Candy Cummings

Infobox MLB retired
bgcolor1=#dcdcdc
bgcolor2=#dcdcdc
textcolor1=black
textcolor2=black
name=Candy Cummings


position=Pitcher
bats=Right
throws=Right
birthdate=October 18, 1848
city-state|Ware|Massachusetts
deathdate=death date and age|1924|5|16|1848|10|18
city-state|Toledo|Ohio
debutdate=April 22
debutyear=by|1872
debutteam=New York Mutuals
finaldate=August 18
finalyear=by|1877
finalteam=Cincinnati Reds
stat1label=Win-Loss record
stat1value=145-94
stat2label=ERA
stat2value=2.49
stat3label=Complete games
stat3value=233
teams=
* New York Mutuals (by|1872)
* Baltimore Canaries (by|1873)
* Philadelphia White Stockings (by|1874)
* Hartford Dark Blues (by|1875-by|1876)
* Cincinnati Reds (by|1877)
highlights=
hofdate=by|1939
hofmethod=Veteran's Committee

William Arthur "Candy" Cummings (October 18, 1848 – May 16, 1924) was a 19th-century professional baseball pitcher in the National Association and National League.

At 17, Cummings began playing baseball with the Brooklyn Excelsior baseball club of the NABBP. His first game with the team was on August 24, 1866 against the Newark Eurekas, where he led his team to a 24-12 win. Baseball writer Henry Chadwick commented on the skills of the young Cummings after this first game and his promising future with the Excelsior club. [ [http://www.baseballlibrary.com/chronology/byyear.php?year=1866&previous=yes The Chronology - 1866 BaseballLibrary.com ] ] .

During a 6 year career which lasted from 1872 until 1877, Cummings compiled a 145-94 career record and 2.49 ERA while playing for five different teams. Among other records, Cummings was the first player to record two complete games in one day: September 9, 1876 when he beat the Cincinnati Reds 14-4 and 8-4. [ Nemec, p. 134.]

He is often credited with being the first pitcher to throw a curveball, which he reportedly threw at a game in Worcester, Massachusetts, in 1867 while playing for the Brooklyn Excelsiors, with other sources saying the Brooklyn Stars. Cummings says that he discovered the idea of the curveball while studying the movement sea shells made when thrown. After noticing this movement, he began to attempt to make the same motion with a baseball, thus creating the curveball.

Another pitcher to lay claim to inventing the curveball is New Haven, Connecticut-born Fred Goldsmith, who is credited for giving the first publicly recorded demonstration of the curveball (to legendary sportswriter-baseball historian Henry Chadwick) on August 16, 1939cite book |author=David L. Fleitz |title=Ghosts in the gallery at Cooperstown: sixteen little-known members of the Hall of Fame |publisher=McFarland & Co |location=Jefferson, N.C |year=2004 |pages= |isbn=0-7864-1749-8 |oclc= |doi=] , the same year that former major-leaguer Goldsmith died in Berkley, Michigan.

In 1877, Cummings left the National League after pitching only 19 games with the Cincinnati Reds to become the president of the new International Association for Professional Base Ball Players.

Candy Cummings was born in Ware, Massachusetts on October 18, 1848 and died May 16, 1924 in Toledo, Ohio. [ [http://www.baseball-reference.com/c/cummica01.shtml Baseball-Reference.com] .]

Notes

References

* Broughton, Howard (1939) "Fred Goldsmith Invented The Curve Ball" (Assistant Sports Editor), "The London Free Press", June 21, 1939.
* Nemec, David (2004) "Great Baseball Feats, Facts, & Firsts (2004)", Signet Books, New York.
* Stern, Bill (1949) "Bill Stern's Favourite Baseball Stories", Blue Ribbon Books, Garden City, New York.

ee also

* List of Major League Baseball leaders in career wins

External links

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