Rube Parnham

Imagine thousands have seen you pitch to Babe Ruth, pitch against Walter Johnson, and play alongside Honus Wagner.1 Now they see you as an alcoholic, living on the streets, begging for handouts, and sleeping in doorways. Below you will follow the tale of James “Rube” Parnham, from his days with Connie Mack, to the minor league dynasty that was the Baltimore Orioles, to his tragic ending on the streets of McKeesport, Pennsylvania.

James Arthur Parnham was born on February 1, 1894, to James Arthur Parnham (1861-1934) and his wife Lucy (née Hallam, 1862-1929), immigrants from Derbyshire, England.2 His father, a coal miner, settled in the town of Heidelberg, Pennsylvania, seven miles southwest of Pittsburgh, the town of Rube’s birth. His known siblings, Albert (1891-1960), Blanche (1897-1986), and William (1900-1987), rounded out the Parnham family.

The Parnhams also lived in other coal mining towns such as Monongahela City and Shire Oaks. To get out of the harsh environment of the coal mines, the elder James Parnham purchased a hotel and tavern at Second Street and Saint Clair Avenue in the town of Clairton, about 15 miles southeast of Pittsburgh.

Home life for the children was difficult and turbulent: both James and Lucy were alcoholics.3 Scuffles with the law were common, and at one point James tried to have Lucy committed to an institution. James alleged that his wife was addicted to the use of alcoholic drinks, while Lucy alleged that he abused and mistreated her.4

The younger James first gathered newsprint mention playing for the Clairton team in July 1912.5 In 1913, Parnham won the deciding championship game of the Monongahela Valley League as his Clairton team defeated Large, 8-0. “The features of the game was (sic) the heavy hitting of Clairton and the pitching of Jim Parnham,” the Pittsburgh Gazette Times reported.6

The fully grown Parnham was lanky (6-foot-3, 185 pounds). He was a right-handed thrower and hitter. After a tryout with the Pittsburgh Pirates, he signed with the Huntingdon Blue Sox of the Class D Ohio State League.7 The first record of his pitching professionally came in a May 3, 1914, box score of a game against the Ironton Nailers.8 When the Huntington team disbanded on July 22, he returned to Clairton.9 That year Parnham married local sweetheart Mathilda Schneider. On November 11, she gave birth to daughter Dorothy.

In 1915, Parnham joined the roster of the Raleigh Capitals in the Class D North Carolina State League, playing under skipper Earle Mack. In 42 games, he went 9-15, tossing 223 innings. The first discovered appearance of the moniker Rube appeared in June when the Raleigh News and Observer exclaimed, “Hurrah for ‘Rube’ Parnham.”10

Parnham started 1916 in spring training with the American League’s Philadelphia Athletics.11 In early April, he headed back to Raleigh. On July 7, Parnham was traded straight-up for Joe McManus of the Durham Bulls. After his first start for Durham, the local press declared that “Rube is a rare bird among pitchers of this league, as he proved yesterday by holding the visitors to six hits.”12 For both NCSL teams combined, Parnham won 17 games against 19 losses. A workhorse, he amassed 294 innings in 51 games.

The 1916 Philadelphia Athletics were arguably the Deadball Era’s worst major league team, heading for a record of 36–117. Trying to shore up his pitching staff with young arms, Connie Mack took a chance on Parnham. On September 8, the A’s purchased him from Durham for $1,000.13

On September 20, 1916, Rube Parnham made his major league debut against the White Sox at Chicago’s Comiskey Park. He entered in the sixth inning in relief of Socks Seibold. The first batter he faced, Shoeless Joe Jackson, hit a sacrifice fly to right allowing Eddie Collins to score. An unsuccessful attempt to steal home by Buck Weaver then closed the frame. In the top of the seventh, Parnham got his first major league base hit against right-hander Reb Russell, later scoring on a double by Amos Strunk. The A’s eventually lost the game, 8-7. Parnham (who didn’t get the decision) tossed 2 2/3 innings, giving up one run on two hits, and striking out one.

Parnham gained his first big league win on September 30 against the Washington Senators at Shibe Park, going the distance despite giving up nine runs (seven earned) in a 10-9 A’s victory. During his brief late-season audition, Parnham went 2-1 with eight strikeouts in 24 2/3 innings over four games. His command was erratic: he issued 13 walks along with 27 hits. At the plate, Rube batted .273 (3-for-11).

Ahead of the 1917 season; Mathilda Parnham gave birth to daughter Blanche on February 5. Parnham’s first appearance of the regular season came at Shibe Park on April 19 against the Red Sox. In a 12-inning game, he went the first eight innings and received a no-decision in the 4-3 A’s victory. Rube then went unused for the next six weeks, lost in the welter of pitching hopefuls assembled by Mack.

On June 5, Parnham was optioned to the Baltimore Orioles of the Class AA International League. Given regular work by skipper Jack Dunn, he posted a handsome 16-9 record, with a 2.95 ERA in 244 innings.14 On September 17, Parnham was recalled by the Mackmen and given a start against Cleveland a week later.15 Yanked after three innings with the A’s trailing 3-0, Parnham took the loss in the eventual 5-4 setback. He saw no further game action.

In January 1918, Philadelphia sent Parnham to Baltimore to complete a multi-player trade.16 The deal brought his brief major league career to a close. In six games spread over two seasons, Parnham logged a 2-2 record, with a 4.04 ERA in 35 2/3 innings pitched. He surrendered 39 hits and 22 walks while striking out 12 batters. Offensively, in 14 at-bats Parnham got three hits (.214 BA), with a run scored and an RBI. With the glove, he committed no errors in 17 chances.

Before the 1918 season began, Baltimore sold Parnham to the Louisville Colonels of the Class AA American Association.17 After one brief appearance for the Colonels on May 27,18 Parnham was shipped back to Baltimore the following day.19

On June 15, Parnham threw – and won – both ends of a doubleheader against Buffalo, by scores of 8-5 and 10-4.20 He closed out 1918 with 22 wins against 10 losses, and led IL righty pitchers in strikeouts with 138.21 With the stick Parnham delivered three home runs and batted .248 (32-for-129). Thereafter, on November 19, the Parnham family welcomed the birth of daughter Florence.

Back with the Orioles in 1919, in another ironman performance, Parnham won both ends of a twin bill against the Rochester Colts.22 For the season Parnham produced 28 wins against 12 defeats with 187 strikeouts. He encored at the plate, going .247 (36-for-146) with four round-trippers. Meanwhile, the Orioles initiated one of minor league baseball’s greatest dynasties, winning the first of seven consecutive International League crowns with a record of 100-49.

Parnham staged a brief holdout in 1920, informing Dunn that he might not play ball in the coming season. Unfazed, Dunn declared “that the elongated hurler will be more than willing to take his turn in the box during the 1920 campaign.”23 Dunn’s words rang true, as Parnham reported on April 1.24 However, despite a few attempts to get the season underway, Parnham was unable to deliver. In June he announced that he was ready but remained troubled by a sore arm.25 In early July, Dunn suspended Parnham without pay until he regained form.26 Parnham returned to the hill against Akron on July 15.27 Thereafter, he saw only intermittent action, going 5-0 with a 2.88 ERA in 15 appearances overall.

The Orioles managed nicely without Parnham, winning 109 games and defeating the St. Paul Saints of the American Association for the minor league championship. Back on the domestic front, the Parnhams welcomed son James on November 20, 1920.

As the 1921 season unfolded, Parnham was a no-show. Thereafter, reports of his imminent return surfaced, including the telegram placed on Dunn’s desk in June informing the boss “that he would be on hand Monday.”28 Finally, in September Parnham wrote teammate Jack Bentley, lamenting, “I have been sick and haven’t done a thing since last January.” He continues, “I am sorry I couldn’t play this year, but next year is another one.”29 Meanwhile, the Orioles, led by future Hall of Famer Lefty Grove and Jack Ogden, won 117 games. They took another IL championship but lost to Louisville in the Little World Series.30

In early May 1922, Parnham left the team to return to his home in Clairton, initially with Dunn’s permission, but thereafter AWOL.31 He eventually returned in mid-May, only to disappear again in early June.32 He returned a week later from Clairton, explaining, implausibly, that he needed to tend to the crops on his farm.33 The Parnham residence on Park Avenue was no larger than a normal city lot. Then in August, Rube claimed that his home had been damaged in a fire and that he needed to be with his family.34

Notwithstanding such absences, Parnham appeared in 36 games that year, winning 16. He also hit .315 (34-for-108) and walloped a career-high six home runs as the Orioles captured another IL crown with a record of 116-51 and went on to defeat St. Paul in the 1922 Little World Series.35

After a spring training holdout, Parnham signed in mid-April 1923.36 That year, he was arguably as good as any pitcher in professional baseball could ever hope to be. He won 33 games – including 20 straight – with just seven losses (.825).

During a rare 9-4 loss to Buffalo on July 9, an odd episode took place. Parnham, backing up a play at the plate, watched the ball roll to his feet without making an attempt to stop three Bisons from scoring. He then “tossed his glove at the ball in rage, and behaved like a spoiled child” when manager Dunn yanked him from the box.37 However, Parnham soon resumed his winning ways.

On Sunday, September 16, Parnham took to the mound and won his 31st game and 18th in a row.38 But prior to his next scheduled start on September 20, he abandoned the team. On the last day of the season, the eccentric right-hander reappeared; with Dunn’s approval he tossed both ends of the twin bill. Parnham and the Orioles swept, with scores of 5-1 and 13-0.

That season, Parnham established the following baseball records: his 20 straight victories eclipsed teammate Jack Ogden’s 18. Parnham also broke the mark of 19 consecutive wins posted by big leaguers Tim Keefe and Rube Marquard, while his 33-win season catapulted him past the previous IL record of 32, held by both Ogden and Rube Vickers.39 Baltimore rolled over the competition with a record of 111-53 in 1923 to clinch their fifth consecutive league championship. However, they lost to the AA’s Kansas City Blues in the Little World Series.

After that magical season, Parnham’s baseball career entered a downward spiral that paralleled reversals in his everyday life. He failed to report to spring training in 1924 but joined the team as the season was about to begin. He managed to win his first two games, giving him 22 consecutive victories. That professional baseball record lasted until 1937, when New York Giants ace Carl Hubbell went on to win 24 straight.

In early May, Parnham telephoned Dunn to report that he was back home tending to a daughter who had suffered a broken arm, and that he would rejoin the team in Buffalo.40 Two days later, he called Dunn with a change of plans, saying that he would meet up with the team in Toronto. After there were no Parnham sightings by May 10, Dunn suspended the hurler.41 When Parnham reappeared a week later, Dunn advised him he would not be paid until he won a game.42 The next day Parnham went the distance in a 5-4 Oriole victory.

Returning from an off-day fishing trip on the night of August 11, Parnham and teammates Lew McCarty and Frank Kane were involved in a serious automobile accident on Annapolis Boulevard. Parnham suffered a lacerated scalp, a bruised left arm, and a spinal bruise. McCarty also had a lacerated scalp, while Kane suffered torn ligaments in his right hip.43

Parnham returned to the club in mid-September and finished the campaign with a 6-5 record in 18 games. The Orioles claimed yet another IL championship with a 117-48 record but again failed to capture the Little World Series, defeated by the St. Paul Saints.

Much like in 1921, Parnham was a no-show for the 1925 season. Instead he decided to stay home and play semipro ball for local nines.44 Pitching for the Duquesne Lilacs, he was defeated by the  Homestead Grays (then an independent Black barnstorming outfit) on April 29. The Grays beat him again on May 20 when Parnham pitched for the local Charleroi team. Retired Pirates great Honus Wagner’s Carnegie Elks team retained Parnham’s services for a Fourth of July contest in Baltimore against the Black Sox. Parnham lost, 4-3.45

At the end of December 1925, Parnham was promised a spot on the Baltimore roster if he rejoined the Orioles in training camp for the upcoming season.46 As camp opened, Parnham was a no-show, but manager Dunn was not surprised – “he felt all along that Rube would not go South.”47 Parnham eventually reported for duty in early April and was issued a uniform.48 He lasted until July 22 before being suspended. Dunn explained, “Impossible to stand Parnham any longer. He has broken training rules five times on this trip, and yesterday wouldn’t run when he hit the ball, so I suspended him for ten days and fined him heavy.”49

Upon his return, Parnham tossed a one-hitter, the only hit being a dribbler down the third base line that appeared to be foul but was declared fair by the umpires, whom Parnham had been baiting.50 One month later Parnham was suspended again for “failing to get into his uniform” and was sent home.51 In what was his final season in Baltimore, he went 13-7 with a 5.05 ERA in 187 innings pitched. In December, he was sold to the Milwaukee Brewers of the American Association.

In April 1927, Parnham refused to report to Milwaukee and was remanded to Baltimore.52 On May 26, he was sold to an IL rival, the Reading Keystones.53 On June 12, Parnham made his debut for the Keystones and was tagged for 11 hits in a 6-2 loss.54 His failures continued, and on July 24 Parnham was traded even-up to the rival Newark Bears for Nelson “Chicken” Hawks. When news of the trade was announced, a Reading daily opined, “Reading is believed to have obtained the best of the deal, as Parnham has won only one game out of nine in which he worked.”55

In early September, Parnham was suspended by Bears manager Jack Egan, who indicated that Parnham had been up to his old “pranks” and insinuated that Rube had gone off to indulge in his “temperamental inclinations.” This is the first discovered explicit accusation of Parnham imbibing alcohol (though one could infer as much from Dunn’s prior allusion to breaking training rules).56 In an inspired Parnham piece from 1997 entitled “A Monument in the Dark,” Baltimore Sun sportswriter James Bready related that “Rube, in his rattletrap roadster, liked to tour the speaks of Baltimore.”57

The suspension ended Parnham’s professional baseball career. In his final season, he posted a combined 2-8 record over 16 games in 75 innings pitched. Baseball Reference shows that Parnham had a collective professional record of 150-77 (.660). He threw 1,440.2 innings over 306 games. At the plate he was quite respectable for a pitcher, hitting .242 (221-for-913), including 24 home runs.

Parnham returned home to play for a local team called Duffy in McKeesport. In a Pittsburgh Press tribute article from July 26, 1933, he reflected on his career as he got ready to pitch for that club. The accompanying photo shows Parnham instructing a young boy how to pitch. That boy is his son James.58

James Parnham Jr. was a star pitcher and basketball player for McKeesport High School. A friend and high school rival was Stan Musial from neighboring Donora, Pennsylvania. In 1939, James Jr. was offered a scholarship to play on the hardwood for St. John’s in New York. Sad to relate, his father pocketed all of his college money, thus ending any chance he had for career in basketball. As a pitcher, James Jr. caught on with the McKeesport Little Braves/Oil City Oilers of the Class D Pennsylvania State Association in 1940.59 In 1941, he was signed by the Hutchinson (Kansas) Pirates of the Class C Western Association.60 After a tour of duty in the South Pacific during World War II, James pitched for the Marines at Cherry Point, North Carolina, once winning both ends of a doubleheader, like his father before him.

Mathilda Parnham was granted a divorce in April 1940.61 Rube spent the next two decades living on the streets of McKeesport, sleeping in doorways and panhandling.62 He was arrested numerous times for drunkenness,63 vagrancy, and disturbing the peace.64 He also had toes amputated due to frostbite.65 His children tried many times to reach out, only to be disappointed when Parnham took advantage of their generosity.

In 1957, Parnham was elected to the International League Hall of Fame.

On November 25, 1963, James Arthur “Rube” Parnham was found slumped over the hood of a car on Fifth Avenue in McKeesport, the result of a coronary occlusion. He was pronounced dead at McKeesport Hospital.66 The deceased was 69. A local funeral home took care of the costs associated with Parnham’s burial at Mount Vernon Cemetery in Elizabeth, Pennsylvania. In that small cemetery, just over the ridge is the gravesite of William Ford, a one-time Boston Bees pitcher.

His grandson James related that when he and his father went to identify his remains, Rube’s only possessions were a nail clipper, a key, and the clothes on his back. Orioles teammate Fritz Maisel once reflected: “I’ve told Rube to his face he was the smartest pitcher I ever saw-when he wanted to be. I’ve also told him that, off the diamond, he was one of the dumbest.”67

Acknowledgments

This biography was reviewed by Bill Lamb and Rory Costello and fact-checked by Dan Schoenholz.

Photo credit

1923 Baltimore Sun press photograph. Original in the possession of the author.

Sources

In addition to the sources shown in the Notes, the author used the following:

Phone interview and mail correspondence with James Albert Parnham (grandson).

Email correspondence with Karen Mellinger-Poorman (granddaughter).

Phone interview with Christopher Bready, son of Baltimore Sun writer James Bready.

Find A Grave; https://www.findagrave.com/

Retrosheet; https://www.retrosheet.org/

Baseball Reference; https://www.baseball-reference.com/

Ancestry: https://www.ancestry.com/

Newspapers: http://www.newspapers.com/

Email correspondence from Giamatti Research Center, National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum.

Damer, Edward, Thirty-Three in Twenty-Three; The World of Rube Parnham and Other Baseball Stories, Kindle Direct Publishing, 3d ed., 2022.

Notes

1 Parnham faced Walter Johnson in an exhibition game on September 29, 1919. He faced Babe Ruth in an exhibition game on Apri 21, 1919. Parnham teamed up with Honus Wagner in an exhibition game against the Baltimore Black Sox on July 4, 1925.

2 James Parnham in the Derbyshire, England, Church of England Marriages and Banns, 1754-1932, Ancestry.

3 “Snags Encountered by License Applicants,” Pittsburgh Post, March 24, 1909: 8.

4 “Says Wife Drinks: Wants Her Sent To Insane Asylum,” Pittsburg Press, September 30, 1910: 24.

5 “Big Week At Large,” Pittsburg Press, July 14, 1912: Sporting Section 5.

6 “Clairton Wins Title,” Pittsburgh Gazette Times, September 14, 1913: 18.

7 Paul Kurtz, “‘Rube’ Parnham Set World Record Decades Ago, Still ‘Loves To Pitch,’” Pittsburgh Press, July 26, 1933: 22.

8 “Seven Hurlers Used,” Cincinnati Enquirer, May 4, 1914: 8.

9 “Almost a Shutout,” Pittsburg Press, July 19, 1914: 20.

10 “Diamond Dust,” Raleigh (North Carolina) News and Observer, June 17, 1915: 3.

11 “Raleigh Pitchers To Join Athletics’ Squad,” Raleigh (North Carolina) News and Observer, February 22, 1916: 7.

12 “Rube Parnham Won for Bulls,” Durham (North Carolina) Morning Herald, July 9, 1916: 2.

13 “Carolina League Players Purchased,” Durham Morning Herald, September 8, 1916: 3.

14 “Orioles Get Pitcher,” Washington (DC) Herald, June 5, 1917: 8.

15 “Eight Stars To Join Mack’s Athletics,” Philadelphia Evening Ledger, September 17, 1917: 12.

16 C. Starr Matthews, “Knabe Signs with Cubs,” Baltimore Sun, January 17, 1918: 8.

17 C. Starr Matthews, “Dunn Will Benefit,” Baltimore Sun, March 24, 1918: 24.

18 “Many Errors Prove Costly,” Louisville Courier-Journal, May 28, 1918: 6.

19 “Dunn Gets Rube Parnham,” Baltimore Sun, May 29, 1918: 7.

20 “Rube Parnham Twirls Orioles to Double Victory,” Baltimore Sun, June 16, 1918: 24.

21 “Random Notes on Current Sports,” Toronto Daily Star, December 10, 1918: 22.

22 “Parnham Does an Iron-Man Stunt Against Rochester Colts,” Baltimore Sun, August 17, 1919: 27.

23 “Jack Dunn and His Orioles Leave Tuesday Night for Camp,” Baltimore Sun, March 14, 1920: 29.

24 “Rube Parnham Reports,” Baltimore Sun, April 2, 1920: 9.

25 Omar Khayyam, “Majors Are Willing, But Jack Dunn Is Not,” Baltimore Evening Sun, June 5, 1920: 9.

26 Omar Khayyam, “Orioles and Barons Open Series Today,” Baltimore Evening Sun, July 3, 1920: 9.

27 “Orioles Run into Street-Car Strike,” Baltimore Evening Sun, July 16, 1920: 20.

28 “Parnham Comes Monday,” Baltimore Evening Sun, June 4, 1921: 8.

29 “Today,” Baltimore Evening Sun, September 23, 1921: 26.

30 “Louisville Captures Little World Series,” Paterson (New Jersey) Morning Call, October 18, 1921: 3.

31 “Rube Parnham Home; Manager Dunn Is Sore,” Baltimore Sun, May 5, 1922: 10.

32 “Returning To Flock on Scheduled Time,” Baltimore Evening Sun, June 9, 1922: 26.

33 “Jack Bentley To Face Colts This Afternoon,” Baltimore Sun, June 11, 1922: 17.

34 “Birds Plan To Stage Benefit Contest for Rube Parnham,” Baltimore Sun, August 15, 1922: 10.

35 “Baltimore Wins Final Series Clash,” Wilmington (Delaware) Morning News, October 16, 1922: 6.

36 “Parnham Signs,” Baltimore Evening Sun, April 13, 1923: 33.

37 “Colts Are Back on Top Rung,” Baltimore Sun, July 10, 1923: 11.

38 “Parnham Equals Ints. Record Capturing 18th Straight,” Baltimore Sun, September 17, 1923: 10.

39 Don Riley, “Twirler’s Work Enables Team To Shatter Four Old Performances,” Baltimore Sun, September 24, 1923: 20.

40 Don Riley, “Telephone Call from Parnham,” Baltimore Sun, May 3, 1924: 13.

41 Fred Turbyville, “Orioles Need Rube Parnham and Groves for Series with George Stallings’ Men,” Baltimore Evening Sun, May 10, 1924: 9.

42 Don Riley, “Weather Again Halts Contest,” Baltimore Sun, May 15, 1924: 14.

43 “3 Oriole Ball Players Hurt in Auto Crash,” Baltimore Sun, August 12, 1924: 24.

44 Fred Alger, “Periscoping the Independents,” Pittsburgh Post, April 12, 1925: 29.

45 “Sox Twice Trim Carnegie Elks,” Baltimore Sun, July 5, 1925: P1, S2, 2.

46 Jesse A. Linthicum, “Rube To Rejoin Oriole Squad in Spring,” Baltimore Sun, December 24, 1925: 11.

47 C. Edward Sparrow, “Dunn in Quest of Eighth Flag,” Baltimore Sun, February 21, 1926: 15.

48 “Braves’ Game Snowed Under as Rube Parnham Reports,” Baltimore Sun, April 7, 1926: 14.

49 “Heat Wave in Syracuse,” Baltimore Evening Sun, July 22, 1926: 29.

50 “Flock Boosts Lead for Flag,” Baltimore Sun, August 1, 1926: 21.

51 “Parnham Is Suspended,” Baltimore Sun, August 23, 1926: 8.

52 Randall Cassell, “’No Place for Parnham Here,’ Says Dunn,” Baltimore Evening Sun, April 20, 1927: 29.

53 “Bought by Keys,” Reading (Pennsylvania) Times, May 27, 1927: 16.

54 Shandy Hill, “Parnham Making His First Start, Nicked for Eleven Safe Hits,” Reading Times, June 13, 1927: 15.

55 Shandy Hill, “Chicken Hawks, Bear First Sacker, Comes to Reading in Trade,” Reading Times, July 25, 1927: 11.

56 “Parnham Suspended,” Brooklyn Daily Eagle, September 11, 1927: 42.

57 James Bready, “A Monument in the Dark,” Baltimore Sun, June 6, 1997: 29A.

58  Kurtz, “‘Rube’ Parnham Set World Record Decades Ago,” above.

59 “McKeesport Players Drill for Penn State Lidlifter,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, May 3, 1940: 15.

60 “Hutchinson To Depend on Brand-New Pitching Force,” St. Joseph Gazette (Missouri), April 29, 1941: 9.

61 “Divorce Proceedings,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, April 25, 1940: 12.

62 “Minister Intervenes for Ex-Baseball Star,” Pittsburgh Press, April 28, 1941: 7.

63 “Rube Parnham in Jail Here,” Pittsburgh Sun-Telegraph, February 5, 1939: 26.

64 “Parnham Jailed, Lesko To Rescue,” Pittsburgh Sun-Telegraph, August 21, 1940: 20.

65 “Parnham in Hospital,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, March 24, 1949: 16.

66 “Ex-Major Leaguer, Rube Parnham, Dies,” Pittsburgh Press, November 26, 1963: 25.

67 Fritz Maisel, “I Remember… ‘The Smartest Dumbest Pitcher I Ever Saw,’” Baltimore Sun, March 14, 1965: Sunday Sun Magazine, 2.