R. Marquard Stand

Rube Marquard (1886–1980) was the lanky left-hander John McGraw paid $11,000 to pry out of Indianapolis in 1908, an unheard-of sum that bought the New York Giants one of the National League's most valuable arms of the next decade. A switch-hitter who threw left, Marquard ran off nineteen consecutive wins to open the 1912 season, a record still on the books, and went 26-11 that summer with a 2.57 ERA. The "Stand" pose is his T206 White Border card — the foundational 1909–1911 tobacco issue — depicting him in the upright posture of a pitcher waiting on a sign rather than coiled in his delivery. He pitched in five World Series across his Giants and Brooklyn Robins tenures, won 201 games over eighteen big-league seasons, and worked enough vaudeville bookings during the offseasons of his prime to remain a recognizable name long after his arm gave out. Marquard died June 1, 1980 in Baltimore. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1971 by the Veterans Committee.