Minter Carney "Jackie" Hayes (July 19, 1906 – February 9, 1983) was an American second baseman 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), ...

player for the Washington Senators (1927–1931) and

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 p ...

(1932–1940).

Early life and career

Hayes was born in

Clanton, Alabama Clanton is a city in Chilton County, Alabama, United States. It is part of the Birmingham–Hoover–Cullman Combined Statistical Area. At the 2020 census, the population was . The city is the county seat of Chilton County. Clanton is near the ...

. The right-handed graduate of the

University of Alabama The University of Alabama (informally known as Alabama, UA, or Bama) is a Public university, public research university in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Established in 1820 and opened to students in 1831, the University of Alabama is the oldest and la ...

made his debut on August 5, 1927. In his first full season, he batted a solid .276 with 2

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run i ...

s and 57

RBIs 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 ...

in 424

at bat In baseball, an at bat (AB) or time at bat is a batter's turn batting against a pitcher. An at bat is different from a plate appearance. A batter is credited with a plate appearance regardless of what happens during their turn at bat, but a batt ...

s. From there, Hayes went on to be a contributing part of the Senators in the late 1920s, and then the White Sox through the '30s. In his career, he was in the top five in

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, and ...

s twice.

Baseball career highlights

In a 14-season career, he batted .265 with 20 homers and 493 runs batted in, in 1091 games. He accumulated 34

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, 494 runs, 196 doubles and a .318

on-base percentage In baseball statistics, on-base percentage (OBP) measures how frequently a batter reaches base. An official Major League Baseball (MLB) statistic since 1984, it is sometimes referred to as on-base average (OBA), as it is rarely presented as a ...

. He had 1069 career hits in 4040

s. He became the first player in

to wear a

batting helmet A batting helmet is worn by batters in the game of baseball or softball. It is meant to protect the batter's head from errant pitches thrown by the pitcher. A batter who is "hit by pitch," due to an inadvertent wild pitch or by intent, may ...

during a game.

Later life

During

Spring training Spring training is the preseason in Major League Baseball (MLB), a series of practices and exhibition games preceding the start of the regular season. Spring training allows new players to try out for Schedule (workplace), roster and position spo ...

1940, Hayes lost sight in one of his eyes, and legend has it that this was after a piece of cinder hit him in the eye during a game. Hayes was quoted at the time as both thinking a cinder had infiltrated his eye, and that he must have gotten soap in his right eye, but it was actually glaucoma. He later lost sight in both eyes. Hayes died at age 76 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 ...

, and was interred at Clanton's cemetery.

References

External links

*
Interview with Jackie Hayes
by

Eugene Murdock Eugene Converse Murdock (April 30, 1921 – July 23, 1992) was an historian and author best known for his research into baseball. Early life and education Eugene C. Murdock was born in Lakewood, Ohio, on April 30, 1921, and attended school ther ...

, August 5, 1977, in Clanton, Alabama. {{DEFAULTSORT:Hayes, Jackie 1906 births 1983 deaths People from Clanton, Alabama Alabama Crimson Tide baseball players Washington Senators (1901–1960) players Chicago White Sox players Major League Baseball second basemen Baseball players from Birmingham, Alabama Baseball players from Alabama