Nap Rucker

[bigtrain]

I agree he didn't have enough full seasons but 38 shutouts is pretty impressive. Wonder how many games he lost 1-0.

[Bridwell]

Being the best pitcher on an awful team, he also had to duel against the opposing team's best pitcher. So the opponent was Matty, M. Brown, G. Alexander, S. Sallee, H. Camnitz, E. Ruelbach, etc. Tough to win 50% against those guys!

[wonkaticket]

Great card Leon.

[dougscats]

As a Brooklyn Dodgers afficionado, the Napster is a favorite of mine.

He was Cobb's roomate in the SALLY [?] League, by the way. My favorite anecdote is an apocryphal one, and clouded by 50 years of memory, but this is the story I recall:

One day on the mound, Rucker got blasted and was yanked early. Back at the boarding house, he soaked in a hot tub. When Cobb returned home, he pulled Rucker, fighting, out of the tub.
'What the hell's wrong with you?' or something to that effect, exclaimed the stunned Nap.
'You don't understand,' Cobb purportedly said, 'I just have to be first--'

You'll have to forgive any inaccuracies of recollection.

And sorry to say, in my opinion, Nap Rucker does not belong in the Hall.
If he were in, you'd have to open the gates to a few hundred more,
and there are already too many as it is.

Doug