Al Orth Marquee

b. September 5, 1872 · Philadelphia Phillies 1895–1901, Washington Senators 1902–1904, New York Highlanders 1904–1909

He was called the Curveless Wonder because he did not throw one: a fastball, a changeup and control, and 204 wins against 189 with a 3.37 earned run average across fifteen seasons. In 1906 he went 27-17 for the New York Highlanders with 36 complete games and led the American League in wins.

He could hit as well as most position players of his time — 464 hits, a .273 average, 30 triples — and was used in the outfield and at shortstop when he was not pitching. He threw 324 complete games in 394 starts, which is what the job was then.

He umpired in the National League from 1912 to 1917 after he stopped pitching, one of a handful of men who did both properly. No Hall of Fame ballot has ever listed him. He coached at Washington and Lee afterward and died in Virginia in 1948, at seventy-six.

Batting, season by season

Year	Team	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	SB	AVG
1895	PHI	11	45	8	16	4	0	1	13	1	6	0	.356
1896	PHI	25	82	12	21	3	3	1	13	3	11	2	.256
1897	PHI	53	152	26	50	7	4	1	17	3	8	5	.329
1898	PHI	39	123	17	36	6	4	1	14	3	15	1	.293
1899	PHI	22	62	5	13	3	1	1	5	1	3	2	.210
1900	PHI	39	129	6	40	4	1	1	21	2	16	2	.310
1901	PHI	41	128	14	36	6	0	1	15	3	11	3	.281
1902	WSH	56	175	20	38	3	2	2	10	9	10	2	.217
1903	WSH	55	162	19	49	9	7	0	11	4	13	3	.302
1904	NYY/WSH	55	166	13	41	4	2	0	18	1	21	4	.247
1905	NYY	55	131	13	24	3	1	1	8	4	22	2	.183
1906	NYY	47	135	12	37	2	2	1	17	6	8	2	.274
1907	NYY	44	105	11	34	6	0	1	13	4	6	1	.324
1908	NYY	38	69	4	20	1	2	0	4	2	7	0	.290
1909	NYY	22	34	3	9	0	1	0	5	5	9	1	.265
Career	—	602	1698	183	464	61	30	12	184	51	166	30	.273

Pitching, season by season

Year	Team	W	L	G	GS	SV	IP	H	ER	BB	SO	ERA
1895	PHI	8	1	11	10	1	88.0	103	38	22	25	3.89
1896	PHI	15	10	25	23	0	196.0	244	96	46	23	4.41
1897	PHI	14	19	36	34	0	282.1	349	145	82	64	4.62
1898	PHI	15	13	32	28	0	250.0	290	84	53	52	3.02
1899	PHI	14	3	21	15	1	144.2	149	40	19	35	2.49
1900	PHI	14	14	33	30	1	262.0	302	110	60	68	3.78
1901	PHI	20	12	35	33	1	281.2	250	71	32	92	2.27
1902	WSH	19	18	38	37	0	324.0	367	143	40	76	3.97
1903	WSH	10	22	36	32	2	279.2	326	135	62	88	4.34
1904	NYY/WSH	14	10	30	25	0	211.1	210	80	34	70	3.41
1905	NYY	18	16	40	37	0	305.1	273	97	61	121	2.86
1906	NYY	27	17	45	39	0	338.2	317	88	66	133	2.34
1907	NYY	14	21	36	33	0	248.2	244	72	53	78	2.61
1908	NYY	2	13	21	17	0	139.1	134	53	30	22	3.42
1909	NYY	0	0	1	1	0	3.0	6	4	1	1	12.00
Career	—	204	189	440	394	6	3354.2	3564	1256	661	948	3.37

On this day & linked events

1872

Born September 5, 1872

Sedalia, MO, USA

1948

Died October 8, 1948

1895

Major-league debut: Al Orth

Al Orth made a major-league debut on August 15, 1895.

1909

Final major-league game: Al Orth

Al Orth played a final major-league game on September 20, 1909.

1917

Fred Toney's No-Hitter

Fred Toney threw a no-hitter for the Cincinnati Reds against the Chicago Cubs on May 2, 1917, winning 1–0.

Image: Piedmont and Sweet Caporal, public domain