Plank was the first left-handed pitcher to win 200 games and then 300 games, and now ranks third in all-time wins among left-handers with 326 career victories (eleventh all time) and first all-time in career shutouts by a left-handed pitcher with 66. Philadelphia went to the World Series five times while Plank played there, but he sat out the 1910 World Series due to an injury. Plank had only a 1.32 earned run average (ERA) in his World Series career, but he was unlucky, with a 2–5 win–loss record in those games.\n', '

Plank died of a stroke in 1926. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1946.\n', '

Plank grew up on a farm near Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. He was the fourth of seven children born to Martha McCreary and David Plank. His father was a school director and tax collector in Gettysburg. Plank did not play baseball until Frank Foreman, the pitching coach at Gettysburg College, asked him to try out for the school\'s baseball team. History books often erroneously state that Plank graduated from Gettysburg College. He attended Gettysburg Academy, a prep school affiliated with the college. However, he played for the college\'s team without ever being enrolled there.\n', '

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