Guy Bush

Infobox MLB retired
bgcolor1=#EE1422
bgcolor2=#083884
textcolor1=white
textcolor2=white
name=Guy Bush


position=Pitcher
birthdate=August 23, 1901
city-state|Aberdeen|Mississippi
deathdate=death date and age|1985|7|2|1901|8|23
city-state|Shannon|Mississippi
bats=Right
throws=Right
debutdate=September 17
debutyear=by|1923
debutteam=Chicago Cubs
finaldate=May 26
finalyear=by|1945
finalteam=Cincinnati Reds
stat1label=Record
stat1value=176-136
stat2label=ERA
stat2value=3.86
stat3label=Strikeouts
stat3value=850
teams=
*Chicago Cubs (1923-1934)
*Pittsburgh Pirates (1935-1936)
*Boston Bees (1936-1937)
*St. Louis Cardinals (1938)
*Cincinnati Reds (1945)
highlights=
*Led NL in Saves in 1925 (4) and 1929 (8)
*Led NL in Games (50) in 1929

Guy Terrell Bush (August 23 1901 - July 2 1985) was an American right-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball, nicknamed "the Mississippi Mudcat."cite web
title = Guy Bush Biography
publisher = Baseball Library
author = Morris A. Eckhouse
date =
url = http://www.baseballlibrary.com/baseballlibrary/ballplayers/B/Bush_Guy.stm
accessdate = 2006-12-24 ]

Born in Aberdeen, Mississippi, Bush played in the major leagues from by|1923 to by|1938 and again in by|1945. The six-foot tall pitcher played for the Chicago Cubs, Pittsburgh Pirates, Boston Bees, St. Louis Cardinals and Cincinnati Reds in his seventeen-year professional baseball career.

With the Cubs

Bush was originally drafted and signed by the Chicago Cubs in by|1919 for $1,000.cite web
title = Guy Bush, Ex-Pitcher, Dies
publisher = Associated Press
author =
date = July 5 1985
url = http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9802E5DF1638F936A35754C0A963948260
accessdate = 2006-12-24 ] After attending the now defunct Tupelo Military Academy in Mississippi,cite web
title = Guy Bush Baseball Statistics
publisher = Baseball Almanac
author =
date =
url = http://www.baseball-reference.com/b/bushgu01.shtml
accessdate = 2006-12-24 ] Bush made his major league debut for the team that year on September 17, by|1923.cite web
title = Guy Bush Baseball Statistics and Status Information
publisher = Baseball-Reference
author =
date =
url = http://www.baseball-reference.com/b/bushgu01.shtml
accessdate = 2006-12-24 ] In his only game of the season, Bush came in the ninth inning and gave up one hit while striking out two. He returned with the Cubs the following season as a dual-duty starter and reliever. Bush pitched to a 2-5 record in sixteen games, half of which he started. He threw four complete games and finished four others. In 80-2/3 innings of work, he gave up 91 hits and 36 earned runs, and struck out 36 batters. In the following few seasons, Bush started to take a larger role as a reliever. Bush led the league in saves in by|1925, with four, and again in by|1929 when he had eight. He also led the league in relief wins that season and the following season.

After finishing the by|1926 campaign fourth in the league with a 2.86 earned run average in a primarily relief setting, Bush started more games than he relieved the following season.cite web
title = Guy Bush Stats
publisher = The Baseball Page
author =
date =
url = http://www.thebaseballpage.com/players/stats/bushgu01
accessdate = 2006-12-24 ] Despite giving up 79 walks while only striking out 62 batters, he had a 10-10 record on the year, with a 3.03 ERA. Bush started 22 of his 36 games, including one particular marathon game on May 14, by|1927, in which Bush and Boston Braves starter Charlie Robertson duked out a pitching duel for 18 innings. Bush won the game after Robertson tired up and surredered five runs in the 18th inning. In the National League since then, only Carl Hubbell in by|1933 and Vern Law in by|1955 have matched Bush's marathon performance. Bush's ERA to 3.83 the next year, but he did post a 15-6 record in 42 games, 24 of which he started.

Bush followed up with a career year in by|1929. He finished the year on top of the league in saves and games pitched, and fourth in the league for wins. Also that year, Bush ranked twelfth in the NL Most Valuable Player Award voting. Even more impressive, Bush had a streak of eleven straight wins until it was broken by a relief loss on August 12 against the Braves. Bush was a large contributor to the team's pennant-winning season, in which they finished on top of the NL with a 98-54 record.cite web
title = 1929 Chicago Cubs Statistics and Roster
publisher = Baseball-Reference
author =
date =
url = http://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/CHC/1929.shtml
accessdate = 2006-12-24 ] Bush was most dominant in the 1929 World Series against the Philadelphia Athletics. Bush pitched two games in the series, starting one and relieving another. Bush started Game 3 and pitched a complete game, surrendering only one run on nine hits.cite web
title = 1929 World Series
publisher = Baseball-Reference
author =
date =
url = http://www.baseball-reference.com/postseason/1929_WS.shtml
accessdate = 2006-12-24 ] Despite the Cubs' loss of the Series in five games, Bush pitched a total of eleven innings with 4 strikeouts and gave up just one run. After the success of the by|1929 season, Bush had a disappointing season in by|1930. In 225 innings of work, Bush posted a 15-10 record with a 6.20 ERA, one of the worst in the league that season. He gave up 291 hits, fifth highest in the league, and led the league in earned runs allowed with 155 and wild pitches with 12. In November by|1930, writer F.C. Lane wrote in "Baseball Magazine" about Bush's unique pitching windup:cquote
On the hurling mound (Guy) Bush has developed a curious 'hop-toad' lunge that is unique. When he really bears down on the ball, he actually springs forward and finishes up in a squat position like a catcher reaching for a low pitch. This freakish hop forward would be impossible to many pitchers. Bush can do it by virtue of his lithe and wiry build, his long thin legs.Bush had an improved season in by|1931, thanks to performances such as a September 13 one-hitter against the Braves. He finished the year with a 16-8 record and a 4.49 ERA, in 180.3 innings of work. The following year, the Cubs again won the pennant behind Bush's 19-11 record and 3.20 ERA. That year, Bush finished the year third in the league for wins and 23rd in the NL MVP voting. The Cubs were pinned up against the New York Yankees in the 1932 World Series. It was an infamous matchup, known now for the general tension and fighting between both teams. Bush did not fair well this time around in the World Series. As the starting pitcher for the Cubs in Game 1, Bush gave up eight runs on three hits, and walked five in just five innings of work, en route to a 12-6 Yankees win.cite web
title = Game 1 of the 1932 World Series
publisher = Retrosheet.org
author =
date =
url = http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/B09280NYA1932.htm
accessdate = 2006-12-24 ] Bush started Game 4, and lasted less than an inning. He hit Babe Ruth and gave up two hits and one earned run and was plucked from the pitching mound.cite web
title = Game 4 of the 1932 World Series
publisher = Retrosheet.org
author =
date =
url = http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/B10020CHN1932.htm
accessdate = 2006-12-24 ] For the series, Bush finished with a 0-1 record and 14.29 ERA, and gave up nine earned runs in less than six innings of work.

Bush bounced back the next year, finishing the year with his first 20-game winning season. Bush had another career year, finishing second in the league in wins and ninth in the league with a 2.75 ERA. Bush followed up with another solid season in by|1934, his last with the Cubs. On November 22, by|1934, just a little over a month after the season, Bush was traded alongside with outfielder Babe Herman and Jim Weaver to the Pittsburgh Pirates for left-handed pitcher Larry French and future Hall of Famer Freddie Lindstrom, also then playing outfield after spending most of his career at third base. Bush left the Cubs after twelve years with the team and finished as one of the club's winningest pitchers with a record of 152-101.

With the Pirates

Bush did not show much improvement in by|1935 with the Pirates. He did, however, place his name into the record books. On May 25, the Pirates played the Braves in one of Babe Ruth's final games. Ruth put on a performance, collecting four hits including three home runs and knocking in six runners. The first home run shot came off pitcher Red Lucas, while the last two came off Bush. The last home run was Ruth's career home run #714, and was a mammoth of a shot. It was the first home run to clear the right field grandstands at Forbes Field and was reportedly measured as a 600 feet bomb. Despite Ruth's goliath performance, Waite Hoyt, who came in relief for Bush, won the game after he held on to a 11-7 Pirates win. The Pirates sent the 34-year old Bush to the bullpen for the by|1936 season. The transition did not go well with Bush as he gave up 49 hits in just 34.7 innings of work, and posted a 5.97 ERA.

Journeyman

Midway through the season, on July 20, by|1936, the Pirates released Bush. He was subsequently signed by the Boston Bees (the former Braves). The Bees used him primarily as a starter and his stats improved, as a result. Despite pitching with below a 3.60 ERA in both by|1936 and by|1937, the St. Louis Cardinals bought Bush from the Bees months prior to the start of the by|1938 season. On May 7, after coming in relief in six games, Bush was released by the Cardinals. Bush's career seemed to be over, however, he did come back to the majors seven years later, at age 43. Since many teams were affected by players leaving to fight in World War II, ex-players like Bush, Babe Herman and Hod Lisenbee were signed as replacements.

The Reds signed Bush prior to the by|1945 season, and used him as a closer. Despite picking up one save in four relief appearances, the Reds released Bush on June 2, by|1945. Bush's career was finished, this time for good. "The Mississippi Mudcat" finished his career with a 176-136 pitching record and a 3.86 ERA over 2722 innings and 542 games--308 as a starter, 234 in relief.

Guy Bush died at age 83 on July 2 1985 of cardiac arrest after working in his garden in Shannon, Mississippi.

In Popular Media

* Bush was portrayed by actor Richard Tyson in the 1992 Babe Ruth biopic The Babe. The film played up the rivalry between Bush and Ruth.

ee also

* List of Major League Baseball leaders in career wins
* List of Major League Baseball saves champions

References

External links

*baseball-reference|id=b/bushgu01
* [http://www.baseballlibrary.com/baseballlibrary/ballplayers/B/Bush_Guy.stm Guy Bush - Baseball Library]
* [http://www.baseball-almanac.com/players/player.php?p=bushgu01 Guy Bush at the Baseball Almanac]