Amos Rusie ✝

He is best known for the speed in which he pitched a baseball. The velocity of his fastball was unknown, but it has been estimated that he threw it in the mid to upper 90s. He led the league in strikeouts five times, and won 20 or more games eight times. Though he did throw hard, he did not have good control of his pitches, leading the league in walks five times and being seventh all-time among the career pitching leaders in that category. In 1890 he walked 289, the all-time single-season record.\n', ' In 1897 one of his fastballs struck future Hall of Famer Hughie Jennings in the head, rendering him comatose for four days before recovery. Rusie\'s wildness had been a catalyst for officials to change the distance from the pitching rubber to home plate from 50 feet (15 m) to the current 60 feet (18 m), 6 inches. This ruling was made effective for the 1893 season, at the peak of Amos Rusie\'s pitching prowess. The distance change did not reduce Rusie\'s effectiveness, as he led the league in strikeouts for three straight seasons afterward, while also winning what later would be known as the pitching triple crown in 1894. For his accomplishments, he was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1977 by the Veterans Committee.\n', ' Rusie was born on May 30, 1871 in Mooresville, Indiana, to mason and plasterer William Asbury Rusie and his wife Mary Donovan. When he was 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 shutout touring National League baseball teams, the Boston Beaneaters and the Washington Senators.\n', '