Newspapers in St. Louis, Missouri, gave him the nickname Silver King, referring to his prematurely gray hair and shortening his German surname.[1]
Early life
A native of St. Louis, Koenig broke into baseball at age 18, playing for St. Joseph in the Western League.[1]
Career
King was an unusual pitcher for his time. Gripping the ball with unusually large hands, he delivered the ball without a windup. He was also one of the first pitchers in major league history to employ a sidearm delivery. The unconventional methods worked, as he went on to pitch 3,1902⁄3innings, 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 fourth 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. (King lost 1–0, and pitched only eight innings in the loss, so this game is not officially recognized by MLB as a no-hitter.)
Personal life and death
After baseball, King returned to St. Louis. and went to work for his father's business.[1]
He died in 1938, at age 70, and was buried at New St. Marcus Cemetery in St. Louis.
^ abcLansche, Jerry (1991). Glory Fades Away: Nineteenth-Century World Series Rediscovered. Dallas, Texas: Taylor Publishing Company. p. 100. ISBN0878337261.
