Willis Hudlin Marquee

b. May 23, 1906 · Cleveland Indians 1926–1940, St. Louis Browns 1940, 1944, Washington Senators 1940, New York Giants 1940

On August 11, 1929, at League Park, Ruth hit his 500th home run off him — the first man to reach the number — and the ball went over the wall onto Lexington Avenue, where a boy returned it for twenty dollars and an autographed replacement.

Sixteen seasons gave him 158 wins against 156 with a 4.41 earned run average, 2,613 innings and 155 complete games. Fifteen of them were in Cleveland, where only Bob Feller, Mel Harder and Bob Lemon have won more games. He won 17 in 1929 and 15 twice.

In 1940 he pitched for four clubs — Cleveland, Washington, St. Louis and the Giants — inside one season, which is a rarity. He came back to pitch one game at thirty-eight in 1944 and scouted for decades afterward. No Hall of Fame ballot ever listed him. He died in 2002, at ninety-six.

Batting, season by season

Year	Team	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	SB	AVG
1926	CLE	8	8	0	1	1	0	0	0	1	2	0	.125
1927	CLE	43	96	12	24	5	1	1	6	1	22	0	.250
1928	CLE	42	72	4	14	4	0	0	5	4	17	0	.194
1929	CLE	40	97	5	19	3	0	0	4	1	18	1	.196
1930	CLE	37	73	6	16	1	0	0	6	5	16	0	.219
1931	CLE	44	100	11	20	6	2	0	13	6	28	0	.200
1932	CLE	33	64	10	13	2	0	0	10	6	14	0	.203
1933	CLE	34	41	1	6	0	0	1	3	2	13	0	.146
1934	CLE	36	68	5	14	4	0	1	2	6	20	0	.206
1935	CLE	37	86	10	24	7	0	1	8	6	19	0	.279
1936	CLE	27	18	2	2	1	0	0	1	2	4	0	.111
1937	CLE	35	59	8	10	2	0	0	5	5	17	1	.169
1938	CLE	29	43	1	5	2	0	0	2	3	14	0	.116
1939	CLE	27	48	1	9	1	0	1	4	3	16	0	.188
1940	CLE/NYG/SLB/WSH	19	21	0	3	0	0	0	0	1	8	0	.143
1944	SLB	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	—
Career	—	492	894	76	180	39	3	5	69	52	228	2	.201

Pitching, season by season

Year	Team	W	L	G	GS	SV	IP	H	ER	BB	SO	ERA
1926	CLE	1	3	8	2	0	32.1	25	10	13	6	2.78
1927	CLE	18	12	43	30	0	264.2	291	118	83	65	4.01
1928	CLE	14	14	42	26	7	220.1	231	99	90	62	4.04
1929	CLE	17	15	40	33	1	280.1	299	104	73	60	3.34
1930	CLE	13	16	37	33	1	216.2	255	110	76	60	4.57
1931	CLE	15	14	44	34	4	254.1	313	130	88	83	4.60
1932	CLE	12	8	33	21	2	181.2	204	95	59	65	4.71
1933	CLE	5	13	34	17	1	147.1	161	65	61	44	3.97
1934	CLE	15	10	36	26	4	195.0	210	103	65	58	4.75
1935	CLE	15	11	36	29	5	231.2	252	95	61	45	3.69
1936	CLE	1	5	27	7	0	64.0	112	64	31	20	9.00
1937	CLE	12	11	35	23	2	175.2	213	80	43	31	4.10
1938	CLE	8	8	29	15	1	127.0	158	69	45	27	4.89
1939	CLE	9	10	27	20	3	143.0	175	78	42	28	4.91
1940	CLE/NYG/SLB/WSH	3	5	19	12	0	77.1	109	60	16	22	6.98
1944	SLB	0	1	1	0	0	2.0	3	1	0	1	4.50
Career	—	158	156	491	328	31	2613.1	3011	1281	846	677	4.41

On this day & linked events

1906

Born May 23, 1906

Wagoner, OK, USA

2002

Died August 5, 2002

1926

Major-league debut: Willis Hudlin

Willis Hudlin made a major-league debut on August 15, 1926.

1929

Babe Ruth's 500th Home Run

Babe Ruth becomes the first player in Major League history to hit 500 career home runs, connecting at League Park in Cleveland.

1935

Vern Kennedy's No-Hitter

Vern Kennedy threw a no-hitter for the Chicago White Sox against the Cleveland Indians on August 31, 1935, winning 5–0.

1944

Final major-league game: Willis Hudlin

Willis Hudlin played a final major-league game on August 31, 1944.

Image: Goudey, public domain