Charles “Old Hoss” Radbourn 1854 – 1897

            Charles Radbourn was born on December 9, 1854 in Rochester, New York, son of Charles and Caroline Gardner Radbourn. He spent his early life in Bloomington, IL, where he first learned how to play baseball at an old baseball field at the foot of South Center Street. He had three brothers: Albert, William, and John, and four sisters: Sarah, May, Selina, and Minnie.

Charles made his first appearance in the baseball scene in 1876, when he played with the Bloomington Club. He then went on to pitch for a baseball club in Peoria in 1878, after graduating from Illinois Wesleyan University. He was then recruited for the major league in 1880, playing six games with the Buffalo Bisons in the outfield and at second base. In 1881, Charles became a pitcher for the Providence Grays at Rhode Island. Going into this season, Charles’ right arm was sore from all his pitching, so he pitched with Charlie Sweeney, who was somewhat his rival because he was an up-and-coming young pitcher. Radbourn went 25-11 that year, leading the league in winning percentage. In 1882, he went 31-19 and led the league in strikeouts, and in 1883, he went 49-25, breaking the all-time record for wins in a season.

Radbourn also had a tendency towards belligerence, both on and off the field. He was known as a heavy drinker, which led him into trouble back in 1876 when he agreed to a bribe while intoxicated. The night before a Bloomington Club baseball game in September 1876, Charles and several other team members had been offered bribes by Ed Fitfield, Jim Conners, and Ed Stahl to purposely play poorly in an effort to “throw” the game. These three men had placed large bets for the opposing team, Springfield, and Springfield defeated Bloomington 4 to 1. Charles claimed that his drunkenness freed him from responsibility over his actions and he turned down the bribe on the following day. More controversy arose when Stahl and Conners claimed that Charles had proposed the bribe.

In July of the 1884 season, Charles’ turbulent temper caused his suspension from the league when he grew upset over a balk call by the umpire and “promptly began to throw the ball with reckless haste and wildness, giving little Gilligan [the catcher] false signs and seemingly striving to break up the little fellow.” After this incident, rumors began to circulate that Charles had been intentionally pitching poorly because he had signed a $5,000 contract with the St. Louis Unions, which is more than twice the usual player’s salary of $1,000 – $2,000 a season. The rumors were disproved after the fourth game after Radbourn’s suspension, when Charlie Sweeney walked off the field in the middle of the game. It turned out that it was Sweeney who had signed with St. Louis after all, and not Radbourn. Out of desperate need for a pitcher, the Grays reinstated Radbourn, who consented to pitch every game for the rest of the year, on the condition that management give him Sweeney’s pay on top of his own. Radbourn said, “I’ll pitch every day and win the pennant for Providence, even if it costs me my right arm.” Charles played a fantastic season, pitching 60 winning games, 12 losses, and two ties, and the Grays defeated the New York Metropolitans for the championship. His pitching 60 winning games in one season is a record which still stands to this day.

            Pitching every day did in fact cost Charles his right arm, to the point where it hurt to lift it to comb his hair. He earned the nickname “Old Hoss” because of his hard work and devotion to the game. Charles was actually one of the first players to effectively utilize the curveball, which he used to practice against the family barn on West Washington Street. At the time when he started with the Grays, the pitching distance was 50 feet and overhand throws were not allowed, which made his use of the curveball that much more revolutionary. He also continued to pitch underhand even when overhand pitching became legalized. He eventually came up with variations of the curveball, such as a “dry spitter,” a precursor to the knuckle ball, and the hardball, which was a combination of a slowball and a curveball.

After his five years with the Grays, Charles joined the Boston Beaneaters in 1886 and pitched there for another five years. It was during his time in Boston when he met and married his wife Carrie in 1887. He then went on to finish his career with the Cincinnati Reds in 1891. His career was filled with many memorable moments, such as pitching a no-hit game against Cleveland of the National League at Cleveland on July 25, 1883, winning by a score of 8-0. He also struck out 411 batters in 672 innings in 1884, which was the season in which he won 60 games. One of his most famous moments occurred on August 17, 1882 during a game against Detroit in the National League, when he broke up a scoreless game with a home run in the 18^th inning. Charles finished his career with the major league with 308 winning games and 191 losses.

After his withdrawal from the major league, Charles moved back to Bloomington and went into business, running a pool hall and saloon for six years. At some point in his life, he had contracted syphilis and grew steadily sicker. The Daily Pantagraph noted that the disease “gnawed at his mental and physical being, robbing him of speech, feeling, and locomotion long before his final day.”

Charles passed away at the age of 43 on February 5, 1897, at his home located at 814 East Washington Street. It has been noted that his death was caused by a hunting accident, which took his life before syphilis could finish him off. He was buried in the southwest part of Evergreen Memorial Cemetery.

In 1939, Charles was posthumously inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame. He was one of the few, but greatest 19^th century baseball players to be inducted. In 1941, a replica of his Hall of Fame plaque was placed on his headstone. A 1943 article in The Charleston Daily Mail remembered Charles, stating that his “exceptional ability, conduct and sportsmanship were an inspiration in the youth of America. Old Hoss Radbourne was one of the men who helped establish baseball as America’s national game.” In fact, Clark Griffith, a Bloomington native who pitched for the St. Louis Unions, said “Old Hoss” was the one who had inspired him to become a pitcher in the first place. In Radbourn’s obituary, The Daily Pantagraph stated that “he was the greatest baseball pitcher of his day…His name was used as frequently as the president’s…Radbourn’s matchless pitching, followed by his winning hit in the 18^th inning, placed him head and shoulders above any player either preceding or present.”