Pud Galvin: Baseball’s First 300-Game Winner

Despite his outstanding pitching record, James Francis “Pud” Galvin (1856–1902) was largely forgotten after his premature death. During his 18-year career with Pittsburgh, Buffalo and St. Louis, he was one of the best-paid players in the game—but died penniless. The diminutive hurler was the first to reach 300 wins (and only four pitchers have amassed more). A determined researcher documented Galvin’s record decades after his death and he was enshrined in the Hall of Fame in 1965 with 365 wins.
This book is the first comprehensive biography of Galvin and his use of a testosterone-based concoction—with eye-popping results—which earned him newfound attention as a pioneer of performance enhancing drugs.