This past Christmas I received a great gift, The Ballplayers: Baseball's Ultimate Biographical Reference. It's filled with about every player who has played in the major leagues. The best thing I have found in The Ballplayers is the random guys that had very little impact on the game but they still put them in there.Since it is spring training and baseball season is around the corner I thought on days that I am a little scatter brained or have nothing of interest to say I'll give you one of the guys I have found. If you know of one of these kinds of players with a weird background post a comment and I'll try to add them in.
Charles "Lady" Baldwin played from 1884-90 for Detroit (NL), Brooklyn, Buffalo (PL). 1017 innings, 33-41, 2.85 ERAIn 1886, his one outstanding ML season, the Detroit ace led the NL with seven shutouts, tied for the league lead with 42 wins and ranked secon in strikeouts (323). Teammates gave him his odd nickname because he didn't smoke, curse, or join then in drinking bouts.
