1894 by Edward Drobinski - HTML preview
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Page 64
straight time with an even 200. At the end of the 1894 season William Temple, president of the Pittsburgh Pirates, proposed that a postseason series be played between the top two finishers in the National League. He donated the Temple Cup, to be awarded to the winner of the best of seven series. The Baltimore Orioles had won the pennant, with the Giants second. Sparked by the pitching of Rusie and Jouett Meekin, the Giants swept the Temple Cup series in four straight games. The Hoosier Thunderbolt won Games One and Three by identical scores of 4-1, giving up only two runs, one of which was unearned, for an ERA of 0.50. Meekin pitched a shutout in Game Two, winning 9-0, and wrapped up the series by winning Game Four, 16-3. Both pitchers threw complete games in their starts; no other Giants pitchers appeared in the series. A New York reporter wrote, “The alleged mighty hitters of the league’s pennant winners are but putty in the hands of Rusie and Meekin.” If that was not enough, Rusie even batted
.429.
He is best known for speed and wildness. He led the league in strikeouts five times, won 20 or more games eight times, led the league in walks five times. In 1890 he walked 289 in 548
innings, the all-time single season record.
Rusie was born in Mooresville, Indiana, to mason and plasterer William Asbury Rusie and his wife Mary Donovan. When he was