Silver King

Who was Silver King?

Silver King, born Charles Frederick Koenig in St. Louis, Missouri, was a Major League Baseball player from 1886 through 1897.

In a 10-year career, spent primarily as a pitcher, King played for Jacksonville Illinois and St. Joseph Missouri in the Western League, the Kansas City Cowboys, St. Louis Browns, Chicago Pirates, Pittsburgh Pirates, New York Giants, Cincinnati Reds, and Washington Senators. The first part of King's nickname was a reference to the color of his hair, while the latter part was a translation of his German surname.

King was an unusual pitcher for his time. Gripping the ball with unusually large hands, he delivered the ball without a windup. He also was one of the first pitchers in major league history to employ a sidearm delivery. The unconventional methods worked, as he went on to pitch 3,190²⁄3 innings, winning 203 games with 1229 strikeouts and a 3.18 earned run average in 397 games. His strong fastball enabled him to become a notable strikeout artist; he finished among the league's top 10 in that category six times.

King's best season came in 1888, when he led the Browns to their second consecutive American Association championship. That year, King led the league with 585²⁄3 innings pitched in 66 games, 45 wins, and a 1.64 ERA. In 1890, he jumped to Chicago of the Players League and added another ERA title while winning 30 games. On June 21, 1890, King threw a no-hitter for Chicago, the only one in the league's one-year history.