Ray Caldwell pitched in the Major Leagues for 12 seasons from 1910 to 1921.
Nine years of his career were spent with the New York baseball club. When he joined, they were called the Highlanders. In 1913, they were renamed the Yankees.
He threw a wicked spitball, which would eventually become illegal.
His best season came in 1914 when he finished with a win-loss record of 18-9 and an ERA of 1.94.
Caldwell was a highly touted pitcher despite being a notorious drunk.
During the 1916 season, his drunken behavior was more than the Yankees could bear, so they kicked him off the team for two weeks in the hope he would sober up.
Instead, Caldwell disappeared for six months. Even his family had no idea where he’d gone. Maybe on a bender.
For the next two seasons, the Yankees spied on his off-field life to keep him from drinking, but Caldwell kept evading the private investigators who shadowed him.
Tired of his drunken exploits, New York shipped him off to Boston. The Red Sox had Caldwell share rooms on the road with their young phenom, Babe Ruth.
Putting two heavy drinkers together proved to be a huge mistake. Boston traded Caldwell to Cleveland. His career hung by a thread.
Tris Speaker, the Indians’ manager, offered Caldwell a crazy contract. It insisted that the pitcher go out and purposefully get drunk after every game he pitched. Instead of demanding his sobriety, Speaker permitted Caldwell to drink - except on nights before he pitched.
Caldwell agreed. But he needed to prove that he still had talent.
In his first game pitching for Cleveland, Caldwell was mowing down the Philadelphia Athletics. He was living up to his promise as Tris Speaker had hoped.
Caldwell took the mound in the top of the 9th inning to complete the game.
Rain clouds moved in rapidly. Thunder clapped.
Caldwell got the first out, then the second. One more to go.
Then lightning cracked from the sky and struck Caldwell with a direct hit.
Teammates rushed to their fallen pitcher. Caldwell was unconscious with a burn mark on his uniform. They were worried that he was dead.
But then the pitcher rose to his feet and declared that he was ready to get that final out.
Which he did on one pitch. Game over.
Despite having been struck by lightning.
He pitched for the Indians when they won the 1920 World Series against the Brooklyn Robins (later the Dodgers). Caldwell only made it through one-third of an inning in Game 3, but he was on the championship team - the first of only 2 times Cleveland has won the World Series.
For his remaining years in Cleveland, Caldwell kept his word and never drank… before a game.
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