Paul Derringer (Danville, 1927 and 1928): After seasoning in the Three Eye and International League, "Duke" Derringer played fifteen seasons for the St. Louis Cardinals, Cincinnati Reds, and Chicago Cubs, ending his career with 223 wins and 212 loses. He appeared in four World Series, one with the Cardinals (1931), two with the Reds (1939 and 1940) and his last with the Cubs (1945). 

Born in Springfield, Kentucky in 1907, Derringer excelled on the local sandlots, though the future big league hurler preferred to work behind the plate. According to J. G. Taylor Spink, the legendary editor of The Sporting News, Derringer's high school coach prodded the reluctant catcher onto the mound during a lopsided loss. "Derringer's exhibition was so good that the coach never let him put on a mitt again, and from that day onward he was a pitcher," Spink wrote in the early 1930s. Given the nature of baseball anecdotes, it's no surprise that this uncertain account evolved over the years. In a September 28, 1940 Collier's article, writer Bob Considine reported that the high school catcher did trade his mitt for a glove, though not at the behest of his coach. Rather, the young Derringer feared missing a fishing trip, so he volunteered for mound work to ostensibly speedup the the game.

After rebuffs from the Boston Red Sox and St. Louis Cardinals, Derringer spent much of 1926 playing semi-pro ball for the Coalwood, West Virginia mining team. There, Cardinals scout Jack Ryan signed the 19-year-old righthander to his first professional contract. Derringer received crucial support from Bill McKechnie, a Cardinals coach who would later manage his protégé in Rochester and Cincinnati.

From the coal mines of West Virginia, Derringer headed to Danville of the Three-I League. In 1927, Derringer appeared in 16 games, wining 10 and losing 8. In 172 innings of work, he finished with a 3.34 ERA. That year, the Danville Veterans (86-50) captured their first Three Eye pennant, besting the Peoria Tractors (87-51) by a mere two percentage points. The following season, Derringer went 15-11 in 243 innings, finishing his second Three-I League campaign with a 3.60 ERA. Danville ended the split season 69-57 and failed to make the post-season playoff. The next two years were spent with Rochester of the International League. In two seasons, Derringer won 40 and lost 23 in 533 innings of work. Rochester won the league title both seasons, and in the second year defeated Louisville of the American Association in the so-called Little World Series.

In 1931, Derringer headed to the Cardinals spring training camp. In his first pitching assignment, according to Considine, "he strode to the mound with jaw set, grimly determined to impress his elders. He cocked his left leg high in the air, the way he believed the big leaguers did, and, to his horror and the eternal delight of the critical old Cards, his spikes somehow became impaled in the webbing of his glove. And when he swung his leg down to the ground he pulled himself into a somersault." Despite that showing, Derringer impressed Brach Rickey. In order to open a roster spot, the legendary executive ordered another promising rookie, named Dizzy Dean, back to Houston. The move proved wise, for Derringer enjoyed an impressive rookie year, winning 18 and losing only 8 with a 3.36 ERA. In the Cardinals World Series triumph over the Philadelphia Athletics, Derringer struggled, losing 2 games in 12 and two-third innings. The next year he slumped to 11-14 with a 4.05 ERA, and in his third year in St. Louis, the Cardinals, with an abundance of good arms, traded the promising righthander to the Reds for Leo Durocher.

Derringer, though he lost a league-leading 27 games in 1933, was instrumental in reviving the flagging Cincinnati franchise. He remained with the Reds through the 1942 season, and the one-two punch of Derringer and Bucky Walters led the Reds to successive pennants, including the 1940 World Championship against the Detroit Tigers. In the seventh games of that series, "Duke" out dueled Bobo Newsome to earn a 2-1 complete-game victory. Derringer remains one of the most successful pitchers in Cincinnati history. In a Reds uniform, he appeared in six All-Star games, and from 1938 through 1940, he won 20 or more games. His 161 wins in Cincinnati place him third among the club's all-time leaders.

In Cincinnati, Derringer earned a well-deserved reputation as a hothead. Once, Reds executive Larry MacPhail levied a $250 fine and a three-day suspension against him for failing to slide into a base. During a heated discussion in MacPhail's office, Derringer launched an inkwell at his boss, missing the famed executive's head by inches. Both the office and MacPhail were spotted with black ink. "You might have killed me, Derringer," said the stunned executive. "That's what I was meaning to do," was the reply. In the end, Derringer received a check covering the fine and then some. The added bonus was MacPhail's wry "thank you" for missing his head. 

In 1943, the Reds moved Derringer to the Cubs. Two years later, in his final season, he won 16 games as Chicago captured the National League pennant. In addition to 223 career wins, Derringer completed 251 games (including 21 shutouts) while compiling a lifetime 3.46 ERA. He wielded impeccable control. In 3,645 innings of work, he walked a mere 761 batters, and many of those were intentional. In 1939 and 1940, he led the National League in surrendering the fewest walks in nine innings (1.05 and 1.46 respectively). 

In 1946, Derringer won 9 games for Indianapolis of the American Association, and once out of baseball he worked as a salesman for a plastics company. He died on November 17, 1987 in Sarasota, Florida. He was 81-years old.