In 1907 Harry Delano pitched and won a doubleheader for West Paris to capture the annual Oxford fair tournament earning $5 in the process. Forty three years later, on the same field in an old-timer’s game, he ended his illustrious pitching career. He received some hand shakes for his final effort, but no pay.
In the intervening years, Oxford’s Delano pitched over 1,200 games and his arm was still in shape at the end, his legs had gone. Opponents were bunting him to death.
Tall and wiry, Delano supposedly could eat a ton without gaining a pound. His eating prowess did get him into a bit of trouble in his only major league tryout with the Chicago White Sox in 1910.
He ate a small steak, two eggs, home fries, loads of toast and four glasses of milk at a Chicago restaurant.
When the waiter brought the bill to the rawboned youth he nearly hit the ceiling.
Delano, a homebody, didn’t last long in Chicago, but was sent to the minors at Dubuque for three years.
A mastoid operation before Dubuque and his indifference to the pro baseball way of life once there spelled the end for Delano. He never tried out for the majors again.
Instead he was a prime mover in starting his own league—the Pine Tree League.
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