NY Giants Rube Marquard's Record Win Streak Ends at 19 Straight

July 8, 1912: Rube Marquard was signed as Richard William Marquard in 1908 for the record sum of $11,000. The NY Giants outbid the Cleveland Indians for his services. He earned the name Rube because of his resemblance to star pitcher Rube Wadell. In his first year he went 5-13, and had a 4.46 ERA the next, he became known as "the $11,000 lemon". In 1911 he turned it all around winning 24 games. He got the Opening Day start in 1912 and beat Brooklyn, he ended up wining all three of his games that April. In May he became unbeatable, he won seven games straight, in June he won eight more games straight. To begin July, he took another victory over Brooklyn, setting a record of 19 straight wins. (He actually won 20 straight but a relief win wasn't credited to him due to the record keeping of the time).

On July 8th, he was beaten in Chicago at Cubs Field by Jimmy Lavender. During the win streak he beat every team in the league at least twice, Brooklyn three times, Boston & Philadelphia four times. He pitched 16 complete games, allowed only 49 runs, 41 of which were earned. By the time he was 19-0, only two other pitchers in the league had as many as 10 wins.

He went out & celebrated buying an opal stick pin, when he found out opal was bad luck, he threw it into a river. Bad luck or not the win streak ended and he went 7-11 the rest of the season. His final season totals were 26-11 with a 2.57 ERA. The 26 wins led the league. The Giants won the pennant but lost a heart breaker World Series to the Boston Pilgrims. Marquard went 2-0 with a 0.50 ERA in the Series. In that off season he celebrated his new found fame by playing the Vaudeville circuit with his wife, singer, entertainer, Blossom Sweeney. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1971 with a 201-177 record.