Raymond Timothy Haley (January 23, 1891 – October 8, 1973) was an American

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 baseball league, leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Mod ...

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), ...

(MLB) from 1915 through 1917 for 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 eight ...

(1915–16) and

Philadelphia Athletics The Philadelphia Athletics were a Major League Baseball team that played in Philadelphia from 1901 to 1954, when they moved to Kansas City, Missouri, and became the Kansas City Athletics. Following another move in 1967, the team became the Oaklan ...

(1916–17). He also had an extensive minor league baseball career, spanning 22 seasons from 1910 until 1931, both as a player and manager. A native of

Danbury, Iowa Danbury is a city in Woodbury County, Iowa, United States. It is part of the Sioux City, IA– NE– SD Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 320 at the time of the 2020 census. Danbury has two churches, St. Mary's Catholic C ...

, Haley was signed by the Red Sox out of the

Western Illinois University Western Illinois University (WIU) is a public university in Macomb, Illinois. It was founded in 1899 as Western Illinois State Normal School. As the normal school grew, it became Western Illinois State Teachers College. History Western Illin ...

. Listed at , 180 lb, Haley batted and threw right-handed. Most of his playing time came with the A's, serving as their third catcher behind

Billy Meyer William Adam Meyer (January 14, 1893 – March 31, 1957) was an American baseball player and manager. He holds the dubious distinction of having played with, then managed, two of the worst teams in the history of Major League Baseball. A catch ...

and

Val Picinich Valentine John Picinich (September 8, 1896 – December 5, 1942) was an American professional baseball catcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1916 to 1933 for the Philadelphia Athletics, Washington Senators, Boston Red Sox, Cinc ...

in 1916, then

Wally Schang Walter Henry Schang (August 22, 1889 – March 6, 1965) was an American professional baseball player and manager. He played in Major League Baseball as a catcher from to for the Philadelphia Athletics, Boston Red Sox, New York Yankees, St. Loui ...

and Meyer in 1917. In his major league career, Haley was a .248 hitter (53-for-214) with 17 runs and 15 RBI in 81 games, including eight doubles, one

triple Triple is used in several contexts to mean "threefold" or a " treble": Sports * Triple (baseball), a three-base hit * A basketball three-point field goal * A figure skating jump with three rotations * In bowling terms, three strikes in a row * ...

, and 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. He did not hit a

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 ...

. As a catcher, he appeared in 71 games and collected 263

outs In baseball, an out occurs when the umpire rules a batter or baserunner out. When a batter or runner is out, they lose their ability to score a run and must return to the dugout until their next turn at bat. When three outs are recorded in a ha ...

and 96 assists while committing 11 errors for a .970

fielding percentage In baseball statistics, fielding percentage, also known as fielding average, is a measure that reflects the percentage of times a defensive player properly handles a batted or thrown ball. It is calculated by the sum of putouts and assists, div ...

. Haley died in

Bradenton, Florida Bradenton ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Manatee County, Florida, Manatee County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the city's population is 55,698. History Late 18th and early 19th centuries ...

at age 82.

Sources

1891 births 1973 deaths Major League Baseball catchers Boston Red Sox players Philadelphia Athletics players Minor league baseball managers Richmond Pioneers players Wheeling Stogies players Evansville River Rats players Des Moines Boosters players Buffalo Bisons (minor league) players Wichita Witches players Nashville Vols players Reading Keystones players Wichita Izzies players Wichita Larks players Columbus Discoverers players Western Illinois Leathernecks baseball players Baseball players from Iowa {{US-baseball-catcher-1890s-stub