JAMES "HIPPO" VAUGHN

By Robert Nishihara

Stats from www.baseball-reference.com

It's funny how nicknames work. They are most commonly associated with a physical characteristic of the person in question. But they can occasionally be intentionally opposite of that (i.e., calling a short person "Stretch" or a heavy-set person "Slim", etc.). They can be derived from some sort of word play with the person's first or last name. They can even be so obscure that only those closest to the person know how the nickname originally came to be.

And they can be funny.  Or endearing.  Or cruel.

So, when a person is nicknamed "Hippo", you have to figure that the nickname is leaning significantly toward the cruel side. And it must be increasingly maddening to the so-nicknamed person when they are well-known enough to merit discussion in public circles and the nickname makes the public rounds stuck to them like stink on a skunk.

So, it was for James "Hippo" Vaughn, star pitcher for the Chicago Cubs in the 1910's and 1920's. Cruelly nicknamed or not, James Vaughn was a large man. Listed in many historical baseball sources at 6-feet-4, 215 pounds, Vaughn is estimated to have played a good part of his career 20-30 pounds heavier than that and possibly edged much closer to 300 pounds than 200 at the close of his career.  (Though it has also been noted that Vaughn earned the nicknamed by the ambling, shuffling way he ran and walked, the recognition factor (or lack thereof) of a hippopotamus and its running motion would seem to strike a far less familiar chord with most than its substantial girth.)

However, at whatever weight, Vaughn could pitch. A hard-throwing lefty with a variety of impressive pitches at his disposal, Vaughn began his major league career in 1908 with the then-New York Highlanders (they would become the Yankees five years later). However, the 20-year old Vaughn would only take the briefest sip from his initial cup of major league "coffee". He pitched a grand total of 2 1/3 innings in for the Highlanders in 1908.

In 1910, however, he was finally given his big league break. Starting 25 games (appearing in 30 games in total), Vaughn won 13 games and finished the season with an impressive 1.83 ERA.  And the Highlanders jumped from 5th to 2nd.  Vaughn had promise, and the Highlanders were on the move.

In 1911, things stalled for both team and pitcher.  Vaughn's ERA jumped to 4.39, his record an unimpressive 8-10, and the team slumped to 6th.  In 1912, everything bottomed out.  And Vaughn hit bottom before his team.  His 2-8 record and 5.14 ERA prompted his release en route to the Highlanders' 50-102 record and last place finish.  Even though 2nd place Washington claimed Vaughn off waivers, he was essentially an aging prospect struggling to impress skeptical suitors.  Although Vaughn did well (4-3 record with a 2.89 ERA in 81 innings), he didn't return the following  season with Washington.

Instead, the floundering 25-year-old lefty finally got the right break at the right time, and his baseball life was changed forever.  The Chicago Cubs acquired the hard-throwing lefty, and he merely went on to become one of the most successful left-handed pitchers in franchise history.

In 1914, Vaughn's first full season with the Cubs, he went 21-13 with a 2.05 ERA.  The following season, he reached the 20-win mark again, going 20-12 with a 2.87 ERA.  Although Vaughn's win total dipped to 17 in 1916, he established a career-high with 294 innings pitched, and he was quickly developing a reputation as a pitcher who could assume a serious workload.

In 1917, a lot of things happened to Vaughn, not the least of which was a day that would forever change his baseball legacy.   For the season, he returned to the 20-win mark with a 23-13 record and a 2.01 ERA.  His 295 2/3 innings were again a career-high.  And, perhaps, that is what the Highlanders and Senators failed to understand about Vaughn.  The more he threw a baseball, the better he got.

And on May 2, 1917, James Vaughn's life and the way history would remember him would never be the same.  The Cubs and Cincinnati Reds played a game like no other that day.  Vaughn and Cincinnati starter Fred Toney began to record outs.  3, 6, 9 at a time.  By the ninth inning, each man had yet to give up a hit to the opposition.  It was, in fact, not just a no-hit ballgame, but a DOUBLE no-hitter.

The baseball gods rarely smile on a single pitcher long enough for him to completely stifle the opposition for an entire game.  That they would do so for two pitchers in the same game for as long as they did in that spring afternoon in 1917 was a wrinkle of the fabric of the baseball universe.  And it was quickly ironed out.

After retiring 28 Cincinnati hitters without yielding a hit, Vaughn finally allowed a one-out base hit in the 10th to Reds shortstop Larry Kopf.  Hal Chase followed with a liner dropped by outfielder Cy Williams, leaving runners on second and third.  Gold-medal Olympic decathlete, turned major league outfielder, Jim Thorpe hit a slow roller to the third base side of the mound, and Vaughn tried to make a play on Kopf dashing home.  But the defensive decision surprised catcher Art Wilson, and the throw bounced away from him, allowing Kopf to score.

And with that, the baseball gods cast Vaughn away for Toney.  It was Fred Toney who finished with the no-hitter (after setting the Cubs down in order in the bottom half of the 10th) and the victory.  And it was Vaughn who was forced to face the short end of the most unique single-game stick in baseball history.

But that historic setback didn't seem to slow down Vaughn's ability to continue to get hitters out.  In 1918, he finally led the Cubs to the edge of a championship title.  He went 22-10 with an impressive 1.74 ERA.  In fact, Vaughn led the NL in several categories that season: Wins, ERA, Strikeouts, Innings Pitched, and Shutouts.  Had there been a Cy Young Award available in 1918, Vaughn undoubtedly would have taken home the honor in the NL.  As it was, the Cubs won the NL Pennant by double-digits (10 1ˇ2 games in front of the 2nd place New York Giants).  In the World Series, Vaughn continued his spectacular run by completing all three of his starts in the Series and allowing only three earned runs in the process (a 1.00 ERA).  His highlight came in Game 5 when he tossed a five-hit shutout.  Unfortunately, his efforts went for naught.   Chicago's opponent, the Boston Red Sox, sported a pitching ace of their own, a burly young lefthander named George Herman Ruth.  Ruth won both of his starts in the Series, outdueling Vaughn in the opener, 1-0.  Boston righthander Carl Mays (he of the tragic Ray Chapman incident in 1920) provided the knockout punch by winning both of his starts, including the decisive Game 6.

Vaughn continued his winning ways in 1919, going 21-14 with a 1.79 ERA and again the leading the NL in strikeouts.  It was his fifth 20-win season in the previous six years for the Cubs.  The team, however, did not follow suit, dropping to 3rd in the NL standings.  (In 1919, of course, events just across town from Vaughn and his Cubs teammates were taking place that would change the game forever.  Imagine for a moment if it had been the Cubs and not the Cincinnati Reds who faced off against the White Sox in the 1919 Series, talk about palace intrigue!) 

In 1920, Vaughn "slipped" to 19-16 with a 2.54 ERA, throwing 301 innings.  It was the fifth season in a row that Vaughn had topped the 295-inning mark and his second straight 300-plus inning workload.  And all of those innings seemed to take their toll physically.  In 1921, Vaughn, now 33-years-old, didn't seem to have anything in the tank.  He labored through just over 100 innings, going a miserable 3-11 with an equally miserable 6.01 ERA.

And with that, James "Hippo" Vaughn was shown the major league door.  However, the big man from Weatherford, Texas did leave the game with 178 major league victories, a 2.49 career ERA, and 41 shutouts.  He also left behind the unforgettable duel he had with Fred Toney that was ultimately decided by a swinging bunt.

Not bad for guy nicknamed after a hippopotamus.

Online References:
Baseball Library - Fred Toney Baseball Library - Double No Hitter