Good evening. This is Dead Legends. The daily newsletter that loves baseball as much as Wade Boggs loved chicken.

Let’s dive in.

Today’s story is about one of the wackiest ballplayers in the history of the game.

Baseball players are naturally superstitious, it’s in our DNA.

But Steven “Turk” Wendell took that shit to a whole new level.

Aside from brushing his teeth between innings and high jumping over the foul line, here’s a few other off-the-wall habits he had back when he played in the big leagues:

• Insisted that the umpire roll the ball to him rather than just tossing it like normal.

• Wore a necklace made from the claws and teeth of various animals he’d hunted himself.

• Wore jersey number 99, in honor of Rick "Wild Thing" Vaughn, and signed a contract worth $9,999,999.99.

In 2018, Wendell was named the most superstitious athlete of all time by Men's Journal.

But even though he was a little wacky, Wendell turned out to be a pretty decent pitcher.

His first couple of years were a little rough, but he hit his stride in the mid-90s.

In ‘96, he appeared in 70 games, snagged 18 saves, and was able to record a 2.84 ERA.

Wendell was also a baseball purist who was very outspoken against steroid use in the sport.

During his time on the Colorado Rockies in ‘04, Wendell was the first major leaguer to publicly accuse Barry Bonds of using performance-enhancing drugs, following the indictment of Bonds' trainer - Greg Anderson.

And while that’s probably not the easiest way to make friends, it’s one thing you have to respect about Turk - he never tried to be someone else.

He was always authentic, and he always called it like he saw it.

BASEBALL TRIVIA

The answer will be in the bottom of this email!

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:

Slim played on the Reds when they beat the White Sox in the infamous 1919 World Series that sparked the Black Sox Scandal.

Despite being a very talented pitcher, Sallee never seemed to put it all together.

His career was marked by a series of training rule violations, fines, suspensions, threats of retirement, and a battle with alcohol that ultimately led to his death.

THE DEAD LEGENDS ARCHIVE

If you like this story, check out some of our past favorites:

• The Bank Robbers: Rick Demspsey’s youth coach was an undercover criminal

• The Louisville Slugger: Meet the drunk ballplayer that inspired the famous brand

• The Attic: Family from Ohio finds a treasure trove of baseball cards

BASEBALL TRIVIA ANSWER: Red Barrett