Washington, D.C. (March 8, 2010) -- A new biography of Hall of Fame pitcher Old Hoss Radbourn reveals he drank a quart of whiskey a day to get through the legendary season when he won an all-time record of 59 games.

"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,” says Edward Achorn, author of Fifty-Nine in '84, the new book on Radbourn.

Achorn, the deputy editor of the Providence Journal's editorial pages and a Pulitzer Prize finalist for distinguished commentary, unearthed the information about Radbourn's heavy drinking during his research in the archives of Baseball's Hall of Fame.

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

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

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

For more information, please go to EdwardAchorn.com.