strikeouts and earning a late-season promotion to the New York Yankees. The young right-handed hurler was not an imposing figure at 5-feet-11 and 165 pounds, but he clearly possessed potential as a pitcher.
Russell made his major-league debut on September 17, 1915, by defeating the Chicago White Sox, 3-2. The New York Times scribe was impressed:
“A likely young busher named Allan Russell, from Richmond, snuffed all the brilliance out of the Chicago stars. He held the Sox to six hits and struck out eight. In the ninth inning when the Sox had two on, nobody out, and visions of launching a rally, he struck out Happy Felsch, Shano Collins, and Eddie Collins in succession. Young Russell isn’t very big, but he was cool as a fresh gallon of ice cream…. The lad is going to make a big rep for himself next season.”
Fred Lieb of the New York Press wrote:
“The blanket was taken from another of Donovan’s cold pitchers yesterday, a youth named Allan Russell. … He pitched a masterful game for a kid. He held the Rowland maulers to six hits. His control was a little shaky, as he walked eight, but he breezed as many. Twice he struck out Eddie Collins, who is one of the hardest men to fan in baseball. In the ninth Allan struck out the side. With men on second and third he fanned the two Collinses. Eddie did a wooden Injun and stood stock still as Russ curved over three.”
There was no mention of the spitball in accounts of Russell’s first major-league contest. However, it became one of his most effective pitches. Babe Ruth, Allan’s one-time Yankees teammate, was an admirer of Russell’s moist delivery. The Bambino (or his ghost writer) wrote: “Allan Russell, the old-time Yankee pitcher who was later with the Washington Senators, was the most successful side-arm spitball pitcher I ever knew. Allan could break the spitter where he wanted it and since he threw it with the same sweeping side-arm motion with which he delivered his fast ball, it was doubly hard to gauge.”
Despite the promising start, the story of Allan’s stay with the New York team was one of misfortune after misfortune. There is an unconfirmed report that his collapse on the mound in July 1916 was caused by a cerebral hemorrhage. He recovered to resume his major-league career. In 1917 he missed half the season with a sore arm. On July 16, 1918, to the annoyance of Yankees manager Miller Huggins and owner Jake Ruppert, he suddenly left the team in order to join the Sparrows Point shipyard team in Baltimore.
In parts of five seasons in the Polo Grounds, the side-arming spitballer failed to post a winning record. On July 29, 1919, the Yankees sent Russell, pitcher Bob McGraw, and $40,000 to the Boston Red Sox for pitcher Carl Mays. The change of scenery was good for Russell. During the remainder of the season he won 10 games while losing only four for the Red Sox. His total record for the year included 15 wins and five saves.
In 1920 Russell suffered a blood clot in the brain (probably the result of an earlier beaning), leaving his right side paralyzed for five weeks. His health problems limited him to only five victories that year. Furthermore, the spitball ban threatened his career. Billy Evans wrote of Russell and Stan Coveleski, another spitball pitcher, “To use the words of many American League players, those two start with the spitball and finish with one.”
However, Russell, Coveleski, and 15 other spitball pitchers were granted lifetime exemptions from the spitball ban, and Russell recovered his health. He resumed pitching for the Red Sox, both as a starter and as a reliever.
On February 10, 1923, the Sox traded Russell and catcher Muddy Ruel to the Washington Nationals for catcher Val Picinich, outfielder Howard Shanks, and outfield prospect Ed Goebel. Many observers thought Boston got the better of the deal because of Goebel’s potential. The New York Times was particularly enthusiastic: “Harry Frazee swung another nice deal yesterday for his new manager, Frank Chance, and now it begins to look as if the task of rebuilding the Red Sox is on the rise. … This latest deal serve