Although he was a starting pitcher for the Cubs for ten seasons, and worked in 339 total games for them, he did not reach the postseason until he was a Milwaukee Brave, when he appeared in the 1958 World Series.

Born in Battle Creek, Michigan, Rush graduated from James Whitcomb Riley High School in South Bend, Indiana, and served in the United States Army during World War II.

But in the very next half-inning, his National League teammates, led by fellow Cub Hank Sauer, who homered, got those runs back to regain the lead, 3–2.

But control problems during the fifth frame proved costly when Rush's three walks loaded the bases for Hank Bauer's two-run single.

Rush was primarily a relief pitcher for the 1959 Braves, making nine spot starts among his 30 appearances during the 154-game schedule and posting five victories and an effective 2.42 earned run average.

The Braves found themselves embroiled in a three-way pennant fight with the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Francisco Giants that went down to the season's final weekend.

When it ended, the Braves and Dodgers, both with 86–68 records, were deadlocked for the National League pennant, and a best-of-three tie-breaker series was necessary to determine a champion.

Veteran Carl Furillo then made an infield hit to shortstop, and when Félix Mantilla threw wildly to first base, Hodges scored the pennant-deciding run on the error.

[7] Late in the 1957 season, while Rush was warming up in the Wrigley Field bullpen during a game, a wild pitch he threw went into the stands and injured a spectator, who sued him and the Cubs, one of the few times in Major League Baseball history when a player has been named as a defendant by a fan injured by an object that left the field.

The court granted Rush summary judgement which was affirmed on appeal a decade later; however it held that the Baseball Rule, which generally immunizes teams against suits by fans injured by foul balls who sit in seats outside the backstop's protection, did not extend to an errantly thrown ball and that a jury could decide if the Cubs had adequately anticipated the risk of one leaving the field and striking a fan.