Books and articles about Ed Reulbach

Chicago's Ed Reulbach was the only pitcher to throw a doubleheader shutout, allowing just eight hits; the two victories on September 26 were among nine he collected against Brooklyn in 1908. Chicago was locked in a tight pennant race with Pittsburgh and New York, and the Cubs' staff was getting weary. Reulbach's wins helped his club finish first, after a one-game playoff.

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Reulbach's eyesight was poor, so his catchers used white-painted gloves. He set a still-standing record of leading the NL in winning percentage three years in a row, 1906 through 1908, with records of 19-4, 17-4, and 24-7. Yet his spectacular career was often overshadowed by his teammate, Three Finger Brown, and crosstown rival Ed Walsh. Reulbach took the limelight with the first one-hitter in the World Series (1906). His 1906 hits-per-inning ratio of 5.33 per nine innings is the third best in history. His career ERA of 2.28 has been bettered by only ten pitchers. Not counting the 1915 season, which he spent in the Federal League, he allowed only 35 home runs in 2,363 innings. (CG)

FROM THE BASEBALL CHRONOLOGY » June 24, 1905: Chicago Zephyrs rookie righthander Ed Reulbach wins an 18-inning marathon duel with the Cards' Jack Taylor 2–1 in St. Louis. First baseman Frank Chance has 27 putouts and two assists for Chicago. » August 10, 1905: In a great pitching duel, New York ace Christy Mathewson allows three Chicago hits, while the Giants manage just four off Ed Reulbach. New York tallies an unearned run in the 6th for the games only score. » August 24, 1905: Chicago's Ed Reulbach defeats Philley starter Tully Sparks in a 20-inning 2–1 Colts marathon win over the Phils, exactly two months after Big Ed topped the Cards by the same score in 18 innings. Frank Chance's single drives in Jack McCarthy with the winning run. The game ties the existing ML mark for the most innings played in a game. A high point in the game, as recounted in Johnny Evers Touching Second, is when OF Jimmy Slagle, in the 18th, shoves his hand in his back pocket to get a plug of chewing tobacco just as the batter cracks a long line drive. Slagle starts after the ball and discovers that he can't get his hand out of his pocket. He makes a leaping one-handed catch with his gloved hand, then stops, pulls the tobacco out, bites off a piece and bows to the crowd. » August 8, 1906: NL President Harry Pulliam upholds the forfeit to the Cubs of yesterday's Giants game, stating: "I uphold the action of the umpires absolutely, and if I am not sustained by the NL Board of Directors I will not only resign my position as President of the NL, but I will quit professional baseball forever." Giants owner John Brush then allows James Johnstone to officiate, and the Cubs win 3-2 behind Three Finger Brown and Ed Reulbach. At the month's end, the Cubs will have a 15-game lead. » September 19, 1906: At Boston, Chicago clinches the NL pennant by topping Boston 3-1. Ed Reulbach is the winner. » October 1, 1906: The Series-bound Colts sweep two from the Phillies, winning the first game 4-0 behind Carl Lundgren's 2-hitter. They then take the nitecap, 4-3 in a six inning contest called because of darkness, as Ed Reulbach wins his 12th straight. This tops Mordecai Brown's 11-game winning streak snapped earlier this month. Reulbach will win 14 in a row in 1909, a 20th century Cubs record. » October 10, 1906: The Cubs jump on Doc White early, and run (5 SBs) to a 7-1 victory. The highlight of the game is Ed Reulbach's no-hit bid broken by Jiggs Donahue's single in the 7th. The next WS one-hitter will come in 1945, by another Cub-Claude Passeau. » October 13, 1906: Mound magic disappears as both Ed Walsh and Ed Reulbach are knocked out. Paced by a WS record four doubles by Frank Isbell, the White Sox win the slugfest 8-6. » July 22, 1907: In the Giants 2-1 loss to the Cubs, Larry Doyle debuts a 2B for New York. The Giants manage just four hits off Cubs ace Ed Reulbach, but Doyle has two of them. » September 1, 1907: Cubs P Ed Reulbach, who will be 17-4 with a 1.69 ERA, goes into the 9th with a 2-0 lead over the Cardinals at Chicago. He gives up eight straight hits, seven runs, and loses the game. The nitecap is stopped after seven innings. Still shell-shocked, the Cubs are shut out twice tomorrow by the last-place Cards, losing 6-0 and 9-0. » September 23, 1907: In Chicago, the Cubs clinch the pennant by beat the Phillies, 4-1. The game is washed out after seven 1/2 innings with Ed Reulbach winning in relief of Three Finger Brown. Chicago pulls off a triple play in the 5th inning to help seal the win. » October 10, 1907: Ed Reulbach coasts to a 5–1 win over the Tigers, as the Cubs hit five doubles. » July 4, 1908: In Pittsburgh, an A.M.-P.M. doubleheader with the Cubs draws 50,000 fans. Three Finger Brown wins the morning game, 2–0, for his 4th straight shut out. Ed Reulbach takes the afternoon affair, 9–3. The Cubs and Bucs play five games in three days with the Cubs winning three: Brown cops 2, tossing two shutouts—a 6-hitter and a 2-hitter. » July 16, 1908: At Chicago, manager Frank Chance figures to rattle Giants rookie Otis "Doc" Crandall and elects to bat the Cubs first (this option rule for the home team was changed in 1951). But Crandall is a rock and nurses a 4-1 lead into the last of the 9th. After one out, Christy Mathewson, warming in the bullpen, decides the game is well in hand and goes into the clubhouse to shower. Crandall promptly walks three straight, wherein John McGraw looks in vain for Matty. The Giants ace quickly dries off, throws on a uniform, and puts his street shoes on. By the time he arrives on the mound, reliever Joe McGinnity has walked in a run. Matty gets a ground out, then a strikeout, and the Giants win, 4-3. Ed Reulbach takes the loss for Chicago. » September 5, 1908: Ed Reulbach allows just four Pittsburgh hits as Chicago romps, 11-0. » September 19, 1908: Ed Reulbach pitches 10 innings in the 2nd game of a doubleheader against the Phils before the 0-0 game is called on account of darkness. » September 26, 1908: With the Cubs just a half game in back of New York, Chicago's Ed Reulbach becomes the only pitcher to throw two shutouts in one day, blanking host Brooklyn 5-0 and 3-0. Big Ed allows five hits in the a.m. game, and is even stingier in the afternoon, yielding three hits and a walk. He finishes the afternoon contest in one hour: 12 minutes. Kaiser Wilhelm and Jim Pastorius are the losing pitchers. » October 1, 1908: Ed Reulbach shuts out the Reds for a 6–0 Cubs win, and Reulbach's 4th straight shutout, tying a mark set by Three Finger Brown earlier in the year. Big Ed will complete 44 consecutive scoreless innings, an National League record until Carl Hubbell's 46 in 1933, and the four straight shutouts will not be tied until another Cub, Bill Lee, does it in 1938. » October 10, 1908: In the World Series Opener, Ed Reulbach, coasting with a 5–1 lead, tires in the 7th. Brown is unable to stop the Tigers from taking a 6–5 lead in the last of the 8th. But the Cubs jump on reliever Ed Summers, a 24-game winner, for six straight hits and five runs in the 9th, and Brown gets the win 10–6. For umpire Bill Klem, it is the first of 15 World Series he will officiate. Detroit's Ira Thomas, batting for Charley O'Leary, hits the first World Series pinch hit when he singles in the 9th. There had been 12 previous pinch-hit attempts in World Series play, including the batter before Thomas. » June 30, 1909: Chicago's Ed Reulbach spoils Pittsburgh's dedication of Forbes Field before 30,338, allowing three hits and beating Vic Willis, 3-2. A parade of old-time players precedes the game. The Pirates will draw 98,000 fans, including 41,000 on July 5, in their first five home games. » July 17, 1909: Brooklyn and Chicago swap shutouts, with George Bell topping Chicago's Orval Overall, 1–0, in the opener. Ed Reulbach comes back in the 2nd game to beat Kaiser Wilhelm, 4–0. Bill Bergen's hitless streak ends. Bergen's hitless streak started after he singled in his first at bat against the Giants on June 29, 1909. It ends in the second game today when, after sitting out the first game, he had a fourth inning infield single against Ed Reulbach. The catcher will hit just .139 this season, not a yearly low. » August 10, 1909: At West Side Grounds, the Cubs Ed Reulbach stops Brooklyn, 8-1, for his 16th straight win. The string started on July 30, 1907 and is one shy of the franchise record set by John Clarkson. » August 14, 1909: Chicago pitcher's Ed Reulbach's 14-game winning streak is stopped by the Giants 5-2. New York has now won nine in a row, but Chicago will stop that tomorrow. » August 18, 1909: For the second time in eight days, Cubs P Ed Reulbach wins his 16 consecutive game from an opponent, this time beating the Reds. His streak against Cincinnati (according to historian Ed Hartig) started on April 15, 1906. » August 30, 1909: The Cubs and Giants swap shutouts in this Monday doubleheader. Chicago wins the opener, 2-0, in 11 innings, and Christy Mathewson outpitches Ed Reulbach in the nitecap to win, 5-0, on five hits. » August 10, 1910: At West Side Grounds, Cubs ace Ed Reulbach wins his 14th straight, beating Brooklyn 8–1. Reulbach allows just six hits in setting a 20th century team record for consecutive wins. » October 20, 1910: The A's dispose of Ed Reulbach in two innings, then pin the loss on reliever Harry McIntire, who lasts a third of a inning. Coombs coasts on one day's rest, 12–5, and helps himself with three hits. Cubs manager Frank Chance becomes the first player ejected from a World Series game when umpire Tom Connolly chases him for protesting a Danny Murphy home run drive against a sign over the RF bleachers. Chance opines too loudly that it should be a ground-rule double. » May 30, 1911: After one day at the top, the Cubs drop to 3rd, as the Pirates sweep a pair from Chicago, winning 1–0 and 4–1. But the first game is protested by Chicago, presumably for batting out of order, and the protest will later be upheld. All the records including Babe Adams 4-hit shutout (he'll still lead the NL with 7) and Honus Wagner's hitless game are tossed. Thanks to the successful protest, Wagner will end the season at a league-leading .334, one point ahead of Dots Miller. In the afternoon contest, Howie Camnitz tops Ed Reulbach, who is drilled for six hits and all four runs in two innings. Wagner has a pair of hits in the nitecap. » June 3, 1911: In Chicago, Cubs slugger Frank "Wildfire" Schulte hits a grand slam off Rube Marquard to beat the Giants, 8–4. Schulte will slam four this season, a record tied by Babe Ruth in 1919 and topped by Ernie Banks' five in 1955. The four this season are Schulte's only grand slams in his 11-year career. Ed Reulbach picks up the victory. » September 21, 1911: In Chicago, the Phils Grover Alexander fires his 4th straight shutout, beating the Cubs Ed Reulbach, 4–0. Alex also had shutouts on the 7th, 13th, and 17th. » July 18, 1912: Gavvy Cravath swipes home in the 11th inning to give the Phils a 9–8 win over the Cubs. Reliever Tom Seaton is the winner over Jimmy Lavender. Seaton also pitches the 2nd game but loses, 4–2, to Ed Reulbach. » August 13, 1913: In a great pickup, the Cubs send P Lew Richie to Kansas City (AA) for Hippo Vaughn. Vaughn, who had pitched five years with little success in the AL with New York and Washington, will be a workhorse for Chicago. Tomorrow the Cubs will ship 33-year-old Ed Reulbach (1-3) to Brooklyn for P Eddie Stack and cash. » September 6, 1913: Ed Reulbach pitches Brooklyn to a 2–0 whitewash of the Giants, allowing just two hits. Christy Mathewson takes the loss, his 9th of the year. John McGraw, frustrated with his team's lack of hitting, losses an argument with ump Mal Eason and is tossed. » September 24, 1913: Christy Mathewson scatters 11 Brooklyn safeties, walks none, to beat Ed Reulbach, 2–1. It is Matty's 25th win. He will finish the year with 25 victories and 21 walks. » August 1, 1933: Carl Hubbell breaks Ed Reulbach's 1908 NL record for consecutive scoreless innings, with four 1/3, although the Giants lose to Boston 3-1. » September 22, 1938: Bill Lee of the Cubs pitches his 4th consecutive shutout, matching the feat of Ed Reulbach (1908) and Grover Alexander (1911).