Edward Achorn

Old Hoss Radbourn gets an amusing mention — and a bit of a putdown — in Jim Bouton’s Ball Four, one of the greatest baseball books ever written and a personal favorite of mine:

March 9
Tempe
Before the game today Rollie Sheldon was talking about old-timers. It’s a funny thing, but athletes have improved tremendously through the years in every sport where performance can be objectively measured – track and field, swimming, etc. Yet in other sports, especially boxing and baseball, there are always people who say the old-timers were better, even unmatched. I don’t believe that, and I was very interested when Sheldon pointed out some figures in the Hall of Fame book. Like old “Hoss” Radbourne, who played before the turn of the century. He pitched the last 27 games for his team and won 26 of them. Old Hoss was 5 feet 9 inches tall and weighed 168. Some hoss! Pony is more like it.

To learn more about the real Old Hoss, click here