1894 by Edward Drobinski - HTML preview
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Page 65
still young, his family moved to nearby Indianapolis, Indiana, where he eventually quit school to work in a factory. It was during this time, when he was playing for a semi-professional Indianapolis baseball team named the "Sturm Avenue Never Sweats," that scouts first took notice of the speed with which he threw a baseball, and his effectiveness as a pitcher when he shut out touring National League baseball teams, the Boston Beaneaters and the Washington Senators.
In 1889, at the age of 18, Rusie signed with the Burlington Babies of the Central Interstate League. However, he also signed shortly thereafter with the Indianapolis Hoosiers of the NL. The Hoosiers disbanded at the conclusion of the 1889 season, and on March 22, 1890, he, along with many of his teammates, were transferred to the New York Giants by the league to strengthen the NL's largest market. Coming into the 1890 season, Rusie filled the starting position that was vacated by future Hall of Famer Tim Keefe, who had joined the New York Giants of the newly formed Players' League. Instead of evenly splitting pitching duties with Mickey Welch, another future Hall of Fame player, as Keefe had done the preceding five seasons, he started 62 games to Welch's 37.
Rusie quickly became a sensation among fans, media, and society owing to the combination of his pitching velocity and physical