Books and articles about Bugs Raymond

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The stereotypical hard-drinking baseball bum, Raymond was considered a better pitcher when lacking in sobriety, and unfortunately his managers took advantage of this; all except John McGraw, who made a serious effort to save the man. Despite Raymond's 2.03 ERA in 1908, the spitballer lost a league-high 25 games for the Cardinals. He was 18-12 for the Giants in 1909, his most effective season. Finally axed in 1911, he died shortly thereafter of a blow to the head in a barroom brawl. (ARA)

FROM THE BASEBALL CHRONOLOGY » July 4, 1905: Bugs Raymond of Charleston, SC (South Atlantic), pitches the morning and afternoon games of a doubleheader, throwing a no-hitter in each game. » December 12, 1908: The Cardinals are busy. First they get C Admiral Schlei from the Reds for pitchers Ed Karger and Art Fromme. Then they pack off Schlei, along with P Bugs Raymond and OF Red Murray, to the Giants for veteran catcher Roger Bresnahan. Bresnahan, a future Hall of Famer, will be the player/manager of the Cardinals for the next four years. Raymond lost 25 games in 1908, but a record 11 of them were by shutouts. » July 3, 1909: At a packed Washington Park, the Giants beat up Brooklyn, winning 5–3 and 2–1 in a total of 23 innings. In the opener, Christy Mathewson relieves Bugs Raymond with the score knotted at 3–3 in the 9th. Matty shuts out the Superbas in the next six innings, and the Giants score two in the 14th off Harry McIntire for the win. » July 5, 1909: The Giants sweep the Phillies, winning 3–0 and 3–2 in 15 innings. The nitecap is the longest game in the National League this year. Bugs Raymond wins the marathon, relieving Christy Mathewson with the score 2–2 in the 9th. » August 24, 1909: The Giants split with the Pirates, taking the first game 4-3 behind Hooks Wiltse, then losing the 2nd. Bugs Raymond toils the whole nine innings for the Giants and gets clobbered 11-3. John McGraw leaves the high-living pitcher in the runaway to teach him a lesson. » September 11, 1909: Christy Mathewson and catcher Chief Meyers are all that the Giants need in the opener against Brooklyn. Matty allows three hits in shutting down the Superbas, and the Chief clubs his first major league homer in the 2nd inning, a grand slam to score all the runs. New York wins, 4-0, beating Elmer Knetzer. The Superbas take the nitecap, 10-1, behind Bugs Raymond. Rookie Zack Wheat has his first two ML hits in the nitecap, after being collared in the opener by Matty. » May 27, 1910: New York's Bugs Raymond strikes out eight and stops Brooklyn, 8–2. » June 17, 1910: When Louis Drucke falters against the Pirates in the top of the 9th, Giants manager John McGraw calls for Bugs Raymond to protect the 3–2 lead. Raymond has supposedly been warming up behind the stands, but apparently had visited a saloon across the way, and swapped a ball for two shots of whiskey. Raymond hits two batters, allows two hits and tosses one wild, and the Pirates win, 6–3. A furious McGraw suspends the pitcher indefinitely. Bugs will be back on July 5th. » July 22, 1910: Bugs Raymond, talented but hard-drinking spitball pitcher, walks the winning run home in New York's 4th straight loss to the Pirates. John McGraw suspends him for the rest of the season. » May 26, 1911: In one of the few games in which both appear, Christy Mathewson and Grover Cleveland Alexander are relievers in a 5–3 win for the Giants over the Phillies. Matty takes over for Bugs Raymond in the 8th after the starter gives up two quick runs. With runners on 1B and 3B, Mickey Doolan flies to Devlin in right and his perfect strike to Chief Meyers is good for a DP. The Giant score to give Matty the win over Bill Burns, though by today's standards, it would be a save. » May 30, 1911: New York takes the National League lead, winning two from Brooklyn. Giants C Art Wilson makes the first nine putouts in the morning game as four Superbas fan, three foul out, and two are thrown out at home trying to score on base hits. The Giants win, 4–1, before 8,000. Before a turnaway crowd of 25,000 in the nitecap, Bugs Raymond gives up just a single in five innings before leaving with acute stomach pain "just southwest of the fourth rib" (NY Times) caused by eating a strawberry sundae between games. Red Ames allows two hits the rest of the way as the Giants whip the Dodgers Nap Rucker, 3–0. » June 8, 1911: The Cards chase Bugs Raymond and the Giants, scoring eight runs in six innings off Bugs. John McGraw is furious with Raymond, suspecting him of drinking again. He suspends him and fines him $200. A week from now, Raymond will turn up in Connecticut, making a lone pitching appearance for the hamlet of Winsted in a 4–0 loss to Torrington. Bugs will return to the Giants where he'll be used sparingly. » September 7, 1912: Arthur "Bugs" Raymond, 30, is found dead at the Hotel Valey in Chicago of a brain hemorrhage, two days after his skull was fractured in a barroom fight. Raymond last pitched for the Giants in 1911, compiling a 6–4 before his drinking forced John McGraw to let him go. » August 9, 1963: Roger Craig's National League record-tying 18-game losing streak (broken by teammate Craig Anderson) ends thanks to Jim Hickman's 9th-inning grand slam off Lindy McDaniel. New York beats the Cubs 7–3. Craig will be on the wrong end of a shutout nine times this year: only Bugs Raymond (11 in 1908) and Walter Johnson (10 in 1909) have had more shutouts thrown at them in a year.