Guy Isbel Tutwiler (July 17, 1888 – August 15, 1930), nicknamed "King Tut", was an American

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

player. Between 1910 and 1924, he appeared in more than 1,500 games as professional baseball player, including more than 600 games as an

outfielder An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder. As an outfielder, their duty is to cat ...

and more than 125 games as a

first baseman A first baseman, abbreviated 1B, is the player on a baseball or softball team who fields the area nearest first base, the first of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. The first baseman is responsible for the majori ...

. He played in

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), ...

for 27 of those games with the

Detroit Tigers The Detroit Tigers are an American professional baseball team based in Detroit. The Tigers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the American League (AL) Central division. One of the AL's eight charter franchises, the club was f ...

in 1911 and 1913. The bulk of his career was in the minor leagues, including five seasons with the

Providence Grays The Providence Grays were a Major League Baseball team based in Providence, Rhode Island who played in the National League from until . The Grays played at the Messer Street Grounds in the Olneyville neighborhood. The team won the National Leagu ...

Early years

Tutwiler was born in

Coalburg, Alabama Coalburg is an unincorporated community in Jefferson County, Alabama, United States. History Coalburg was home to coal mines first developed by John T. Milner, who sold them in May 1883 to the Georgia Pacific Railway. Edward Magruder Tutwiler bec ...

, in 1888.

Professional baseball

Tutwiler appeared in 27 major league games, including 14 as a

, six as a second baseman, and three as an

. In his major league career, Tutwiler had a batting average of .203 with 16 hits, seven runs scored, 10

runs batted in A run batted in (RBI; plural RBIs ) is a statistic in baseball and softball that credits a batter for making a play that allows a run to be scored (except in certain situations such as when an error is made on the play). For example, if the bat ...

, six walks, 12 doubles, two

stolen base In baseball, a stolen base occurs when a runner advances to a base to which they are not entitled and the official scorer rules that the advance should be credited to the action of the runner. The umpires determine whether the runner is safe or ...

s, and one triple. He also played 13 seasons in the minor leagues, including stints with the Hattiesburg Timberjacks (1910–1911), Chattanooga Lookouts (1912),

(1912, 1914–1917),

Mobile Bears The Mobile Bears were an American minor league baseball team based in Mobile, Alabama. The franchise was a member of the old Southern Association, a high-level circuit that folded after the 1961 season. Mobile joined the SA in 1908 as the ''Sea Gu ...

(1919–1920),

Little Rock Travelers The Little Rock Travelers were an American minor league baseball team located in Little Rock, Arkansas, and members (1902–1910, 1915–1958, 1960–1961) of the Southern Association, which as a Class A, A1 or Double-A (baseball), Double-A circuit ...

(1921),

Memphis Chickasaws Memphis most commonly refers to: * Memphis, Egypt, a former capital of ancient Egypt * Memphis, Tennessee, a major American city Memphis may also refer to: Places United States * Memphis, Alabama * Memphis, Florida * Memphis, Indiana * Memphis ...

(1922) and

Augusta Tygers Augusta may refer to: Places Australia * Augusta, Western Australia Brasil * Rua Augusta (São Paulo) Canada * Augusta, Ontario * North Augusta, Ontario * Augusta Street (Hamilton, Ontario) France * Augusta Suessionum ("Augusta of the Suess ...

(1924). His batting average in the minor leagues was .291. His most productive year as a baseball player was 1913 when he compiled a .345 batting average, .552

slugging percentage In baseball statistics, slugging percentage (SLG) is a measure of the batting productivity of a hitter. It is calculated as total bases divided by at bats, through the following formula, where ''AB'' is the number of at bats for a given player, ...

and 57 extra base hits in 115 games with the Fort Wayne Champs.

Family and later years

Tutwiler was married to Edna Mae Scruggs, and they had two sons, Guy Tutwiler Jr. and Pickens McQueen Tutwiler. He died in 1930 at age 42 in a

train In rail transport, a train (from Old French , from Latin , "to pull, to draw") is a series of connected vehicles that run along a railway track and Passenger train, transport people or Rail freight transport, freight. Trains are typically pul ...

accident in

Birmingham, Alabama Birmingham ( ) is a city in the north central region of the U.S. state of Alabama. Birmingham is the seat of Jefferson County, Alabama's most populous county. As of the 2021 census estimates, Birmingham had a population of 197,575, down 1% fr ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tutwiler, Guy 1888 births 1930 deaths Detroit Tigers players Baseball players from Alabama Major League Baseball first basemen Hattiesburg Timberjacks players Chattanooga Lookouts players Providence Grays (minor league) players Fort Wayne Champs players Mobile Bears players Memphis Chickasaws players Augusta Tigers players Railway accident deaths in the United States Accidental deaths in Alabama