His real name was Samuel Paul Derringer, but they called him "Oom Paul" because he was such a big man. (He was about 6'4" and over 200 pounds). He was also a violent man who wasn't afraid to use his fists.

There were quite a few incidents in his career.

*He woke up from an operation in the recovery room, swung at a nurse, and knocked her out cold.

*On June 27, 1936, he got into a fight at the Bellevue Stratford Hotel in Philadelphia. He knocked on the door of a party in a nearby room, angry that he hadn't been invited. He was drunk and wasn't wearing a shirt. Among the party guests; the Secretary of War, and an envoy (Robert Condon) that had been sent to confer with the Secretary of War by New York Mayor LaGuardia. After being told to go away, Oom Paul attacked Condon, putting him in the hospital for eight weeks.

*In 1939, Derringer and Dizzy Dean got into a fistfight on the field before a game at Crosley Field. They wrestled each other to the ground right on home plate and exchanged punches before being separated by teammates.

*In 1946, while pitching in the minors for Indianapolis, he tried to bean Jackie Robinson on two different occasions. The second time he narrowly missed Robinson's head--and Jackie hit a triple on the next pitch. After that Oom Paul told Branch Rickey that Robinson "will do."

Oom Paul won over 200 games in his career, was an all-star, and has the distinction of winning the first night game in baseball history (for the Reds in 1935), but he only pitched for the Cubs the last three seasons of his career.

His very last game in the majors was the last World Series game in Cubs history. He came in to relieve Hank Borowy in the first inning of Game 7 against the Detroit Tigers. Derringer pitched 1 2/3 innings, walked five, gave up two hits and three earned runs.