GEORGE EDWARD “RUBE” WADDELL was quite possibly the Most Interesting Man in Baseball. An outstanding left-handed power pitcher in the early 20th century, he was just as famous for his eccentric oddball behavior off the field.
He would sometimes leave in the middle of a start to go fishing, and would often halt play by running off the field to chase fire trucks passing by. His team would completely lose contact with him during the offseason, on one occasion discovering him working for the circus wrestling alligators.
When properly focused, his sheer ability was unmatched. Rube used an arsenal of effective pitches along with pinpoint control to lead the majors in strikeouts six years in a row. He bounced around teams throughout his career, quickly wearing out his welcome due to his erratic behavior and especially his notorious appetite for drinking.
Waddell led a colorful life off the field during his career, including:
Helping save a town in Kentucky from a flood
Being bitten by a circus lion after punching it in the face
Saving a woman from drowning while piloting a steamboat
Keeping pet bears
Eating live garter snakes for fun
Being arrested for bigamy after forgetting to divorce his wife before remarrying
Getting married so many times that he literally lost count
Touring the nation starring in a play, but having to improvise all his lines because he was incapable of memorizing them
Punching a teammate in the face because he didn’t like his straw hat
Saving the lives of customers in a department store from a fire
Though his alcoholism cut his promising major league career short, Waddell continued to pitch in the minor leagues for several years before dying of tuberculosis at age 37. He was posthumously inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1946.