- Dick Redding
-
"Cannonball" Dick Redding Pitcher Born: April 14, 1890
Atlanta, GeorgiaDied: October 31, 1948 (aged 58)
Islip, New YorkBats: Right Throws: Right Professional debut Negro league baseball: 1911, Lincoln Giants Last professional appearance 1932, Bacharach Giants statistics Run average* 4.71 Earned run average* 3.64 Teams - Negro leagues
- Lincoln Giants (1911–14, 1915–16)
- Lincoln Stars (1914–15)
- Indianapolis ABCs (1915)
- Chicago American Giants (1917)
- Brooklyn Royal Giants (1918–19, 1923–31)
- Bacharach Giants (1919–22, 1932)
- Other
- Fe, Cuba (1912–13, 1914–15)
- Habana, Cuba (1922–23)
Career highlights and awards Richard Redding (April 14, 1890 – October 31, 1948), nicknamed "Cannonball", was an American pitcher, outfielder and manager in baseball's Negro leagues, 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, Indianapolis ABC's, Chicago American Giants, Brooklyn Royal Giants, and Bacharach Giants.[1]
Contents
Biography
Born in Atlanta, Georgia in the era of racial segregation, he 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, was feared by batters all over the league. It was likely faster than Bob Feller's and was far more accurate than Steve Dalkowski's. Redding gained an extra advantage by throwing "brushback" pitches inside, similar to that of today's stars like Pedro Martínez.
His career began in 1911 with the Philadelphia Giants. That year, at the age of twenty, he won seventeen 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 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.
Ten years after retiring in 1938, he suffered a sudden bout of mental illness in 1948 and died in a mental hospital in Islip, New York later that year at age 58. He was considered by many[who?] to be as good as or better than rival Smokey Joe Williams, and certainly comparable with Walter Johnson of the major leagues. Unlike Williams or Johnson, he is not currently in the Baseball Hall of Fame, which is considered by many to be a major oversight. He is also known for using, possibly even before Satchel Paige, the hesitation pitch.
His career average is known to be 81-62. Hall of Famer Buck Leonard 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."
Career statistics
Negro leagues
Statistics for the Negro leagues were compiled decades later by historians working from newspaper box scores. These sources are sometimes inaccurate or incomplete; some games may be missing; and there may be uncertainty about which games counted as part of the official playing season. Consequently, there are disagreements among the statistics. The following represent recent attempts to compile nearly "complete" statistics for certain leagues or seasons. The first set of statistics was published by the National Baseball Hall of Fame in association with the nomination of Negro league players to the Hall of Fame.
Year Team League W L Pct G CG IP H BB SO RA ERA 1920 Bacharach Independent 5 5 .500 12 9 86.3 75 12 25 3.96 3.02 1921 Bacharach Independent 16 10 .615 27 20 209.7 210 41 70 3.65 2.96 1922 Bacharach Independent 2 8 .200 12 9 85.0 115 18 32 5.40 3.49 1923 Brooklyn ECL 3 1 .750 8 3 53.3 68 8 14 5.74 4.05 1924 Brooklyn ECL 2 4 .333 7 6 59.0 71 19 30 5.49 5.03 1925 Brooklyn ECL 3 4 .429 8 4 43.3 58 9 25 5.19 4.57 1926 Brooklyn ECL 1 4 .200 6 3 34.0 35 11 10 4.50 3.71 1927 Brooklyn ECL 1 3 .250 4 3 26.7 26 12 5 7.43 4.72 1928 Brooklyn Independent 1 0 1.000 1 1 9.0 15 3 6 4.00 3.00 1930 Brooklyn Independent 1 0 1.000 1 1 9.0 5 0 0 2.00 2.00 1931 Brooklyn Independent 0 1 .000 1 0 4.0 7 1 0 15.75 11.25 1932 Bacharach Independent 0 1 .000 1 1 9.0 17 0 0 8.00 6.00 Total 12 seasons 35 41 .461 88 60 628.3 702 134 217 4.71 3.64 Source: Negro Leagues Ballot Pitcher Stats
The next table presents alternative compilations for 1921 and 1922 by Gary Ashwill.
Year Team W L Pct G CG IP H BB SO RA 1921 Bacharach 14 11 .560 29 19 198.7 203 48 120 4.44 1922 Bacharach 5 7 .417 15 11 107.0 139 26 55 4.79 Sources:
- 1921 statistics. Ashwill, Gary (August 1, 2006). "1921 Negro National League". http://agatetype.typepad.com/agate_type/2006/08/1921_negro_nati.html. Retrieved November 15, 2009.
- 1922 statistics. Ashwill, Gary (October 11, 2006). "1922 NNL Plus, v. 2.01". http://agatetype.typepad.com/agate_type/2006/10/1922_nnl_plus_v.html. Retrieved November 15, 2009.
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.
Year Team W L Pct RA 1911 Lincoln Giants 5 1 .833 5.35 1912 Lincoln Giants 2 2 .500 — 1913 Lincoln Giants 0 0 — — 1914 Lincoln Giants 4 4 .500 — 1915 Lincoln Stars 6 2 .750 2.55 1916 Lincoln Giants 4 1 .800 5.59 1917 Chicago American Giants 14 5 .737 1.57 1918 Brooklyn Royal Giants 2 0 1.000 — 1919 Bacharach Giants/Brooklyn 3 5 .375 1.67 Total 9 seasons 40 20 .667 — Source: Holway, pp. 84, 90, 94, 99, 105–06, 113, 116, 126, 130–31.
For 1916, Gary Ashwill compiled the following data:
Year Team W L Pct G CG IP H BB SO RA 1916 Lincoln Giants 4 1 .800 5 4 38.0 39 11 26 4.26 Source: Ashwill, Gary (July 9, 2006). "1916 Negro League Stats, v. 1.3". http://agatetype.typepad.com/agate_type/2006/08/1921_negro_nati.html. Retrieved November 17, 2009.
Cuban League
Year Team W L Pct G CG IP H BB SO RA 1912w Fe 4 8 .333 14 8 — — — — — 1913w Fe p 7 2 .778* 21 9 — — — — — 1914/15 Fe 2 6 .250 10 — 70 36 29 28 4.63 1920/21 Bacharach Giants 2 6* .250 10 6 — — — — — 1922/23 Habana 3 1 .750 7 3 — — — — — Total 5 seasons 18 23 .439 62 — — — — — — w – winter; * – led league; p = pennant. Source: Figueredo, pp. 99, 103, 114, 138–39, 146.
Series with Negro league teams visiting Cuba
Year Team W L Pct G CG IP H BB SO RA ERA 1912 Lincoln Giants 2 1 .667 4 2 24.0 28 9 8 5.63 — 1914 Lincoln Stars 2 3 .400 7 6 48.7 32 17 27 2.59 — 1915 Indianapolis ABCs 6 5 .545 12 7 76.0 79 37 32 5.57 4.50 Total 10 9 .526 23 15 148.7 139 63 67 4.60 — Sources:
- 1912 series: Ashwill, Gary (June 14, 2006). "Lincoln Giants in Cuba, 1912". http://agatetype.typepad.com/agate_type/2006/06/lincoln_giants_.html. Retrieved November 17, 2009.
- 1914 series: Ashwill, Gary (October 1, 2006). "Lincoln Stars in Cuba, 1914". http://agatetype.typepad.com/agate_type/2006/10/lincoln_stars_i.html. Retrieved November 17, 2009.
- 1915 series: Ashwill, Gary (May 12, 2007). "1915 Indianapolis ABCs in Cuba, Updated". http://agatetype.typepad.com/agate_type/2007/05/1915_indianapol.html. Retrieved November 17, 2009.
Notes
- ^ "'Cannonball' Redding was one of a kind". mlb.mlb.com. http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20060213&content_id=1310683&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb. Retrieved 2008-09-07.
References
- Figueredo, Jorge S. (2003), Cuban Baseball: A Statistical History, 1878–1961, Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, ISBN 078641250X
- Hogan, Lawrence D. (2006), Shades of Glory: The Negro Leagues and the Story of African-American Baseball, Washington DC: National Geographic, ISBN 079225306X
- Holway, John B. (2001), The Complete Book of Baseball's Negro Leagues: The Other Half of Baseball History, Fern Park, FL: Hastings House Publishers, ISBN 0803820070
External links
Categories:- 1890 births
- 1948 deaths
- Negro league baseball players
- People from Atlanta, Georgia
- Baseball players from Georgia (U.S. state)
- Baseball pitchers
- Lincoln Giants players
- Indianapolis ABCs players
- Bacharach Giants players
- Brooklyn Royal Giants players
- Chicago American Giants players
- American expatriates in Cuba
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