Buddy Napier Buddy Napier Skelton Le Roy "Buddy" Napier (18 December 1889 – 29 March 1968), Major League baseball pitcher from 1912 to 1921. He was born in Byromville, Georgia. Napier played his first major league game with the St. Louis Browns, on August 14, 1912, versus the Boston Red Sox, which the Browns lost 0-8. He signed on with the Chicago Cubs in 1918, eventually pitching for them during that season's World Series game versus the Boston Red Sox (a team which included baseball legend Babe Ruth), a series of games which the Red Sox won. In 1920 he signed on
Babe Ruth "The Babe Ruth Story" (1948)—that the young pitcher had a habit of signaling his intent to throw a curveball by sticking out his tongue slightly, and that he was easy to hit until this changed. Creamer pointed out that it is common for inexperienced pitchers to display such habits, and the need to break Ruth of his would not constitute a reason to not use him at all. The biographer suggested that Carrigan was unwilling to use Ruth due to poor behavior by the rookie. On July 30, 1914, Boston owner Joseph Lannin had purchased the minor-league Providence Grays, members