Deacon Phillipe was born in Rural Retreat, Virginia on May 23, 1872. As a right-hander for the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1903, he was the first World Series pitcher to win three games and the only pitcher ever to complete the five games he started in a single World Series. Phillipe spent all but one of his 13 seasons in the National League, with Pittsburgh. His lifetime record was 189 victories and 109 defeats with an earned run average of 2.59. He was a 20 game winner six times, and in 1969, Pittsburgh voted him their all-time best right-hander. Phillipe did not live to receive the award having died in Avalow, Pennsylvania on March 30, 1952. Equally impressive as Phillipe’s World Series feat is the fact that Phillippe completed 242 games in 288 starts. He pitched 2,607 innings, allowing 2,518 hits while striking out 929 opposing batters and walking only 363. Phillipe still holds the Pirates record of 13 consecutive victories and was one of the first to use the spitball pitch which was outlawed more than a decade after his retirement in 1911.
