Fred James Hatfield (March 18, 1925 – May 22, 1998), nicknamed "Scrap Iron", was a

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

infielder who played nine seasons in the Major Leagues with the

Boston Red Sox The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Founded in as one of the American League's eigh ...

(1950–52), Detroit Tigers (1952–56),

Chicago White Sox The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team is owned by Jerry Reinsdorf, and ...

(1956–57),

Cleveland Indians The Cleveland Guardians are an American professional baseball team based in Cleveland. The Guardians compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. Since , they have played at Progressive Fi ...

(1958) and

Cincinnati Redlegs Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line w ...

(1958). He batted left-handed, threw right-handed, and was listed as tall and .

Playing career

Born in

Lanett, Alabama Lanett is a city in Chambers County, Alabama, United States. At the 2010 census the population was 6,468, down from 7,897 in 2000. Lanett, originally called Bluffton, is located in eastern Alabama, on the Chattahoochee River, southwest of Atlanta ...

, Hatfield attended

Birmingham–Southern College Birmingham–Southern College (BSC) is a private college in Birmingham, Alabama. Founded in 1856, the college is affiliated with the United Methodist Church and is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS). More than 1 ...

and Troy State College before Hatfield was signed by the Red Sox as an amateur free agent in 1942. As a big-leaguer, Hatfield played in 722 games and had a career

batting average Batting average is a statistic in cricket, baseball, and softball that measures the performance of batters. The development of the baseball statistic was influenced by the cricket statistic. Cricket In cricket, a player's batting average is ...

of .242 with an on-base percentage of .332. He had 493 hits, 248 bases on balls, and 165 RBIs. Hatfield played in the infield, with 408 games at third base, 179 games at second base, and 27 games at shortstop. Hatfield was among the

American League The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the American League (AL), is one of two leagues that make up Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western League, a minor league ...

leaders in being hit by pitch in 1952, 1954, 1956, and 1957. He was also among the league leaders in 1955 for

sacrifice hit In baseball, a sacrifice bunt (also called a sacrifice hit) is a batter's act of deliberately bunting the ball, before there are two outs, in a manner that allows a baserunner to advance to another base. The batter is almost always put out, an ...

s and intentional walks.

Coaching career

As his playing career wound down in the

minor leagues Minor leagues are professional sports leagues which are not regarded as the premier leagues in those sports. Minor league teams tend to play in smaller, less elaborate venues, often competing in smaller cities/markets. This term is used in No ...

in the late 1950s, Hatfield became a

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Modern professional ...

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities ...

and

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Co ...

, and a college baseball coach. He skippered teams in the minors for 16 years between 1960 and 1986, spent two seasons (1977–78) as the third-base coach on

Ralph Houk Ralph George Houk (; August 9, 1919 – July 21, 2010), nicknamed The Major, was an American catcher, coach, manager, and front office executive in Major League Baseball. He is best known as the successor of Casey Stengel as manager of the New Y ...

's Detroit Tigers staff, and five years (1964–68) as head baseball coach of the Florida State Seminoles, where he posted a 161–57 (.739) record. He was posthumously inducted into the Florida State University Hall of Fame in 1999.Akin, William. ''Fred Hatfield.''

Society for American Baseball Research The Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) is a membership organization dedicated to fostering the research and dissemination of the history and record of baseball primarily through the use of statistics. Established in Cooperstown, New ...

Biography Project Hatfield died in 1998 at age 73 in

Tallahassee, Florida Tallahassee ( ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of Florida. It is the county seat and only incorporated municipality in Leon County. Tallahassee became the capital of Florida, then the Florida Territory, in 1824. In 2020, the populatio ...

References

External links

, o
Retrosheet
o
SABR Biography Project
o

* : {{DEFAULTSORT:Hatfield, Fred 1925 births 1998 deaths Asheville Tourists managers Baseball players from Alabama Birmingham Barons players Boston Red Sox players California Angels scouts Canton Terriers players Chicago White Sox players Cincinnati Redlegs players Cleveland Indians players Danville-Schoolfield Leafs players Denver Bears players Detroit Tigers coaches Detroit Tigers players Florida State Seminoles baseball coaches Jamestown Tigers players Lakeland Flying Tigers managers Little Rock Travelers players Louisville Colonels (minor league) players Lynn Red Sox players Major League Baseball second basemen Major League Baseball third base coaches Major League Baseball third basemen Modesto Colts players New York Yankees scouts Oakland Athletics scouts People from Lanett, Alabama Roanoke Red Sox players San Diego Padres (minor league) players Scranton Red Sox players Spokane Indians players Troy Trojans baseball players American expatriate baseball people in the Dominican Republic