1916 yearbook vignette with "Twink" as manager of the football team
Twining was born on May 30, 1894, in Horsham, Pennsylvania.[1] He attended Swarthmore College in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, and became a "well-known" athlete in the area while playing baseball and basketball.[2] He initially played second base at Swarthmore but then switched to pitcher and became a "star".[2][3] He led the baseball team to wins over Penn and Michigan in three days in 1914; the win over Penn was the first time they ever accomplished it in school history.[2][4] In basketball, he served as team captain, and Twining was also the manager of the football team.[2]
Twining led the baseball team to several more victories against Penn in the 1915 season and also led the basketball team to wins over schools such as Army and Rutgers.[5][6][7] The Evening Public Ledger described him as one of the three best pitchers in college baseball.[8] Nicknamed "Twink" and "Twig", he threw right and batted right-handed.[1][9] He graduated from Swarthmore with a Doctor of Medicine degree.[10]
Professional baseball career
Twining began his professional baseball career after having graduated from Swarthmore in 1915 with a team in Chester.[11] He also played for a team in Media that year and for the Salisbury team of the independent Peninsula League.[12][13] With Salisbury, he was the starting pitcher in an exhibition win over the Connie Mack-led Philadelphia Athletics.[13][14]
In June 1916, Twining was signed by Buck Herzog, manager of the Cincinnati Reds of Major League Baseball, after having been told about Twining by a scout.[15][16] He did not make his debut until over a month after signing with the team, being the closing pitcher in a 10–3 loss to the Brooklyn Robins.[17]The Cincinnati Post noted that the game "was a nightmare for Red fans" and reported that Twining "had nothing with which to deceive the [Robins] ... He displayed a nice pitching motion but the Dodgers had no trouble hitting his offerings."[17] He pitched two innings of the game and had an earned run average of 13.50, facing 11 batters while allowing three runs.[1] He was released by the Reds several days later, with The Pittsburgh Press reported that he had "been with the Reds for over a month without having the slightest chance to make good or to start a game."[18]
After being released by Cincinnati, Twining later spent time in 1916 with a team called "Carney's Point" in Delaware.[19] He played for the Upland team of Upland, Pennsylvania, in 1917.[20] The following year, he was a member of the Sun team in the Delaware River Shipbuilding League and also saw action with the "Chester Ship club".[21][22] He played for the Wilkinsburg Murdocks in 1920,[23] and for Glenside of the Philadelphia Suburban League from 1921 to 1922, helping them win two league championships.[24][25][26]
Later life and death
Twining attended Hahnemann Medical School and graduated in 1919.[27] He received dermatology training in Vienna and became a prominent dermatologist in Pennsylvania.[27][28] He wrote articles published in medical journals, headed the Hahnemann Medical School department of dermatology and was president of the Philadelphia Dermatological Society.[27][29] He was a member of the Pennsylvania Academy of Dermatology and served at various hospitals, including in Abington, Hahnemann and Wilmington, and at the Skin and Cancer, Philadelphia General and Naval Hospitals.[27] He was a 32nd degree mason.[27] He died on June 14, 1973, at the age of 78, from a long illness.[27]
^ abSimons, William M.; Hall, Alvin L., eds. (September 18, 2015). The Cooperstown Symposium on Baseball and American Culture, 2002. McFarland, Incorporated, Publishers. p. 36. ISBN9780786481712.
