Ned Garvin

Pitcher

Born: January 1, 1874
Navasota, Texas

Died: June 16, 1908 (aged 34)
Fresno, California

Batted: Unknown

Threw: Right

MLB debut

July 13, 1896, for the Philadelphia Phillies

Last MLB appearance

September 16, 1904, for the New York Highlanders

MLB statistics

Win–loss record

57–97

Earned run average

2.72

Strikeouts

612

Teams

Virgil Lee Garvin (January 1, 1874 – June 16, 1908), nicknamed "The Navasota Tarantula", was a pitcher in Major League Baseball (MLB). He pitched in 181 games with six teams from 1896 to 1904. Garvin was known for his bad luck as a pitcher; he had a strong career earned run average (ERA) of 2.72, but his win–loss record (57–97) suffered because he played on poorly performing teams. He was known for throwing a pitch that made an atypical curve as it approached the batter.

Off the field, Garvin was prone to fighting and excessive drinking, and Garvin's behavior led to the end of his MLB career in 1904. Over the course of his career, he was implicated in the assaults of a team traveling secretary and an insurance salesman, the shooting of a saloonkeeper and the attempted murder of a black man at a barber shop. Garvin died of tuberculosis less than four years after his last major league appearance.

Garvin was born in Navasota, Texas. He entered professional baseball in 1895 with a Texas League team in Sherman, Texas. After playing for part of the next year with a minor league team in New Haven, Connecticut, Garvin made his major league debut with the Philadelphia Phillies in 1896. He returned to the minor leagues with a team in Reading, Pennsylvania, where he played in 1897 and 1898.

Near the beginning of the 20th century, Garvin developed an unusual pitch that curved in the opposite direction of the typical curveball thrown by a right-handed pitcher. Garvin's long fingers allowed him to hold the ball with a unique grip. Sportswriter Hugh Fullerton described the pitch, writing that "the ball appeared to be moving with great speed. As it came near the batter the ball seemed to hesitate in the air and then suddenly curve down and in, just as a left hander's slow curve does. The ball was a freak. Garvin did not understand its full worth and it remained for [pitcher Christy Mathewson] to develop and use it intelligently."

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