Arthur Bradsher: Difference between revisions

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>

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.{{Cn|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>

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.{{Cn|date=July 2018}} Instead he accepted a job in the tobacco industry, with American Tobacco Company.

*{{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}}