitched complete-game victories in Games 1 and 4. Rudolph won 12 straight games during the regular season. In doing this, he turned in a 12-game consecutive winning streak from July 4 through August 24. Overall, he posted a 26–10 record with a 2.35

ERA An era is a span of time. Era or ERA may also refer to: * Era (geology), a subdivision of geologic time * Calendar era Education * Academy of European Law (German: '), an international law school * ERA School, in Melbourne, Australia * E ...

in 42 games (36 starts), including 31 complete games and six

shutout In team sports, a shutout (North American English, US) or clean sheet (Commonwealth English, UK) is a game in which the losing team fails to score. While possible in most major sports, they are highly improbable in some sports, such as basketba ...

s in 336.1 innings of work.Batting and Pitching statistics
''Baseball Reference''. Retrieved on June 3, 2019. (A team record that stood until

Tom Glavine Thomas Michael Glavine (born March 25, 1966) is an American former professional baseball pitcher who played 22 seasons in Major League Baseball, for the Atlanta Braves (1987–2002, 2008) and New York Mets (2003–2007). With 164 victories durin ...

won 13 straight in 1992). Though Rudolph never reached his 1914 peak again, he collected 22 wins in 1915 and 19 in the next season. As a hitter, Rudolph posted a .188

batting average Batting average is a statistic in cricket, baseball, and softball that measures the performance of batters. The development of the baseball statistic was influenced by the cricket statistic. Cricket In cricket, a player's batting average is ...

(131-for-698) with 46 runs, 2

home runs In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run ...

, 56 RBI, 9

stolen bases In baseball, a stolen base occurs when a runner advances to a base unaided by other actions and the official scorer rules that the advance should be credited to the action of the runner. The umpires determine whether the runner is safe or out a ...

and 53

bases on balls A base on balls (BB), better known as a walk, occurs in baseball when a batter receives four pitches during a plate appearance that the umpire calls '' balls'', and is in turn awarded first base without the possibility of being called out. The bas ...

. He had 17 RBI for the 1915 Boston Braves. Defensively, he recorded a .970

fielding percentage In baseball statistics, fielding percentage, also known as fielding average, is a measure that reflects the percentage of times a baseball positions, defensive player properly handles a batted or thrown ball. It is calculated by the sum of putout ...

which was 14 points higher than the league average at his position. Rudolph is buried at

Woodlawn Cemetery Woodlawn Cemetery is the name of several cemeteries, including: Canada * Woodlawn Cemetery (Saskatoon) * Woodlawn Cemetery (Nova Scotia) United States ''(by state then city or town)'' * Woodlawn Cemetery (Ocala, Florida), where Isaac Rice and fa ...

in the Bronx.

References

External links

* , o
Retrosheet
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SABR Biography Project
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Rudolph, Dick 1887 births 1949 deaths Boston Braves coaches Boston Braves players Burials at Woodlawn Cemetery (Bronx, New York) Fordham Rams baseball players Major League Baseball coaches Major League Baseball pitchers Minor league baseball managers New Haven Blues players New York Giants (baseball) players Providence Grays (minor league) players Rutland (minor league baseball) players Baseball players from New York City Toronto Maple Leafs (International League) players