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Our American Stories

Ray Caldwell: The MLB Pitcher Struck by Lightning Who Finished the Game

Our American Stories

iHeartPodcasts

Documentary, Society & Culture

4.6817 Ratings

🗓️ 17 September 2025

⏱️ 8 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

On this episode of Our American Stories, on August 24, 1919, Cleveland Indians pitcher Ray Caldwell made his debut at League Park before a crowd of 20,000. In the ninth inning, with victory in sight, lightning suddenly struck the field—and Caldwell himself. Fans thought he had been killed. Instead, moments later, he stood up, shook it off, and finished the game. It remains one of the most astonishing moments in Major League Baseball history. Nick Ragone, host of This Date in History, shares the story of how Ray Caldwell survived a lightning strike and kept pitching.

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Transcript

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0:00.0

This is an I-Heart podcast.

0:14.1

This is Lee Habib, and this is Our American Stories, the show where America is the star

0:20.1

and the American people. And to search for the Our American Stories podcast the show where America is the star and the American people.

0:22.5

And to search for The Our American Stories podcast, go to the Iheart Radio app or wherever you get your podcasts.

0:29.0

Our next story comes to us from Nick Ragon, host to the popular YouTube channel, This Date

0:34.2

and History with Nick Ragon. Ray Caldwell put on a Cleveland Indian uniform for the first time,

0:41.5

and none of the 20,000 fans at League Park had any idea

0:45.4

that they were about to see something that defies belief.

0:50.1

Let's take a listen.

0:51.8

If you're a baseball fan, you're probably familiar with the term electric stuff to describe a pitcher who was on top of his game.

0:58.4

Growing up in the 80s, it seemed like Dwight Good and Nolan Ryan, Roger Clemens, and other flame throwers had their electric stuff every night.

1:05.9

But what if I told you that the term actually originated in the early part of the 20th century?

1:10.6

That it wasn't really

1:11.6

used to describe a pitcher's throwing prowess, but rather traces its origins to one of the

1:16.4

strangest events in Major League Baseball history. Heck, one of the strangest events in sports

1:21.0

history. It was August 24th, 1919, by all accounts, an uncomfortably muggy day at League

1:27.2

Park in Cleveland.

1:28.7

The first place Indians were hosting the Philadelphia athletics in front of 20,000 fans.

1:33.6

They were excited to see their new pitcher, the journeyman Ray Caldwell, who was recently let

1:38.0

go by the Boston Red Sox.

1:40.2

Once upon a time, Caldwell had been regarded as a generational talent.

1:45.6

One of those guys with transcendent stuff that screamed can't miss potential. But years of hard drinking and erratic behavior

...

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