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 3,190
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 fourth consecutive
American Association championship. That year, King led the league with 585 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 ==