A farm boy from Quincy, Illinois, Chicago Cubs hurler Rick Reuschel sure had the physique of your stereotypical farmhand. He stood a staunch 6-foot-4 and weighed a hefty 225 pounds.
Despite his portly figure, he proved that bodies can be deceiving when it comes to athletes as he was actually quite agile, often entering games solely as a pinch-runner on days that he didn’t pitch.
“Big Daddy,” as he was affectionately nicknamed, was also a decent hitter at the plate, batting over the Mendoza Line numerous times throughout his career. But Reuschel made his name in baseball as a pitcher and became remembered as one of the best of the 1970s and 1980s.