thereafter by the Indianapolis Hoosiers of the NL, and made his major league debut on May 9 in a 13-2 loss to the Cleveland Blues, pitching in relief of starting pitcher Jim Whitney. In 33 games pitched during the 1889 season, he posted a 12–10 win–loss record, he started 22, completed 19, and recorded one shutout. Although his fastball was difficult to hit, he did not have good control of it, walking 116 batters in 225 innings pitched, although he struck out 109 and led the league with 11 games finished (as a relief pitcher). New York Giants 1890–1892 The Hoosiers disbanded at the conclusion of the 1889 season, and on March 22, 1890, he, along with many of his teammates, were transferred to the New York Giants by the league to strengthen the NL's largest market. Coming into the 1890 season, Rusie filled the starting position that was vacated by future Hall of Famer Tim Keefe, who had joined the New York Giants of the newly formed Players' League (PL). Instead of evenly splitting pitching duties with Mickey Welch, another future Hall of Fame player, as Keefe had done the preceding five seasons, he started 62 games to Welch's 37. Rusie quickly became a sensation among fans, media, and society owing to the combination of his pitching velocity and physical size at , , which was considered large for the era. The fans began calling him the "Hoosier Thunderbolt", while famed vaudeville act Weber and Fields used his name, a paperback book, Secrets of Amos Rusie, The World's Greatest Pitcher, How He Obtained His Incredible Speed on Balls, was available for a quarter, a drink was named after him, and he received a message from the popular performer Lillian Russell. On May 9, the Giants defeated the Boston Beaneaters by a score of 16–3, doing so by committing no errors, very rare for the era, and with Rusie allowing just 6 hits. Three days later, on May 12, Rusie was on the winning side of a pitching duel with future Hall of Famer Kid Nichols, in a game that ended with a home run by the Giants' Mike Tiernan in the 13th inning. The home run was described as a "tape measure" hit, sailing over the outfield fence and landing in an adjacent baseball field, Brotherhood Park, where a PL game was being played at the same time, causing