Mortimer Martin "Mert" Hackett (November 11, 1859 – February 22, 1938), was an American professional

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 ...

catcher Catcher is a Baseball positions, position in baseball and softball. When a Batter (baseball), batter takes their at bat, turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the (home plate, home) Umpire (baseball), umpire, and recei ...

. 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), ...

from 1883 to 1887 for the

Boston Beaneaters Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- most po ...

Kansas City Cowboys Several sports team in Kansas City, Missouri have used the name Cowboys: *Kansas City Cowboys (Union Association), a baseball team in the Union Association in 1884 *Kansas City Cowboys (National League), a baseball team in the National League in 18 ...

, and

Indianapolis Hoosiers Indianapolis Hoosiers was the name of three major league and at least three minor league baseball clubs based in Indianapolis. * Indianapolis Hoosiers (American Association), which played in 1884 * Indianapolis Hoosiers (National League), which pla ...

. His older brother,

Walter Hackett Walter C. Hackett (November 10, 1876 – January 20, 1944) was an American-British playwright. Biography Several of his stage works (such as ''Ambrose Applejohn's Adventure'', ''The Freedom of the Seas'', ''The Regeneration'', ''Hyde Park Corne ...

, and cousins

Walter Clarkson Walter Hamilton Clarkson (November 3, 1878 – October 10, 1946) was a pitcher in Major League Baseball. He played for the New York Highlanders from 1904 to 1907 and the Cleveland Naps The Cleveland Guardians are an American professional ...

, Dad Clarkson and

Baseball Hall of Famer The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is a history museum and hall of fame in Cooperstown, New York, operated by private interests. It serves as the central point of the history of baseball in the United States and displays baseball-re ...

John Clarkson John Gibson Clarkson (July 1, 1861 – February 4, 1909) was a Major League Baseball right-handed pitcher. He played from 1882 to 1894. Born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Clarkson played for the Worcester Ruby Legs (1882), Chicago White Stocking ...

Tim Keefe Timothy John Keefe (January 1, 1857 – April 23, 1933), nicknamed "Smiling Tim" and "Sir Timothy", was an American Major League Baseball pitcher. He stood tall and weighed . He was one of the most dominating pitchers of the 19th century and po ...

and

Joe Kelley Joseph James Kelley (December 9, 1871 – August 14, 1943) was an American left fielder in Major League Baseball (MLB) who starred in the outfield of the Baltimore Orioles teams of the 1890s. Making up the nucleus of the Orioles along with Joh ...

(all born in Cambridge, Massachusetts) also played in the majors.

Biography

A native of

Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As part of the Boston metropolitan area, the cities population of the 2020 U.S. census was 118,403, making it the fourth most populous city in the state, behind Boston, ...

, Hackett made his major league debut with the 1883 Boston Beaneaters. He played in 46 of the team's 98 games, and batted .235 with 24 RBI in helping to lead the team to the

National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team s ...

pennant. He remained with Boston through the 1885 season, then spent 1886 with the National League's Kansas City Cowboys in their only season in the league. In 1887, Hackett's final big league campaign, he played for the Indianapolis Hoosiers in that club's first of three National League seasons. Over five major league seasons, Hackett played in 256 games, batting .216 with eight home runs and 83 RBI, and a .921 fielding percentage in 241 games at catcher. From 1888 to 1891, he played for the Hyannis town team in what is now the

Cape Cod Baseball League The Cape Cod Baseball League (CCBL or Cape League) is a collegiate summer baseball wooden bat league located on Cape Cod in the U.S. state of Massachusetts. One of the nation's premier collegiate summer leagues, the league boasts over one thousan ...

. The team was run by

Charles Barney Cory Charles Barney Cory (January 31, 1857 – July 31, 1921) was an American ornithologist and golfer. Biography Cory was born in Boston, Massachusetts. His father had made a fortune from a large import business, ensuring that his son never had t ...

and

Charles Richard Crane Charles Richard Crane (August 7, 1858 – February 15, 1939) was a wealthy American businessman, heir to a large industrial fortune and connoisseur of Arab culture, a noted Arabist. His widespread business interests gave him entree into domestic a ...

, and featured other major leaguers such as Dick Conway and Barney Gilligan. Hackett died in his hometown of Cambridge in 1938 at the age of 78, and is interred at St. Paul Cemetery in Arlington, Massachusetts. His brother, Walter, named one of his sons Mortimer Martin Hackett after him.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hackett, Mert 1859 births 1938 deaths Baseball players from Massachusetts Major League Baseball catchers Boston Beaneaters players Kansas City Cowboys (NL) players Indianapolis Hoosiers (NL) players 19th-century baseball players Sportspeople from Cambridge, Massachusetts Fall River Casscade players Springfield (minor league baseball) players Troy Trojans (minor league) players Cape Cod Baseball League players (pre-modern era) Hyannis Harbor Hawks players