Dupee Shaw
| Dupee Shaw | |||
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| Pitcher | |||
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Born: May 31, 1859 Charlestown, Massachusetts |
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Died: January 12, 1938 (aged 78) Wakefield, Massachusetts |
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| MLB debut | |||
| June 18, 1883, for the Detroit Wolverines | |||
| Last MLB appearance | |||
| July 17, 1888, for the Washington Nationals | |||
| MLB statistics | |||
| Win–loss record | 83–121 | ||
| Earned run average | 3.10 | ||
| Strikeouts | 950 | ||
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| Career highlights and awards | |||
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There have been long-fought and dangerous disputes about the exact number of motions through which Shaw puts himself before delivering the ball. One man claimed thirty-two, holding that he had counted them. An attempt to give all of them would be foolish. A few will be enough. When Shaw first lays his hands on the sphere he looks at it. Then he rolls it around a few times. Then he sticks out one leg; pulls it back and shoves the other behind him. Now he makes three or four rapid steps in the box. While he does all this he holds the ball in his left hand. After he has swapped it to his right he wipes his left on his breeches, changes the ball to the left again and pumps the air with both arms. Then he gets down to work and digs up the ground with his right foot. Then you think he is going to pitch. But he isn't. He starts in and reverses the programme and does it over again three or four times, and just as the audience sits back in the seats with a sigh, the ball flies out like a streak. Nobody knows how it left his hand, but it did.
Frederick Lander "Dupee" Shaw (May 31, 1859 – January 12, 1938), also sometimes known as "Wizard," was a professional baseball player from 1883 to 1896. He played six seasons of Major League Baseball as a left-handed pitcher for the Detroit Wolverines (1883–1884), Boston Reds (1884), Providence Grays (1885), and Washington Nationals (1886–1888). Shaw won 30 games in 1884 and 23 in 1885, but never won more than 13 games in any other season and lost 33 games in 1884 and 31 in 1886. He compiled a career record of 83–121 with a 3.10 earned run average (ERA).
Shaw had an unusual windmill delivery and claimed to have been the first pitcher to use a wind-up before throwing the ball. Some attributed his success in striking out batters to his confusing delivery. He once struck out the great slugger, Orator Shafer, five times in a single game, and in 1884, he struck out 451 batters, a total that remains the fourth highest total in major league history. He also holds the major league record for the most strikeouts, 18, in a game as the losing pitcher. He also pitched a no-hitter on October 7, 1885, though the game has not qualified as an official no-hitter since 1991 because it lasted only five innings.
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