Spotlight on "Chief" Charles Bender
The Man Who Invented The Slider
Not all ancient mythobaseballogical heroes were batters. Not by any means. Just as many were pitchers. Forged of steel, these men faced constant danger, stress, injury, sudden defeat, and the short tempers of pitching coaches, in whose hands their fates rested. Although batters can rest through much of a game (especially bad ones who never have to run past first) pitchers never get much rest (especially bad ones who never get anyone out). What’s interesting to me is that several of these pitchers were Native American. Charlie Yellow Horse was the only full-blood major leaguer known to history, and his story is recorded in 60 feet 6 inches, and a long way from home.” Allie Reynolds, who pitched a no hitter for the Yankees, was another of Native American descent. But my favorite Native American pitcher will probably always be Charles Bender, who (along with people like Louis Sockalexis) helped break the color line in baseball in 1903, thirty years before Hank Greenberg and half a century before Jackie Robinson. He took some heat, but he also dished out some heat from the mound, the temperature of which has been compared to Walter Johnson’s. Although he considered the nickname the whole world called him; “Chief,” unflattering, he would respond by saying quietly, “My name is Charles.”
Born in Crow Wing County, Minnesota in 1884, this early 20th Century Chippewa baseball player, Charles Bender, pitched his way into the Hall of Fame at Cooperstown, and is easily considered one of the all-time greats. As a league leading pitcher who was not bad at the plate, he may well have been a sports hero to the young Babe Ruth. (Bender had 6 homers lifetime in the dead ball era plus 40 doubles, 10 triples, and smacked 243 total hits) Many teams at that time scouted the reservation diamonds for great athletes even before they went to college. Lots of them made it into the majors; and in many cases, their native origins were hidden from the public, but not Bender. He was proud to be Chippewa and America loved him.
How popular was he? When he faced off with Christy Mathewson in the first seven-game World Series in 1905 it established a crowd attendance record at a whopping 24,187. He pitched a five hitter but lost 2 to 0 in that one. He faced Mathewson once again in the opening game of the 1911 World Series, and established yet another attendance record, a historic 38,281. (Both were at the Giants’ Polo Grounds. Mathewson facing anyone else always drew less) Again he pitched a five hitter but lost, this time 2 to 1. That attendance figure was only broken once before 1922, and that was the day Ruth started for Boston in the 1916 World Series, at home. It was broken again, but just barely in ‘22 (38,551) in the “no-subway” series where both teams called the Polo Grounds their home. The next year, Yankee Stadium was opened as the first big “stadium,” and a whole new era began, starring Babe Ruth. But Ruth grew up following pitching masterpieces by Charles Bender on the radio.
He started out at the Carlisle Indian School in 1898 to 1901, playing football and baseball in the Jim Thorpe days. As a college kid at Dickinson College he played semi-pro ball under the name Charles Albert with the Harrisburg Athletic Club to pay his bills. The Chicago Cubs faced his ragtag club in an exhibition game in 1902, and when the 18 year old “Indianboy” beat them soundly, it sent shock waves throughout baseball. He signed with the hot-pitching Philadelphia A’s at 19 (1903) and started 33 games. He won 17 and pitched 270 innings. He went on to win over 200 games and led the A’s to five World Series contests, contributing to four World Series championships, and winning six World Series games.
Charles Bender did not get angry when people called ridiculed him or used racist taunts. He just called them “foreigners.” The outspoken and tough Connie Mack, who described Bender as the best “must-win” pitcher he’d ever managed, (he managed Lefty Grove, I might add, and a lot of other Hall of Famers) respectfully called him “Albert,” his middle name. Eddie Collins believed Bender, on a good day, to be just as fast as Walter Johnson. Ty Cobb called Bender “the brainiest pitcher he’d ever faced.” History knows him as the inventor of the slider, which is a combination curve and fastball, used by every top pitcher today--most of them learned it from someone who learned it from Bender--who was also one of baseball’s greatest pitching coaches for 35 years.
The slider is one of the greatest gifts to baseball any individual ever offered, perhaps the greatest besides Ruth and the long ball. Today it is part of an esoteric oral tradition among pitchers, a difficult pitch to throw correctly, or to control, but which can change the outcome of a game or even a season when mastered.
In the annals of history, there is from time to time a moment when a new invention upsets the delicate balance of power in the world, such as the bow and arrow, the stirrup, the crossbow, the Gatlin gun, the atomic bomb, etc. Baseball has always been a game that thrived on these delicate balances. The day Bender first used the slider on an opposing team, it threw all baseball a curve which it has never recovered from. Bender first tried it in a game against the Cleveland Indians May on 12th, 1910, and the results were historic. He was unhittable! It turned out to be his only no-hitter, but it was probably one of the most historic games ever pitched, kind of like The Little Big Horn, like Hiroshima, or any battle where a new weapon is unveiled. Some called it ‘The Nickel Curve,” due to the fact that the face on the nickel at that time bore a resemblance to Sitting Bull, not the worst insult under the circumstances. That day changed the face of baseball, and that’s no bull. Some believe the tradition of platooning lefties and righties against pitchers of opposite “hands” stems from the aftermath of that day on the mound. The slider seems to give unequal trouble to opposite-handed hitters. Today, fully half of most team’s rosters can hit left handed, even though lefties make up 10% of the general population.
Bender kept his ERA under 2.00 for three straight years, from 1908 to 1910. In 1910, 1911,. and 1914, he led the league in win-loss percentage in an era of great pitching, 23-5, 17-5, and 17-3 respectively.
1910 was his greatest season, winning 23 games (including the no-hitter) and allowing only 182 hits and 47 walks in 250 inning, with a 1.58 ERA. The aspiring pitcher Babe Ruth was 15 years old at that time and had to have seen Bender play. Ruth followed in his footsteps but never got his ERA that low) He won the opening game of the World Series that year, throwing a one-hitter through 8 innings against the 104-win Cubs. (They’d actually won 530 games in five years) The stunned Cubs managed two more singles in the ninth, but the A’s won, and went on to win the Series.
In 1911, he pitched a five-hitter to open the Series, but lost to Mathewson. Bender won 4-2 in game four, and then pitched a four-hitter to win the final game for the A’s, 13-2, and their second straight World Championship.
In 1913, the A’s other veteran starters were injured, so Bender pioneered in the art of relief pitching to help the subs out, a science still in its infancy then. He won 6 out of the bullpen, 21 games in all, and lost only 10, marking up 13 saves. The 34 victories he contributed to helped the A’s to the pennant in a tight three way race. Bender won two World Series games that year against the Giants, who went down in five. To give you a rough idea of how unusual relief pitching was in those days, of the 112 starting pitchers in all 56 of the World Series games played up to that point in history, a total of only 33 had needed relief pitchers. Bender was a starter again in the Series, but fortunately, the A’s didn’t need any relief, winning in five games. (The use of relievers didn’t really become popular until the 1940’s.)
In 1914, he had another great year, and pitched in the World Series against the Braves, but the A’s were swept in four games. It turned out to be his last year in the American League.
He pitched the only American League win in the first regulation World Series, a masterful 4 hit shutout over the famed McGinnity of the Giants. His 20 strikeouts in a World Series record in 1911 was unbroken until 1945,when Newhauser hurled 22 for Detroit, but in a full seven games. (His six game record still stands as far as I know) Interestingly, Bender pitched against the Giants in the 1913 World Series, the year that Native American and fellow Algonkian speaker, Jim Thorpe, played outfield for the Giants, but Thorpe never appeared at the plate. Apparently he had other things to do...like professional football.
Bender became an oil painter and lived until 1954, just long enough to see his inevitable entry into the Hall of Fame in 1953. Like most of his victories on the field, his life seemed to come to completion with a satisfying resolution, a standing ovation, and a fulfilling sense of accomplishment for a job well done.
Not all ancient mythobaseballogical heroes were batters. Not by any means. Just as many were pitchers. Forged of steel, these men faced constant danger, stress, injury, sudden defeat, and the short tempers of pitching coaches, in whose hands their fates rested. Although batters can rest through much of a game (especially bad ones who never have to run past first) pitchers never get much rest (especially bad ones who never get anyone out). What’s interesting to me is that several of these pitchers were Native American. Charlie Yellow Horse was the only full-blood major leaguer known to history, and his story is recorded in 60 feet 6 inches, and a long way from home.” Allie Reynolds, who pitched a no hitter for the Yankees, was another of Native American descent. But my favorite Native American pitcher will probably always be Charles Bender, who (along with people like Louis Sockalexis) helped break the color line in baseball in 1903, thirty years before Hank Greenberg and half a century before Jackie Robinson. He took some heat, but he also dished out some heat from the mound, the temperature of which has been compared to Walter Johnson’s. Although he considered the nickname the whole world called him; “Chief,” unflattering, he would respond by saying quietly, “My name is Charles.”
Born in Crow Wing County, Minnesota in 1884, this early 20th Century Chippewa baseball player, Charles Bender, pitched his way into the Hall of Fame at Cooperstown, and is easily considered one of the all-time greats. As a league leading pitcher who was not bad at the plate, he may well have been a sports hero to the young Babe Ruth. (Bender had 6 homers lifetime in the dead ball era plus 40 doubles, 10 triples, and smacked 243 total hits) Many teams at that time scouted the reservation diamonds for great athletes even before they went to college. Lots of them made it into the majors; and in many cases, their native origins were hidden from the public, but not Bender. He was proud to be Chippewa and America loved him.
How popular was he? When he faced off with Christy Mathewson in the first seven-game World Series in 1905 it established a crowd attendance record at a whopping 24,187. He pitched a five hitter but lost 2 to 0 in that one. He faced Mathewson once again in the opening game of the 1911 World Series, and established yet another attendance record, a historic 38,281. (Both were at the Giants’ Polo Grounds. Mathewson facing anyone else always drew less) Again he pitched a five hitter but lost, this time 2 to 1. That attendance figure was only broken once before 1922, and that was the day Ruth started for Boston in the 1916 World Series, at home. It was broken again, but just barely in ‘22 (38,551) in the “no-subway” series where both teams called the Polo Grounds their home. The next year, Yankee Stadium was opened as the first big “stadium,” and a whole new era began, starring Babe Ruth. But Ruth grew up following pitching masterpieces by Charles Bender on the radio.
He started out at the Carlisle Indian School in 1898 to 1901, playing football and baseball in the Jim Thorpe days. As a college kid at Dickinson College he played semi-pro ball under the name Charles Albert with the Harrisburg Athletic Club to pay his bills. The Chicago Cubs faced his ragtag club in an exhibition game in 1902, and when the 18 year old “Indianboy” beat them soundly, it sent shock waves throughout baseball. He signed with the hot-pitching Philadelphia A’s at 19 (1903) and started 33 games. He won 17 and pitched 270 innings. He went on to win over 200 games and led the A’s to five World Series contests, contributing to four World Series championships, and winning six World Series games.
Charles Bender did not get angry when people called ridiculed him or used racist taunts. He just called them “foreigners.” The outspoken and tough Connie Mack, who described Bender as the best “must-win” pitcher he’d ever managed, (he managed Lefty Grove, I might add, and a lot of other Hall of Famers) respectfully called him “Albert,” his middle name. Eddie Collins believed Bender, on a good day, to be just as fast as Walter Johnson. Ty Cobb called Bender “the brainiest pitcher he’d ever faced.” History knows him as the inventor of the slider, which is a combination curve and fastball, used by every top pitcher today--most of them learned it from someone who learned it from Bender--who was also one of baseball’s greatest pitching coaches for 35 years.
The slider is one of the greatest gifts to baseball any individual ever offered, perhaps the greatest besides Ruth and the long ball. Today it is part of an esoteric oral tradition among pitchers, a difficult pitch to throw correctly, or to control, but which can change the outcome of a game or even a season when mastered.
In the annals of history, there is from time to time a moment when a new invention upsets the delicate balance of power in the world, such as the bow and arrow, the stirrup, the crossbow, the Gatlin gun, the atomic bomb, etc. Baseball has always been a game that thrived on these delicate balances. The day Bender first used the slider on an opposing team, it threw all baseball a curve which it has never recovered from. Bender first tried it in a game against the Cleveland Indians May on 12th, 1910, and the results were historic. He was unhittable! It turned out to be his only no-hitter, but it was probably one of the most historic games ever pitched, kind of like The Little Big Horn, like Hiroshima, or any battle where a new weapon is unveiled. Some called it ‘The Nickel Curve,” due to the fact that the face on the nickel at that time bore a resemblance to Sitting Bull, not the worst insult under the circumstances. That day changed the face of baseball, and that’s no bull. Some believe the tradition of platooning lefties and righties against pitchers of opposite “hands” stems from the aftermath of that day on the mound. The slider seems to give unequal trouble to opposite-handed hitters. Today, fully half of most team’s rosters can hit left handed, even though lefties make up 10% of the general population.
Bender kept his ERA under 2.00 for three straight years, from 1908 to 1910. In 1910, 1911,. and 1914, he led the league in win-loss percentage in an era of great pitching, 23-5, 17-5, and 17-3 respectively.
1910 was his greatest season, winning 23 games (including the no-hitter) and allowing only 182 hits and 47 walks in 250 inning, with a 1.58 ERA. The aspiring pitcher Babe Ruth was 15 years old at that time and had to have seen Bender play. Ruth followed in his footsteps but never got his ERA that low) He won the opening game of the World Series that year, throwing a one-hitter through 8 innings against the 104-win Cubs. (They’d actually won 530 games in five years) The stunned Cubs managed two more singles in the ninth, but the A’s won, and went on to win the Series.
In 1911, he pitched a five-hitter to open the Series, but lost to Mathewson. Bender won 4-2 in game four, and then pitched a four-hitter to win the final game for the A’s, 13-2, and their second straight World Championship.
In 1913, the A’s other veteran starters were injured, so Bender pioneered in the art of relief pitching to help the subs out, a science still in its infancy then. He won 6 out of the bullpen, 21 games in all, and lost only 10, marking up 13 saves. The 34 victories he contributed to helped the A’s to the pennant in a tight three way race. Bender won two World Series games that year against the Giants, who went down in five. To give you a rough idea of how unusual relief pitching was in those days, of the 112 starting pitchers in all 56 of the World Series games played up to that point in history, a total of only 33 had needed relief pitchers. Bender was a starter again in the Series, but fortunately, the A’s didn’t need any relief, winning in five games. (The use of relievers didn’t really become popular until the 1940’s.)
In 1914, he had another great year, and pitched in the World Series against the Braves, but the A’s were swept in four games. It turned out to be his last year in the American League.
He pitched the only American League win in the first regulation World Series, a masterful 4 hit shutout over the famed McGinnity of the Giants. His 20 strikeouts in a World Series record in 1911 was unbroken until 1945,when Newhauser hurled 22 for Detroit, but in a full seven games. (His six game record still stands as far as I know) Interestingly, Bender pitched against the Giants in the 1913 World Series, the year that Native American and fellow Algonkian speaker, Jim Thorpe, played outfield for the Giants, but Thorpe never appeared at the plate. Apparently he had other things to do...like professional football.
Bender became an oil painter and lived until 1954, just long enough to see his inevitable entry into the Hall of Fame in 1953. Like most of his victories on the field, his life seemed to come to completion with a satisfying resolution, a standing ovation, and a fulfilling sense of accomplishment for a job well done.
posted by evan pritchard | 3:09 PM
1 Comments:
Evan: Thanks much for your article,I found it extremely interesting and I appreciate the many details you provided. I am somewhat surprised that Mr. Bender does not get the attention he respectfully deserves for his creation of the slider pitch.
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