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Our American Stories

The MLB Pitcher Who Survived a Lightning Strike and Finished the Game

Our American Stories

iHeartPodcasts

Society & Culture, Documentary

4.6817 Ratings

🗓️ 24 March 2025

⏱️ 8 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

On this episode of Our American Stories, Ray Caldwell put on a Cleveland Indians uniform for the first time that fateful day—and none of the 20,000 fans at League Park had any idea they were about to witness something beyond belief. We'd like to thank Nick Ragone, host of the popular YouTube channel This Date in History with Nick Ragone, for sharing this incredible story with us.

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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 and the American people.

0:22.4

And to search for the Our American Stories podcast, go to the Iheart Radio app or wherever you

0:27.4

get your podcasts.

0:29.0

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

0:34.2

and History with Nick Ragon.

0:36.6

Ray Caldwell put on a Cleveland Indian uniform for the first time

0:41.0

and none of the 20,000 fans at League Park

0:44.3

at any idea that they were about to see something that defies belief.

0:50.0

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.

0:58.3

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

1:05.8

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

1:10.8

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

1:16.3

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

1:22.4

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

1:37.7

let 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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