Nickname: "Hoosier Thunderbolt"

Born in 1871 in Mooresville and later passed away in 1942 in Seattle, Washington, he was without a doubt one of the best pitchers before the turn of the century. His ten-year career was with three teams. Indianapolis 1889, New York(NL) 1890-95, ‘97-98; and Cincinnati 1901. From 1889-1892 Rusie pitched from 45 feet. As a power pitcher, he and others like him caused the distance from the mound to home plate to be moved back to the modern distance of 60 feet 6 inches. The distance didn’t bother him. In 1893, the first year for the new distance, he set all-time single season records for games started(52), complete games(50), and innings pitched(482), and the following year he won 36 games. In his first six seasons he led the league in strikeouts five times, but he also led the league in bases on balls from 1890-1904. After pitching in 53 games in 1895 he wanted more money and sat out the ’96 season because the Giants wouldn’t increase his $6 per inning. When the Giants dropped to sixth in the standings they decided to meet his demands and paid him $5,000. Opposing players were talking about getting up a "Rusie Fund" to get him not to pitch. When the Giants wouldn’t increase his salary he chose to set out again, this time for two years. He was traded for Christy Mathewson, considered to be one of the worst trades ever made. The Giants got a future Hall of Famer and the Reds received a pitcher closing out his career. In 1977 he was selected to the National Hall of Fame.