Washington, D.C. (March 8, 2010) -- A new biography of Hall of Fame pitcher Old Hoss Radbourn reveals he took a drug to get through the legendary season when he won 59 games, a major-league record that will stand forever.

But it wasn’t steroids. He drank a quart of whiskey a day, according to recollections of a relative that were buried in the archives of the Hall of Fame, reports Fifty-Nine in ’84, a new book by Pulitzer Prize finalist Edward Achorn.

(Pre-Order Fifty-Nine in '84 below for Amazon's special price of $17.15.)

Fifty-nine in '84- Old Hoss Radbourn, Barehanded Baseball, and the Greatest Season a Pitcher Ever Had

“Radbourn won 59 games in one season, pitched 678 innings, and was in so much pain he could not even lift his arm high enough to comb his hair every morning,” Achorn told TVPredictions.com.

Ballplayers of the time had no access to performance enhancing drugs, cortisone shots, reconstructive surgery, or even whirlpool baths, notes Achorn.

Radbourn did demand that his team install a stove in the locker room so that he could steam his arm after games.

“Of course, that was exactly the wrong approach, modern doctors would say. You should ice down inflamed muscles, not steam them. But in the 1880s nobody knew that or had much sympathy for ballplayers,” Achorn said.

Fifty-nine in ’84, already one of the best-selling baseball history books and biographies at amazon.com, appears in bookstores on March 16.

For more information, please go to EdwardAchorn.com.