Claude Hendrix
Tough he has popped up on some lists, pitcher Claude Hendrix was not formally banned from baseball. Still, he was a shadowy figure and is certainly surrounded by rumors.
Hendrix was a spitballer who hailed from the farming town of Olathe, Kansas, the son of a merchant. He was 23 in 1912, his first full season in the big leagues, when he had an incredible year—he led the league in winning percentage at 24-9, was eighth in ERA at 2.59 and second in strikeouts with 176. In 1913, though, he slipped to just 14-15 before bolting the major leagues to sign with Chicago of the outlaw Federal League in 1914. He was again terrific on that circuit, going 29-10 with a 1.69 ERA. But he was only so-so in 1915 for Charley Weeghman’s Whales, going 16-15.
Claude Hendrix warms up. (Photo courtesy of the Library of Congress.)
When Weeghman was allowed to buy the Cubs after the folding of the Federal League, Hendrix was one of the players the team kept. It looked like a bad decision when, in ’16, Hendrix went just 8-16 and followed that up with a 10-12 mark in ’17.
But ’18 was something of a return to glory for Hendrix, who was 29. Boosted by catcher Bill Killefer and helped further by an improved defense, Hendrix went 24-7, again leading the N.L. in winning percentage. Hendrix helped the Cubs race to the lead in the National League thanks to a seven-game winning streak, and the New York Times said of him, “Claude Hendrix blooms forth into a better pitching commodity than he has been for half a dozen years.”
Success, as always for Hendrix, was short-lived. Ostensibly because manager Fred Mitchell wanted to avoid sending right-handers to face Boston slugger Babe Ruth, he pitched just one inning in the 1918 World Series. In ’19, he fell back to 10-14 and appeared to be just about at the end of his career.
The Cubs did stick with Hendrix, though, for 1920—a fateful decision. It was on August 31, 1920 when Hendrix was slated to start against the Phillies that team president Bill Veeck received six telegrams warning him that the game had been fixed. Veeck ordered Hendrix benched, and when news of the incident went public, a grand jury was called in Cook County to investigate gambling in baseball. The grand jury never did delve very far into the allegations against the Cubs and Hendrix. But they did stumble onto the 1919 Black Sox fix and wound up keeping their focus there.
Hendrix was quietly released by the Cubs the following spring, with Veeck insisting that the move was simply based on ability, not gambling allegations.
