Reuben Henry "Rube" Oldring (May 30, 1884 – September 9, 1961) was a professional baseball player who played outfield in the major leagues from 1905 to 1918. He played for the Philadelphia Athletics and New York Yankees.
Oldring (far right) as one of the four Athletics players to appear in The Baseball Bug (1911)
From 1907 to 1915, Oldring was a regular outfielder on the A's. He played in three World Series with them. He hit .194 (12-for-62) with 7 runs, 1 home run and 3 RBI in 15 postseason games.
Oldring and three other stars from the 1911 World Series champion Athletics — Chief Bender, Cy Morgan and Jack Coombs — were featured in the Thanhouser Company film called The Baseball Bug.[2] In 1913, the Athletics won another World Series, and Oldring won a Cadillac after being voted the favorite player of fans in Philadelphia.[3]
The team returned to the World Series in 1914, but they were swept by the Boston Braves. Oldring recorded only one hit in 17 plate appearances in that series, and he explained that he had been going through difficulties in his personal life. After his engagement to Hannah Thomas had been announced in the newspaper, a woman surfaced who said she was Helen Oldring, his common-law wife. Rube Oldring said he had once lived with Helen but that they had never been married. Oldring and Hannah Thomas were later married and remained together for 47 years.[3]
Oldring played in the minor leagues for several years after his major league career was over. In 1923, he hit .342 for Wilson of the Virginia League and also managed the team to the pennant.
Later life
A farmer after he ended his career in baseball, Oldring died of a heart attack at his home in Bridgeton, New Jersey, at the age of 77.[4]
^Bishop, Bill. Rube Oldring, Society for American Baseball Research. Accessed November 25, 2017. "Rube suffered a heart attack in 1960, and died at age 77 on September 9, 1961 at his home in Bridgeton, New Jersey from acute blockage of the arteries."
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