Arthur Bradsher: Difference between revisions

'''Arthur Brown Bradsher''' (January 10, 1883 – January 27, 1951) was a [[college baseball]] player and [[tobacco]] businessman. He was a left-handed [[pitcher]] for the Trinity College (now [[Duke University]]) [[Duke Blue Devils baseball|baseball]] team in the [[Deadball Era]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://trinity.duke.edu/about/our-history|title=Our History - Trinity College of Arts & Sciences|website=trinity.duke.edu|access-date=2018-02-07|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180201142924/https://trinity.duke.edu/about/our-history|archive-date=2018-02-01|url-status=dead}}</ref> Bradsher was most notable for his 582 [[Strikeout|strikeoutsstrikeout]]s, 15 [[Shutout|shutoutsshutout]]s, and five [[Nono-hitter|no-hitters]]s achieved during his college career between 1901 and 1905.

Bradsher was born on January 17, 1883, in [[Roxboro, North Carolina]]. His father Charles E. Bradsher was a [[physician|doctor]], and died when Arthur was just four years old.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://files.usgwarchives.net/nc/person/bios/brdshr06.txt|title=A History of the Bradsher Family|author=Eugenia Bradsher}}</ref> His mother Nancy Malone married O. T. Carver after Charles died.

Bradsher attended Trinity College from 1901 to 19041905 and graduated [[Latin honors|cum laude]]. He received his master's degree in 1905. His thesis was entitled "Growing tobacco in the State of North Carolina."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HaVIAQAAMAAJ&pg=RA4-PA124|title=Annual Catalogue of Trinity College (Durham, N.C.).|first=Trinity College (Durham|last=N.C.)|date=1901|page=124|publisher=Trinity College|via=Google Books}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books/about/The_Manufacture_of_Tobacco_in_North_Caro.html?id=FB5FnQEACAAJ|title=The Manufacture of Tobacco in North Carolina|first=Arthur Brown|last=Bradsher|date=15 July 2018|publisher=Historical Society of Trinity College|via=Google Books}}</ref> He was a member of [[Alpha Tau Omega]].

In 1903, Bradsher was the principal founder of the Tombs, one of the strongest organizations on the Trinity/Duke campus from 1903 to 1942.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/8851735/arthur_bradsher_one_of_the_founders_of/|work=Durham Morning Herald|date=April 7, 1922|page=9|accessdateaccess-date=July 15, 2018|via=[[Newspapers.com]]|title=Tombs Staged A Dinner Last Night}} {{Open access}}</ref> Its purpose was to promote Varsity and intramural athletics and to improve team sportsmanship and school spirit. Another objective was to firmly cement relations between Trinity and other schools in the field of sports. The Tombs morphed into the Varsity Club in 1945. It combined the strengths from both organizations. Bradsher returned to the campus often to council the Tombs organization.<ref name="duarFeb1951">{{cite magazine |title=Arthur Bradsher, '04, Great Trinity Pitcher, Dies |url=https://archive.org/stream/dukealumniregist371951#page/43/mode/1up |magazine=Duke University Alumni Register |location=Durham, N.C. |date=February 1951 |page=43}}</ref>

His pitching record for his sophomore season was 7–2–1. In the 4–4 tie against [[Mercer Bears|Mercer]] he was called on for the only relief appearance of his career. He pitched six perfect no-hit innings striking out twelve Mercer batters. The game was called for darkness after twelve innings. Bradsher also led the Trinity team with a ,.354 [[batting average (baseball)|batting average]] in 1903.

After beginning the [[1904 Trinity Blue and White baseball team|1904 season]] pitching two no-hitters and on his way to a third, Bradsher took himself out with a cut finger in the eighth inning against Guilford.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/21877618/the_Durham_Sun/|work=The Durham Sun|date=May 11, 1904|page=4|accessdateaccess-date=July 15, 2018|title=Trinity Turns The Trick|via=[[Newspapers.com]]}} {{Open access}}</ref> He threw with pinpoint control and led Trinity to the 1904 [[Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association]] (SIAA) championship.. Bradsher won 13 games and lost only one while recording a 0.73 [[Earned run average|ERA]]. His [[Walks plus hits per inning pitched|WHIP]] average was 0.395. The four [[Base on balls|walks]] in 129 innings and in fourteen complete games is a record that still stands.

In [[1905 Trinity Blue and White baseball team|1905]], Bradsher missed a [[Perfect game (baseball)|perfect game]] against [[Mercer Bears|Mercer]] due to a miscue by his [[shortstop]] in the second inning of his no-hit, no walk, ten inning performance.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/5605518/the_miracle_at_mercer_arthur_bradsher/|title=A Long Tie Game At Macon|page=9|date=April 8, 1905|work=Atlanta Constitution|accessdateaccess-date=July 15, 2018|via=[[Newspapers.com]]}} {{Open access}}</ref> His twenty-two strikeouts in the game was a record that stood until 1965.{{CnCitation needed|date=July 2018}} The game of the year was the loss to [[1905 Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets baseball team|Georgia Tech]] and pitcher [[Craig Day]] (dubbed "the greatest game played in Dixie" until the [[1908 Nashville vs. New Orleans baseball game|1908 Nashville-New Orleans game]]).

[[John Heisman]] nicknamed Bradsher “King of the Southern Diamond.”<ref>{{Harvnb|Spence|1954|page=33}}</ref> Heisman chose Bradsher as his premier player and [[Captain (sports)|captain]] for his [[1905 College Baseball All-Southern Team|All-Southern team]]. Heisman was quoted in the ''[[The Atlanta Journal-Constitution|Atlanta Constitution]]'': “This young man is beyond all questioning the most prominent player of the season. With most extraordinary ability as pitcher, he combines the advantages of being a good batter and base runner...And, I would have him captain of my team. He has the bearing of a gentleman, the forbearance of a true sportsman, and the ideal temperament of the fighting athlete, ever determined, never dismayed, always strong with a persistent smile to help out. As a captain, he would be a credit and ornament to any team.”<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/5807179/heisman_picks_his_1905_all_southern/|page=3|title=All-Southern Team 1905 Selected by J. W. Heisman|date=June 4, 1905|accessdateaccess-date=July 15, 2018|via=[[Newspapers.com]]|work=Atlanta Constitution}} {{Open access}}</ref>

Bradsher holds 11 single season Duke pitching records: Most strikeouts in a single season (171), most wins in a single season (13), most innings pitched in a season (134), most games started (14), most complete games in a season (14), least hits given up per 9 innings (2.34), least walks per 9 innings (0.29), strikeout to walk ratio (42.75), whip (0.395), shutouts (5), and lowest ERA (0.0746). He holds nine career pitching records: Career games started (58), career wins (42), complete games (56), innings pitched (513), fewest hits per 9 innings (4.28), most career strikeouts (586), most career shutouts (15), most years lettered in a single sport (5) and most years serving as a team captain (3).<ref>{{Harvnb|Duke University|2018|pages=86-8986–89}}</ref> Bradsher has been added to the 2020 ballot for the Duke University Athletics Hall of Fame.<ref>Duke University Hall of Fame Committee Art Chase</ref>

On August 29, 1907, Bradsher married Elizabeth Chadwick Muse.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://virginiachronicle.com/cgi-bin/virginia?a=d&d=TD19070902.1.3|date=September 2, 1907|work=Times Dispatch|title=Popular College Athlete Marries|page=3}}</ref>. Four of their five children attended Duke University, His oldest son Charles was a chemistry professor at Duke for forty-five years. Twenty family members and descendants attended Duke University. A novel based on Bradsher, "King of the Southern Diamond" is scheduled to be published in mid-summer 2019.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://arthurbradsher.com/ |title=King of the Southern Diamond - Baseball, Duke University |access-date=2022-06-25 |archive-date=2021-12-05 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211205192234/https://arthurbradsher.com/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>

After graduation from Trinity College, it was reported by Ted Mann, the publicist for Duke University, that Bradsher turned down an offer to play professional baseball in the amount of $10,000.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/8994469/arthur_bradsher_the_king_of_the/|work=The Daily Tribune|title=King of Diamond Declined Pro Bid|page=10|date=May 2, 1951|accessdateaccess-date=July 15, 2018|via=[[Newspapers.com]]}} {{Open access}}</ref> That would have been the highest price ever offered a player coming out of college.{{CnCitation needed|date=July 2018}} Instead he accepted a job in the tobacco industry, with American Tobacco Company.

In 1945, Bradsher retired from his position as Vicevice Presidentpresident, at [[Imperial Brands|Imperial Tobacco in Montreal, Canada]], to his 100-acre farm, Summerlea on the [[Neuse River]] near [[New Bern, North Carolina]].<ref>Duke University Alumni Register. Durham, N.C. February 1951. p. 43.</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://digital.library.mcgill.ca/hrcorpreports/pdfs/I/Imperial_Tobacco_Company_of_Canada_1940.pdf|title=Annual Report of Imperial Tobacco Company of Canada, Limited|year=1940}}</ref>

*{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BhhNAAAAYAAJ|title="I Remember": Recollections and Reminiscences of Alma Mater|year=1954|last=Spence|first=Hersey Everett|publisher=Seeman Printery|ref=harv}}

*{{cite book|url=http://www.goduke.com/fls/4200/stats/2017-18/baseball/MediaGuide_2018_Duke_Baseball.pdf?&SPSID=22847&SPID=1850&DB_LANG=C&DB_OEM_ID=4200|author=Duke University|title= Duke University Baseball Media Guide|year=2018|ref=harv}}

*{{findagravefind a Grave|74912088}}

[[Category:BusinesspeopleAmerican businesspeople in the tobacco industry]]