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- THE LIGHTNING STRIKE
THE LIGHTNING STRIKE
Good evening. This is Dead Legends. The daily newsletter that loves baseball as much as suburban women love Taylor Swift.
Let’s dive in.
Today’s story is about an electric performance, and potentially the toughest SOB that’s ever put on a baseball uniform.
Tell you what - 1919 was a crazy year for baseball.
First the Black Sox Scandal happened, and then Babe Ruth was sold to the Yankees.
But there was another wild event that took place earlier that year on August 24th.
Ray Caldwell was making his debut on the mound for his new team, the Cleveland Indians.
Caldwell was a player of immense talent, but he hadn't fully lived up to his potential.
Writers at the time said he could’ve been as good as Walter Johnson or Christy Mathewson, but he liked to go out and drink too much.
Even still, the guy managed to win over 300 games throughout the course of his career, 133 of them in the big leagues.
The Indians were making a run at the pennant late in the season, so they took a flier on Caldwell.
In a completely dominating performance, Ray kept the Athletics to one run through eight innings in his first start.
He took the mound with a 2-1 lead in the ninth.
The weather was shitty, but nothing that was going to keep them from finishing the game.
After quickly recording two outs, Caldwell was literally one pitch away from closing things out.
In a flash, a lightning bolt struck the field, hitting Ray directly.
The blast knocked him unconscious and left him with a burn on his chest.
Caldwell was presumed to be dead.
Initially, no one even wanted to touch him for fear of being electrocuted themselves.
After five minutes of laying unconscious, Ray miraculously rose to his feet and asked for the baseball.
He got the next batter to ground out; finishing the CG.
Too add to his badassery, Caldwell threw a no-hitter against the Yankees just three weeks later.
Even 100 years later, nothing like this incident has ever happened again in sports, and it probably never will.
Whether you’re still playing, or not - the competitive nature never leaves you.
Doesn’t matter if it’s Game 7 or backyard wiffle ball - we play to win.
Most of my wins in life are accompanied by a cold beverage, and when it’s time to get it poppin’ I use the best damn bottle openers on earth.
They’re made by Dugout Mugs from real baseballs.
The perfect tool to help celebrate all your victories - big or small.
Use our code: CUT to get $20 off.
STRANGE NAMES
If you're just joining us, we play this game every day where we try to find the weirdest names throughout baseball history.
Why? Don't ask us, it's just something we like to do.
If you've been rocking with us for awhile now, you know what time it is.
Today's winner is:
Carney and his brother, Joe Lansford, both played in the MLB.
Despite being drafted in the 1st round, his brother was ended up being a bust, but Carney played in the show for 15 years and won a bunch of accolades.
Lansford played for the Oakland A’s during an era when they had what could probably be considered as their best team ever.
The 1990 roster included:
Mark McGwire
Rickey Henderson
Jose Canseco
Dave Stewart
Dennis Eckersley
Walt Weiss
Willie Randolph
Pretty decent squad.
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