Fred Toney

Fred Toney (December 11, 1888 – March 11, 1953) was an American right-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball for the Chicago Cubs, Cincinnati Reds, New York Giants and St. Louis Cardinals from 1911 to 1923. His career record was 139 wins, 102 losses, and a 2.69 earned run average. Toney twice won 20 games in a season (1917, 1920) and also led the National League in saves in 1918.

Career Minor leagues

Fred Toney was born in Nashville, Tennessee, on December 11, 1888. As a youth he reportedly developed arm strength while working on a farm, using his spare time to throw rocks across the Cumberland River.

Toney broke into baseball in 1909, when he began pitching in the Blue Grass League, a newly formed circuit of semi-professional baseball clubs based in small Kentucky towns. While pitching for the Winchester Hustlers, Toney was spotted by Chicago Cubs scout George Huff, who signed him to a contract.

Rookie year

Toney made his major league debut in 1911, following an appearance in an exhibition game against the University of Notre Dame in which he faced nine batters and struck out six. One sports journalist wrote of the rookie:

"Toney is from Tennessee, and he looks the part. He is long, lean, and as strong as some of the squirrel whiskey they make in the mountains of said state. What he did to the collegians was sinful." He did not learn how to throw an overhand curveball until the spring of 1911, when he developed the pitch in Cubs training camp.

Before he pitched a single major league game, Cubs team officials heralded the 6'2" Toney as a future star in the making. Club treasurer Charlie Williams said of the big rookie:

"I believe that Toney will prove to be the sensation in the National League the coming season. He shows up well so far and has all the earmarks of a great pitcher.... He is modest and as cool as a veteran when he is on the slab. His size is a great advantage to him, and he has speed enough to keep all the batters guessing, even if he had nothing else with it. I have been more impressed with the work of Toney than any young pitcher that has broken into the game with the Cubs for years." Pitching on a windy day in front of 15,000 fans, Toney struggled with his control, giving up two extra-base hits and a walk before being lifted in the bottom of the third inning.

On July 1, 1917, Toney pitched two complete-game, three-hitters for victories in a doubleheader against the Pittsburgh Pirates, to set a record for fewest hits allowed in a double header by a Major League pitcher.

Toney also holds the record for the longest no-hitter in organized baseball history.

Legal Challenges

In January 1919, Toney, was acquitted of charges of evading the Selective Service Act, but also pleaded guilty to traveling with a woman in violation of the Mann Act, whom he falsely claimed was his wife, from Louisville, Kentucky to Cincinnati, Ohio where they lived together while he played for the Cincinnati Reds. He was sentenced to four months in jail.

Toney also later testified before the grand jury investigating the Black Sox Scandal that former teammeate Heinie Zimmerman offered him a bribe to a throw a game against the Cubs.