George "Nap" Rucker was Milton County's first major league baseball player. He started his career in the cow pastures and makeshift ballparks around Crabapple and Alpharetta. He finished his career in Brooklyn's Ebbets Field by pitching two scoreless innings in Game Four of the 1916 World Series. In that game, Nap's team, the National League Champion Brooklyn Dodgers, defeated the American League Champion New York Yankees.
A left-handed pitcher, Rucker began playing professional baseball with the Atlanta Crackers in 1904. He moved to the Augusta team in 1905, where his roommate was another Georgian, Ty Cobb, the immortal "Georgia Peach". By 1907, Nap was pitching for Brooklyn of the National League.
Baseball Magazine, the premier baseball periodical of that era, named Nap to the All National Team for four years. That honor was the equivalent of being selected to today's All-star Team. Many old-time Dodger fans maintain that Rucker was the Dodgers best left-handed pitcher until Sandy Koufax came along in the 1950's.
Nap retired as a player after the 1916 season but stayed with Brooklyn as a scout until 1934. Afterwards, he was involved in numerous local activities. He served as Roswell's mayor, worked as Roswell's water commissioner, and in his later years, operated a corn mill. Rucker's hobbies were hunting, fishing, and talking about baseball. He also became an accomplished woodworker, making kitchen cabinets, beds, and baseball bats for family and friends.
In 1967 he was inducted into the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame along with John W. Heisman and Frank Sinkwich, joining other sports dignitaries such as Bobby Dodd, Ty Cobb, and Charlie Trippi.
Nap Rucker died in December 1970. He was buried in the Roswell Presbyterian Church cemetery. An excerpt from his New York Times obituary reads, "a major league pitcher, George Napoleon Rucker was considered a truck horse for work. He appeared in some of the longest battles in National League history. With his powerful build, there was no limit to his stamina and pitching courage."
Submitted by:
Connie Mashburn
Alpharetta
June 2004