Eddie Plank was a great baseball pitcher for the Philadelphia Athletics. He was born in Gettysburg on August 31, 1875 and grew up on a farm. He never played baseball until he was encouraged to try out for the Gettysburg College team. Plank pitched for Connie Mack’s Philadelphia A’s from 1901-1914, the for the Philadelphia Terriers of the Federal League for 1915 and finished his career back in the American League with the St. Louis Browns in 1916-17. Overall he had a record of 326 wins and 194 losses with an ERA of 2.35. He was a major part of three World Series Championship teams with the Athletics. He won 20 games or more in 8 different seasons. His former teammate Eddie Collins- a Hall of Famer who spent his entire adult life in baseball said that Plank was the best pitcher he ever saw.
Plank passed away shortly after suffering from a stroke in 1925 at the age of fifty. He is buried in Evergreen Cemetery in Gettysburg- which is located right next to Gettysburg National Cemetery. If you are in Gettysburg someday- you can look him up- his grave is located down near the bottom of the cemetery near a motel. There is also a restaurant in Gettysburg named in his honor “Gettysburg Eddie’s”
slicethelife 
No telling how many WS that Mack could have won if he didn’t have to sell off his players when they were winning.
One of the best baseball books I’ve read the past few years was a big three volume book on Mr. Mack. He had either great teams or terrible ones. Had money problems- no other business to rely on- so when he ran into financial problems sold off the great players.
We drove past Eddie Plank’s restaurant two weeks ago on our road trip.