Richard William "Rube" Marquard (October 9, 1886 – June 1, 1980) was an American left-handed

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 ...

in the 1910s and early 1920s. He achieved his greatest success with 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 ...

. He was inducted into the

Baseball Hall of Fame The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is a history museum and hall of fame in Cooperstown, New York, operated by a private foundation. It serves as the central collection and gathering space for the history of baseball in the United S ...

1971 * The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses (Solar eclipse of February 25, 1971, February 25, Solar eclipse of July 22, 1971, July 22 and Solar eclipse of August 20, 1971, August 20) and two total lunar eclipses (February 1971 lunar eclip ...

Early life

Rube Marquard was born in

Cleveland, Ohio Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County, Ohio, Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–United States border, Canada–U.S. maritime border ...

, to German immigrant Fred Marquard and Lena Heiser Marquard. Marquard claimed an 1889 year of birth, but 1900 census data and a birth certificate show an 1886 year of birth. Lena Marquard died of an abdominal infection in 1899, and Rube's grandmother took responsibility for raising him. Marquard quit school after the fifth grade; biographer Larry Mansch writes that he "simply refused to attend any longer". Newspaper reports first mentioned Marquard in 1905, when he played with an amateur team in Cleveland. Though pitching for a poor team that had a 1–15 win–loss record at one point, Marquard attracted attention as a top pitcher. He broke a City League record with 16 strikeouts in a game against a team known as Brittons Printing. In September, the City League season finished and he signed with the semiprofessional Telling Strollers, an independent team sponsored by an ice cream company.

Career

He started his minor-league baseball career in 1906."Rube Marquard Minor League Statistics & History"
baseball-reference.com. Retrieved February 1, 2013. Despite his nickname, he was a city kid. As he told it in the 1966 book ''

The Glory of Their Times ''The Glory of Their Times: The Story of the Early Days of Baseball Told by the Men Who Played It'' is a 1966 book, edited by Lawrence Ritter, telling the stories of early 20th century baseball. It is widely acclaimed as one of the greatest book ...

'', a writer in his minor-league days compared him favorably with

Rube Waddell George Edward "Rube" Waddell (October 13, 1876 – April 1, 1914) was an American pitcher in Major League Baseball (MLB). A left-hander, he played for 13 years, with the Louisville Colonels, Pittsburgh Pirates, and Chicago Orphans in the Nati ...

, and soon Marquard was being called "Rube", also. In 1907, he went 23–13 with a 2.01

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 ...

(ERA) and led the

Central League The or , also known as the for sponsorship reasons, is one of the two professional baseball leagues that constitute Nippon Professional Baseball in Japan. The winner of the league championship plays against the winner of the Pacific League i ...

in wins. In 1908, he went 28–19 with a 1.69 ERA and led the American Association in wins. The New York Giants purchased Marquard for $11,000 — a then unheard-of sum to pay for a baseball player's contract — and his lack of success early in his major-league career led to his being tagged "the $11,000 lemon". Rube Marquard

From 1911 to 1913, Marquard won at least 23 games each season, and helped the Giants win three consecutive

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 ...

pennants. In 1911, he led the league with 237

strikeout In baseball or softball, a strikeout (or strike-out) occurs when a batter accumulates three strikes during a time at bat. It means the batter is out, unless the third strike is not caught by the catcher and the batter reaches first base safe ...

s. In 1912, he led the league with 26 wins."Rube Marquard Statistics and History"
baseball-reference.com. Retrieved February 1, 2013. He also made baseball history by winning 19 decisions in a row. In 1914, Marquard went 12–22, and in 1915, he joined the

Brooklyn Robins The Brooklyn Dodgers were a Major League Baseball team founded in 1883 as the Brooklyn Grays. In 1884, it became a member of the American Association as the Brooklyn Atlantics before joining the National League in 1890. They remained in Brookl ...

. He helped the team win pennants in 1916 and 1920. He then played for the

Cincinnati Reds The Cincinnati Reds are an American professional baseball team based in Cincinnati. The Reds compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Central Divisi ...

in 1921 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). ...

from 1922 to 1925. During the 1920 World Series, he was arrested for

ticket scalping Ticket resale (also known as ticket scalping or ticket touting when done for profit) is the act of reselling tickets for admission to events. Tickets are bought from licensed sellers and then sold for a price determined by the individual or compan ...

in Cleveland. He was alleged to be selling eight world box seats for $350 ($ in current dollar terms), while the original cost was $52.80 ($ in current dollar terms). He was found guilty and fined $1 plus $3.50 in court costs. Marquard finished his major-league career in 1925 with a record of 201–177 and a 3.08 ERA. His 1,593 strikeouts ranked third in major-league history among left-handers at the time (behind Rube Waddell and Eddie Plank), and stood as the National League record for southpaws until his total was surpassed by

Carl Hubbell Carl Owen Hubbell (June 22, 1903 – November 21, 1988), nicknamed "the Meal Ticket" and "King Carl", was an American Major League Baseball player. He was a pitcher for the New York Giants of the National League from 1928 to 1943, and remained ...

, another New York Giant, in 1942. He later pitched and managed in the minor leagues until 1933. After baseball, he worked as a betting window teller at

Narragansett Park Narragansett Park was an American race track for Thoroughbred horse racing in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. Beginnings On May 18, 1934, Rhode Island voters approved a measure legalizing parimutuel betting by an almost 3 to 1 margin. The following day ...

Legacy

Marquard was a performer in

vaudeville Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment which began in France in the middle of the 19th century. A ''vaudeville'' was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a drama ...

, appearing with

Blossom Seeley Blossom Seeley (July 16, 1886 Blossom Seeley biography
ragpiano.com. Accessed July 14, 2022.

and later marrying her. That same year, Seeley gave birth to a son, Richard William Marquard II. He was elected to the

in 1971. His selection has often been criticized by the

sabermetrics Sabermetrics (originally SABRmetrics) is the original or blanket term for sports analytics in the US, the empirical analysis of baseball, especially the development of advanced metrics based on baseball statistics that measure in-game activity ...

community, since Marquard's career adjusted ERA+ was only slightly better than league average.

Bill James George William James (born October 5, 1949) is an American baseball writer, historian, and statistician whose work has been widely influential. Since 1977, James has written more than two dozen books about baseball history and statistics. His a ...

described Marquard as "probably the worst starting pitcher in the Hall of Fame." Marquard had been interviewed for the popular 1966 baseball book, ''

'', and his chapter is thought to be one of the primary reasons for his election. However, most of the stories that he "recounted" were later found to be false. Marquard died in

Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the List of United States ...

, on June 1, 1980, at the age of 93. He is interred in Baltimore Hebrew Cemetery in Baltimore.

References

External links

* *
Interview with Rube Marquard
conducted by Eugene Murdock on August 2, 1979, in

Pikesville, Maryland Pikesville is a census-designated place (CDP) in Baltimore County, Maryland, Baltimore County, Maryland, United States. Pikesville is just northwest of the Baltimore city limits. It is the northwestern suburb closest to Baltimore. The population ...

. * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Marquard, Rube 1886 births 1980 deaths National Baseball Hall of Fame inductees Major League Baseball pitchers Baseball players from Cleveland National League strikeout champions National League (baseball) wins champions New York Giants (baseball) players Brooklyn Robins players Cincinnati Reds players Boston Braves players Minor league baseball managers Lancaster Lanks players Waterloo Microbes players Canton Chinamen players Indianapolis Indians players Providence Rubes players Birmingham Barons players Baltimore Orioles (International League) players 20th-century American sportsmen Jacksonville Tars players Atlanta Crackers players Wichita Oilers players Muskogee Oilers players American vaudeville performers

Early life

Career

Legacy

See also

Further reading

References

External links