Amos Rusie

The Hoosiers disbanded at the conclusion of the 1889 season, and on March 22, 1890, he, along with many of his teammates, were transferred to the New York Giants by the league to strengthen the NL's largest market.[1][4] Coming into the 1890 season, Rusie filled the starting position that was vacated by future Hall of Famer Tim Keefe, who had joined the New York Giants of the newly formed Players' League (PL).[5][6] Instead of evenly splitting pitching duties with Mickey Welch, another future Hall of Fame player, as Keefe had done the preceding five seasons, he started 62 games to Welch's 37.[6][7][8][9][10][11]

An 1895 tobacco card of Amos Rusie

Rusie quickly became a sensation among fans, media, and society owing to the combination of his pitching velocity and physical size at 6-foot-1-inch (1.85 m), 200-pound (91 kg), which was considered large for the era.[1] The fans began calling him the "Hoosier Thunderbolt", while famed vaudeville act Weber and Fields used his name, a paperback book, Secrets of Amos Rusie, The World's Greatest Pitcher, How He Obtained His Incredible Speed on Balls, was available for a quarter, a drink was named after him, and he received a message from the popular performer Lillian Russell.[1]

On May 9, the Giants defeated the Boston Beaneaters by a score of 16–3, doing so by committing no errors, very rare for the era, and with Rusie allowing just 6 hits.[12] Three days later, on May 12, Rusie was on the winning side of a pitching duel with future Hall of Famer Kid Nichols, in a game that ended with a home run by the Giants' Mike Tiernan in the 13th inning.[12] The home run was described as a "tape measure" hit, sailing over the outfield fence and landing in an adjacent baseball field, Brotherhood Park, where a PL game was being played at the same time, causing fans of both parks to cheer.[12]

Rusie completed the season with 67 games pitched, 62 games started, 56 complete games, four shutouts, 548.2 innings pitched, 2.56 earned run average (ERA), and a league-leading total of 341 strikeouts, the highest seasonal total he would have in his career.[13] Due to the lack of control of his pitches, however, he also led the league with 289 walks, the all-time record for a season, and tossed 36 wild pitches, another total that topped the league.[13][14] The Giants finished in sixth place among the eight NL teams, while Rusie won 29 games and had a league-leading 34 losses.[13][15] As a hitter, he had a successful season with .278 batting average in 284 at bats, 13 doubles, six triples, and he scored 31 runs.[13] Rusie married May Smith in Muncie, Indiana on November 8, 1890, in the Delaware County Clerk's Office.[1]

After the demise of the PL following the 1890 season, the Giants absorbed many of the players who had been on the crosstown rival's roster. Future Hall of Famers Roger Connor, Jim O'Rourke, Buck Ewing, and Tim Keefe simply returned to the team, as well as George Gore, while John Ewing, and Danny Richardson were new signings, solidifying both a powerful hitting line-up and a solid pitching rotation for the 1891 season.[11][16] While the upgraded Giants improved their final standings by finishing in third place among eight teams in the NL, and had a four-game lead over the Chicago Colts on June 16 when Rusie held them scoreless, and were 2.5 games behind the Colts on September 19, they were 13 games back at the close of the season.[12][17]

After having been on the losing end of no-hitter by Tom Lovett of the Brooklyn Bridegrooms on June 22, Rusie returned the favor by throwing one of his own against them just over a month later on July 31.[12] After winning both games of a doubleheader against the Bridegrooms in September, Rusie and several other star players were rested for the remainder of the season, a five-game series against the Boston Beaneaters.[12] Rusie's 337 strikeouts and 262 bases on balls led the league for the second consecutive year, and his six shutouts marked the first time he led the league in that category. His record improved to 33–20, and he followed that up in 1892 with a record of 32–31, 304 strikeouts and 270 walks.

Plaque of Amos Rusie at the Baseball Hall of Fame

With the pitching area being moved back in 1893, Rusie's strikeout total dropped to 208; still he was the league leader. The 1893 campaign was a truly extraordinary one for Amos Rusie. He had 50 complete games in 52 starts and went 33–21.

In 1894, Rusie won pitching's triple crown. He led the league in wins with 36–13, strikeouts with 195, and with a league best ERA of 2.78 (especially spectacular considering that the league average that year was 5.32). He also led the league in walks for the fifth straight time with an even 200. After the conclusion of the 1894 regular season, a Pittsburgh sportsman named William C. Temple sponsored a trophy for the winner between the regular season 1st and 2nd place teams in the National League. The runner-up Giants swept the Baltimore Orioles, who featured Hall of Famers John McGraw and Wilbert Robinson, 4–0. Rusie was virtually untouchable in the Temple Cup, giving up only one earned run while winning two complete games and compiling a 0.50 ERA; if that was not enough, he even batted .429. Rusie's win total that year was fourth best since the establishment of the modern pitching distance of 60'-6".

Rusie won his last strikeout crown in the 1895 campaign with 201. However, he finished with a mediocre (by his standards) 23 wins and 23 losses. After a bitter contract dispute with Giants' owner Andrew Freedman, Rusie responded by publicly thumbing his nose at Freedman — the 19th century variant of the middle finger. He was fined $200 (he made only $2,500 a year). Rusie refused to play until Freedman returned his money and ended up holding out for the entire 1896 season. It was a fiasco for baseball; fans boycotted and the press railed against the owners. Owners implored Rusie and Freedman to compromise; neither would budge. The holdout was finally settled just before the 1897 season, as the owners collaborated for recoupment of the garnished wages, as well as a $5,000 settlement ($153,660 in today's dollars). This was partially out of respect for Rusie. However, the primary motivator was the threat of legal action against the reserve clause had his case gone to court.