Show I 1 A ASHVILLE TENNA TENN this Is the N NASHVILLE story ot of one of the greatest pitchers and one ot of the oddest ball pl players r that ever wr wore a spike or threw a curve ball he started st arted his pitching career here at sulphur dell well over 40 years ago and he Is still working out every day at redland field cincinnati cin nati his name Is noodles hahn noodles hahn a slender blender left handis liander hander set a record of 16 strikeouts strike eouts ou is for the revised national league this was back in 1901 with the he reds lie he floated his dinky dinks by hostile bats year after year back in the forgotten days but last tall fail I 1 saw him working out before the first world series game in cincinnati between reds and tigers 1 I missed a days workout for 40 years hahn told me this means that hahn out of base ball for at least 25 JK years still puts on fa yau the old uniform and takes over the days ba warm up with the alib Sl iB reds 1 I missed a work out in this same park since 1915 he said y again some lp J sort of a record ss foj whatever it means for 1899 lefty grove yesterday and still find noodles hahn working out with bucky walters paul derringer and other red pitchers who were born barn long after hahn set his 16 strike outs mark hahn was a left bander who belonged to the herb pennock Pei moch eddie plank school he lacked the blazing speed ot of a grove or a rule rube waddell de but be could tie up batters into more knots than 10 sailors could untie leitle la in a week and you could see the stasis sams s ams on an the ball as it came floating up great left handers who are the greatest left banders ban ders baseball has ever known rube waddell and noodles hahn perfect opposites were two ot of the best dating back to 1900 each held a strike out record of 16 to this ibis pair covering the last 40 years you can add eddie plank nap rucker rube bube marquard doe doc white the left h bander ander who always baffled ty cobb herb pennock the star of the stylists sty lists carl hubbell and an d robert moses grove from this list rube waddell and lefty grove undoubtedly had bad the big edge in physical stuff which largely consists in speed speed and a fast curve waddell had bad the fastest breaking curve ever thrown on the right handed side this distinction belonged to bazzy vance waddell and vance could start a fast curve for your adams apple and have it kick up dust in front of the plate so could nap rucker pucker minus the speed I 1 happened to swin swing g a few bats against nap rucker 0 around 1 und 1903 swinging shoulder high only to see the catcher take the pitch ankle high toad ramsey one of the greatest goes on back beyond the 40 year span toad had bad a curve ball you hit bit with two planks his record was phenomenal but that was too far away and too long ago how they rank heres the left handed ranking ill give you since 1900 all in order 1 lefty grove 2 eddie plank 3 rube waddell 4 serb herb pennock 5 carl hubbell 6 nap rucker and hubbell might be moved up into third place A great pitcher from this list grove and waddell had the physical stuff waddell was the greatest genius I 1 B ot of the lot but t too f xa much on the erratic WJ side the rube would rather fish or act as bartender than pitch a world series game grove and plank both under connie macks direct direction lon were the two greatest combinations 0 of I 1 carl hubbell brilliancy and consistency sis Is anost they won the most games which Is a big part of the answer more than a few have ranked herb pennock as the top left hander bander of the long parade for brains control style and the rest of it IL pennock was bill hannas Hanna 5 nomination and bill hanna knew his share of baseball well wel still tring string with G grove rove plank W waddell addell penn pennock 0 ck and hubbell in that order grove at his bis greatest physical peak was still learning how to pitch ive seen him strike out six of the first nine yankees and be hammered from the box two innings later when grove got to be canny and cunning he was most almost unbeatable for example 1931 when he won 31 and lost 4 thai tub 18 what you might alg ht call pitching in compare this to any 1941 rec orda ord I mean feller or any ot of the others |