Pud Galvin, Forgotten Ace & Rush's Geddy Lee's Book 72 Stories

Listen to Jerry, along with producer Brooke, to hear about a forgotten record holder Pud Galvin. Our first pitch is on Geddy Lee's baseball book.

A coffee table book opened a door: from Geddy Lee’s unlikely baseball shrine and a donation to the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum to a web of autographs that includes Ruth, Eisenhower, Sinatra, Fidel Castro, and all four Beatles. That curiosity trail led us to a bigger fixation—how stories survive—and straight into the life of Pud Galvin, the nineteenth-century workhorse who helped build the record book but slipped out of memory. See Dan Rather interview at 22:30 for Geddy talking baseball. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GP_JvHFiNpo

We trace Galvin’s path from St. Louis to Buffalo to Pittsburgh, unpacking a résumé that still startles: two no-hitters, 646 complete games, the first to 300 wins, and 20-plus victories in ten seasons without a pennant. The backdrop matters. Walks shrank from eight balls to four in a single decade, rotations ran two deep, and ERA didn’t even exist until historians backfilled it in the twentieth century. Through it all, Galvin thrived on control, guile, and a pickoff move so sharp SABR chronicles him loading the bases only to erase every runner and taunting Cap Anson by walking a batter just to nab him at first.

We also reckon with a headline that feels modern: performance enhancement. Before an 1889 game, Galvin tried Brown-Séquard’s animal-extract “elixir,” tossed a two-hit shutout, and drew praise rather than outrage. Science later dismissed the tonic, but the episode exposes an old truth—athletes probe edges, and culture decides where the lines are. Finally, we follow the long road to recognition, where Buffalo historian Joseph M. Overfield’s advocacy helped pry open the Hall of Fame door in 1965, decades after Galvin died poor and largely forgotten. Join us for a brisk, story-rich tour that reframes early baseball, honors the researchers who rescue lost legends, and asks how we choose which heroes to remember.

If this kind of baseball time travel hits your sweet spot, follow the show, share it with a fellow fan, and drop a review so more listeners can discover these stories.

Email us at fungosandfastballs@gmail.com

Transcript

Geddy Lee’s Baseball Obsession

Jerry 0:00

So, Brooke for Christmas this year, I of course got some fun baseball stuff, including one really enjoyable coffee table book.

Brooke 0:08

Just one book? You mean one large hardcover book that we're going to need to move when we retire? Oh, it won't take up that much room. Along with your hundred other books.

Jerry 0:21

Well, this one is a good one. I really enjoy the band Rush. I even saw them on their R40 tour, the last one with drummer Neil Peart before his passing. But I can't say that I'm a Rush Uber fan. So I did not know until last year about lead singer Geddy Lee's passion for baseball, and especially his passion for collecting signed baseballs. I even came across a video on YouTube, maybe we can reference it the notes, showing his extensive collection to reporter Dan Rather. Geddy even had so many baseballs, he made a donation in 2008 of 400 autograph baseball to the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City, Missouri, which, if you're ever in Kansas City, is a great visit. We went there three years ago. I want to read the opening paragraph of the book because it's a story like so many others in how people get into baseball. Baseball was in my bones long before music seriously started to divert my attention. As a kid in the 60s, I collected bubblegum cards with my school buddies, watched the New York Yankees beamed across the border from Buffalo TV stations, and took the streetcar downtown to watch the Maple Leaves, Toronto's AAA International League team, my first excursions independent of my parents. Then, after a decade-long sojourn during which I put everything I had into a fledgling band called Rush, I rediscovered my childhood passion while on the road at the dawn of cable television when the only things on during the day were soaps, quiz shows, infomercials, and courtesy of the two superstations, WGN Chicago and TBS Atlanta, baseball. And by the end of the 70s, I had the fever again. Two years after the Blue Jays were founded, I had my own season tickets, and if I were abroad on tour during the season, I'd do just about anything to keep on top of the game. I like this opening story because I think it echoes a lot of people's journeys into baseball. I was really into baseball as a kid and young teen, and then got away from the game for a while, watched pro football more, but uh really got back into it later.

Brooke 2:27

Yes, when we were early married, you didn't really watch any baseball that I recall until the MLB network came up and you could buy a subscription. And then somehow it seems every single night there's another Yankees baseball game on.

Jerry 2:42

Well, that's because there isn't another baseball game every night.

Brooke 2:46

They need more time off.

Jerry 2:48

Well, this book is a blast with photos of signed baseball in his collections and stories about the players who signed them and the balls themselves. In addition to the usual suspect, Babe Ruth, Hank Aaron, Randy Johnson, there's some really interesting autographed balls by folks like Frank Sinatra, President Eisenhower, and even all four Beatles signed at their Shea Stadium concert. Interestingly, he has one signed by Fidel Castro, who before leading the Communist Revolution in Cuba, was a left-handed intramural college and amateur pitcher.

Autograph Oddities And Anecdotes

Brooke 3:20

He even tells a story when he was asked to sing the Canadian national anthem uh at a Blue Jays game. And uh he said it wasn't the most successful, but he was honored to do it.

Jerry 3:31

I enjoy Geddy's falsetto, but I'm not sure he's competing with Whitney Houston's classic rendition. Well, I really enjoyed this gift. My copy actually has two of its bound pages upside down in the middle of the book. Uh knowing this is proof that yes, I did open the wrapper and read this book.

Brooke 3:49

So Geddy, note he did read the book if you want to come over and sign it.

Jerry 3:54

Yeah, Geddy. Well, maybe we should wrap this up with some rush song puns. You think Geddy organizes collection into subdivisions? Ugh. Did he use free will in buying his collection? How can I fit Tom Sawyer in a pun? All right, all right. Let's just start the episode.

Jerry 4:21

Hello and welcome to Fungos and Fastballs, the podcast of baseball history and trivia. I'm your host, Jerry Dynes, and each episode will be a snapshot into America's pastime. Maybe it'll be a player, a tradition, a stadium, a rule, or some random fun aspect of the game. So let's get on to today's topic.

Welcome To Fungos And Fastballs

Jerry 4:41

Today we're featuring Hall of Fame pitcher James Francis Galvin, or as he's better known as Pud Galvin. That's right, Pud. P-U-D. So many of you listeners might be asking, who's Pud Galvin?

Brooke 4:55

I certainly know I'm asking that question.

Jerry 4:58

Well, and some devoted fans of sports history may say, Hey, that pitcher from the 1800s. And all of those people might want to switch me off saying, no thanks, a little too far back in baseball history. But stick with me.

Brooke 5:10

Uh what choice do I have?

Why Pud Galvin Matters

Jerry 5:12

None. As we go over a foundational period in baseball and discuss a really interesting player. Granted, a player whose achievements were often forgotten early in the 20th century. Despite being one of the greatest pitchers of his era, he was not inducted into the Hall of Fame until 1965, over 60 years after his death. So going back, James Francis Galvin was born on Christmas Day in 1856 in Kerry Patch, then an Irish neighborhood in St. Louis, Missouri.

Brooke 5:42

Hey, that's where our daughter lives.

Jerry 5:44

And son-in-law.

Brooke 5:45

Who has recorded a podcast that's coming out next week.

Jerry 5:48

Yes, so stay tuned. Well, starting in St. Louis club baseball at age 17 in 1874, the next year he would play his first major league season for the hometown St. Louis Browns. And then the next six and a half years with the National League team, the Buffalo Bisons, he would pitch two no hitters in 1880 and 1884, one of the earliest pitchers to ever pitch two no hitters. From Buffalo, he would be traded to the Pittsburgh Alleghenies and eventually found himself on the Pittsburgh Burghers.

Brooke 6:19

Did you say the Burgers?

Career Journey And Nicknames

Jerry 6:21

Yeah, no, not like hamburgers. Oh, oh. Instead, the word spelled with an H, meaning middle-class townsman. Oh. Yeah. But not an H like Herghers, an H in the middle, like Burghers. So the Burghers were in the short-lived rivaled Players League, not the National League. This Players League developed because stars of baseball in the 18 in 1890 were discontent with pay. So, you know, they couldn't negotiate with other teams because of the reserve clause, uh, something that lasted in Major League Baseball until 1975. But the Players League only lasted one year, so all those players had to go back to the National League. And uh he went back to the Alleghenies in 1891, which now were named.

Brooke 7:09

Okay, let me think. So you said the Alleghenies were for Pittsburgh, so I'm gonna assume the Pirates?

Jerry 7:14

Yes, glad you read the script.

Brooke 7:16

Are there pirates in Pittsburgh, by the way?

Jerry 7:19

Yeah, they come across um what is that, the uh Lake Erie or something?

Jerry 7:25

So um, yes, the Pittsburgh Pirates, the name we recognize today. And after a couple of years with the Pirates, Pud would play his last major league season with the St. Louis Browns in 1892. Well, in an era of great baseball nicknames like Icebox Chamberlain and Cannonball Titcomb.

Brooke 7:44

Wait, did you say titcomb? That's pretty rough.

Jerry 7:48

It is, but I'm not sure I'd be excited with a nickname like Pud either. Good point. Now, Pud's nickname either came from his short pudgy body habitus, or that he made batters look like pudding, which if you can picture what that might look like.

Brooke 8:02

Uh is it chocolate, vanilla, or your favorite, banana pudding?

Jerry 8:06

No, my favorite's not banana. How long have we been married?

Brooke 8:09

It's not banana. No. Take away that anniversary present.

Rules Shift And Pitching Evolution

Jerry 8:14

What's the what's the pudding anniversary? The third anniversary? It's gotta be your wood. So while not settling for a single nickname, the press also called Pud the Little Steam Engine, or because of his personality, Gentle Jeems. Well, Galvin really excelled at a fascinating evolution of the position of pitcher. In the beginning of the 1880s, there were actually eight balls that constituted a walk. And as the decade progressed, it went from six balls to five balls, and by the decade's end, four balls that we know today. Now, can you imagine that as a pitcher? You come to work, nah, sorry, Bill. This year we're not using six balls, we're using five. And then a couple years later, no, you got to change your strategies. Now we're using four balls. So Pud had small hands, so he really couldn't throw a dominant curveball, but his fastball reportedly had really great control. In fact, retroactively calculated his career ERA was 2.85, which is just crazy considering he pitched 6,03 innings. Now I mentioned his ERA was retroactive because earned run average was not calculated until the 20th century, first by the National League in 1912. And we got to return to the ERA in a future episode, Brooke.

Brooke 9:30

Uh I'll add it to the notebook.

Record Book And Pickoff Legends

Jerry 9:32

The ever-growing notebook of topics. We'll need another shelf. Um, well, here are some fastballs, some rapid stats. Uh at the time of his retirement, he held the records for wins, inning pitches, and shutouts. As I said before, he pitched 6,03 innings, 646 complete games. That's only second to the career totals of Cy Young. Now, at that time, this was possible because he had two-man pitching rotations, not like the five-man rotations we have today. Uh, Pudd became the first 300-game winner in 1888. Uh, in total, he got 365 wins. So Galvin's 365 wins now stands fifth among the 24 players who are in that elite 300 win club. Uh, one through four are all earliest 20th century players. The number one is Cy Young, 511 wins, who passed Galvin in 1903. You got Walter Johnson, Grover Cleveland Alexander, Christy Mathewson. Now, by comparison, the most modern pitcher with the most wins is 355, Greg Maddox. And that's still 10 less than Galvin had. So he wasn't a great hitter, but Galvin was noted as a great defender, and he had this pickoff move, which apparently drew a lot of complaints from opposing players and managers because they claimed it looked like a balk.

Brooke 10:52

You know, I I don't know uh the balk. It's such a weird word to say, but I can barely see it once it gets called.

Jerry 11:00

They're subtle. They're subtle, they're very hard, and sometimes, you know, it's a lot of people.

Brooke 11:04

I have to watch that rerun.

PED Elixir And Late Recognition

Jerry 11:06

Produces a lot of fan anguish. Um but he'd start a motion towards third and then spin back quickly, catching opponents off first. Um again, he had that Patrick Mahomes quality. He could fire a ball at first without even looking, faking out runners. So a shout out to the Society for American Baseball Research for some good Galvin stories. Uh, in one game in 1886, he loaded the basis with three walks. But after doing that, he proceeded to pick the runners off at first, then third, then second. And then there was an 1887 game where Galvin's trash talking with White Sox player manager Cap Anson. Uh, that would be great if we had more inter team on the field, the pitchers just trash talking to the opposing dugout. I don't think Um's allowed that today, but uh, but you know, Galvin, you know, taunted Anson. He said, Hey, do you want to see me catch one of your men? You know, off at first. Um, Anson dared him to do it, so Galvin struts to the pitcher box, walks outfielder Jimmy Ryan on purpose, and then after Ryan arrived at first base, Galvin immediately picked him off. And uh, you know, Cap Anson was furious. Galvin splitting his side laughing, you know, after doing that. So funny story there. Well, Pudd died poor at age 45 in Pittsburgh. Uh after his career was over, he tried being a baseball umpire briefly, eventually wound up being a pipe layer, saloon owner. He had 11 children with jokes in the newspaper about being able to field his own team. Well, despite all these tremendous achievements I mentioned above, by the early 20th century he was really almost forgotten. He wasn't recognized into the Hall of Fame until decades later, 1965. He was eligible decades before that. But uh, you know, the baseball writers kept passing him over for multiple other players from the 19th century. Um, but Buffalo baseball historian and fan Joseph M. Overfield was instrumental in making the case for Galvin's Hall of Fame candidacy. And I love the fact that that's just a fan who just loves baseball history can really can really uh educate people about a great career.

Brooke 13:18

There's hope for you. That could be you one day.

Jerry 13:21

Who the fan or the player good.

Brooke 13:22

No, being Joseph Overfield. You can't be the player. Yeah, being the fan.

Jerry 13:26

I don't think I can be inducted.

Brooke 13:27

I'm no that's not gonna work.

Jerry 13:28

A little old.

Brooke 13:29

Maybe they'll have podcasters one day.

Jerry 13:31

You're right. Maybe as a podcaster, that would be true. Well, we're not done with Galvin yet. He actually hit the press this century when a 2006 NPR article referred to him as, quote, the first baseball player to be widely known for using a performance-enhancing substance. Gasp.

Jerry 13:51

Before an 1889 game, Galvin used Brown Sequard elixir, which contained monkey testosterone, and then subsequently pitched a two-hit shutout.

Brooke 14:02

Why why on earth would any person feel it was okay to put monkey testosterone in their body? I mean, how do they even get monkey testosterone? Are there like cages of monkeys waiting to have blood taken?

Jerry 14:16

Well, Brooke, I hate to burst your bubble and get into specifics, but let's just say it wasn't from the blood.

Brooke 14:21

Oh, creepy. Where was PETA back then?

Jerry 14:26

Well, there's really no evidence that Galvin used this over multiple games or just used it in that one game. Uh the guy who invented it, Charles Edouard Brown Succord, was a neurologist from the 1880s from Mauritius.

Brooke 14:40

Uh from Mauritius? Uh, where what state's that in? I don't recognize it.

Jerry 14:44

No, you have to go all the way to the other hemisphere, to the African nation in the Indian Ocean, where the Dodos once roamed free.

Brooke 14:51

Oh, that Mauritius.

Jerry 14:53

So Brown Sequard at age 72, late in his career, claimed that injecting extracts from animal testicles under the skin could rejuvenate sexual prowess.

Brooke 15:04

And so you digress.

Jerry 15:06

Well, subsequent research decades later found that Brown Sequard elixir was ineffective.

Brooke 15:12

Ineffective as a performance-enhancing substance or as an ED medicine? I think it's both. Oh. Well, if there are any uh sponsors out there, we'd be happy to talk to you who do ED stuff. I mean, I what's the one online? HIMS? HIMS. Hey, uh not that I can vouch for the product, but uh, we'd give you a shout-out.

Jerry 15:31

Yeah, now you're getting us off track.

Jerry 15:34

Well, contrasted with the idea of performance-enhancing drugs today, this generated absolutely zero controversy at the time. Actually, it got positive press in the Washington Post late 19th century article. It praised Galvin's performance in the newspaper. Well, this has been fun. That wraps up today's episode. A look back at the 1800s at a dominant pitcher and some fun facts and a really wacky nickname. Thanks for joining us, especially to Charlie down at the Used Record Store, who promised me he'd be listening. Hope you enjoyed. Hope you'll keep listening, and don't forget to like us and subscribe on your podcast platform. This is Jerry Dynes and Fungos and Fastballs.