Nap Rucker

Who was Nap Rucker?

George Napoleon "Nap" Rucker was a left-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball for the Brooklyn Superbas/Dodgers/Robins. He was born in Crabapple, Georgia.

Rucker threw a no-hitter against the Boston Doves on September 5, 1908 . He led the National League in complete games, innings pitched, and shutouts in 1910. His best year was 1911, when he won 22 games for the Dodgers. He holds the Brooklyn Dodgers record for the most shutouts in the National League; most strikeouts in a regulation nine-inning game, and the most 1-0 shutouts in a 154-game season. He became strictly a knuckleball pitcher when his speed declined.

After his baseball career, Rucker went on to a successful business career, and served as mayor of Roswell from 1935 to 1936, and as the city's water commissioner after his mayoral term. Rucker was inducted into the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame in 1967. Rucker died in Alpharetta, Georgia in 1970 and was interred in the Presbyterian Church Cemetery in Roswell, Georgia.

His nephew Johnny Rucker played baseball for the New York Giants.