Description
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Orval Overall
Born: February 2, 1881 Farmersville, California
Died: July 14, 1947 (aged 66) Fresno, California
Bats: Both
Throws: Right
Height: 6’2″
Weight: 214 lbs.
Positions: Pitcher
Played For:
Cincinnati Reds (1905–1906)
Chicago Cubs (1906–1910, 1913)
Biography:
Overall started his professional baseball career in 1904. With the Pacific Coast League’s Tacoma Tigers, he pitched 510.2 innings, going 32–25 with a 2.78 earned run average. He was drafted by the Cincinnati Reds in September. In 1905, his rookie season, he was the ace of the Reds pitching staff and won 18 games. He struggled early in 1906, though, and was traded to the Chicago Cubs. In 18 games for Chicago, Overall went 12–3 with a 1.88 ERA. The 1906 Cubs set a major league record for wins in a season and won the National League pennant.
A huge man for the Deadball Era, standing 6’2″ and weighing 214 lbs., Orval Overall was a right-handed curveball specialist who compiled a lifetime 108-71 record and 2.23 ERA, the eighth best ERA in major-league history. “Overall pitches his curve with a wide, sweeping overhand swing, releasing the ball over the side of the index finger as his hand turns downward,” wrote Johnny Evers in Touching Second. “His swing and curve are duplicates of those used by Adonis Terry, Jim McCormick, and some of the great pitchers of the past, and when his jerk motion at the finish of the wide swing is sharp, the curve actually darts downward.” With a reputation as a “money pitcher,” Overall pitched on Opening Day each year from 1906 to 1910, and in 1909 he usually pitched the opening game of each regular-season series. He also compiled a 3-1 record and 1.58 ERA in four World Series.
More info:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orval_Overall
https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/o/overaor01.shtml
https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/11f64629
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