Roy Wesley "Rhino" Hitt (June 22, 1884 – February 8, 1956) was a

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

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), ...

. He played for the

Cincinnati Reds The Cincinnati Reds are an American professional baseball team based in Cincinnati. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League Central, Central division and were a charter member of ...

in 1907 and also had a long career in the

Pacific Coast League The Pacific Coast League (PCL) is a Minor League Baseball league that operates in the Western United States. Along with the International League, it is one of two leagues playing at the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A level, which is one grade bel ...

. He stood at and weighed 200 lbs."Roy Hitt Statistics and History"
''baseball-reference.com''. Retrieved 2010-11-25.

Career

Nicknamed "Rhino" because "his shape reminded people of a rhinoceros," Hitt was born in

Carleton, Nebraska Carleton is a village in Thayer County, Nebraska, United States. The population was 94 at the 2020 census. History Carleton was established in 1872 when the railroad was extended to that point. It was named for Carleton B. Emory, the son of ...

. He started his professional baseball career in 1903, with the Oakland Oaks of the Pacific Coast League and joined the San Francisco Seals the following season. In 1905, he went 25–14 with a 1.79

earned run average In baseball statistics, earned run average (ERA) is the average of earned runs allowed by a pitcher per nine innings pitched (i.e. the traditional length of a game). It is determined by dividing the number of earned runs allowed by the number ...

. In 1906, he was the ace of the Seals pitching staff, going a career-high 403.2 innings in the long PCL season and winning a career-high 31 games."Roy Hitt Minor League Statistics & History"
''baseball-reference.com''. Retrieved 2010-11-25. Hitt was acquired by 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 ...

's Cincinnati Reds for the 1907 season. In that year's ''Spalding's Official Base Ball Guide'', it was reported that, "San Francisco's star pitcher, Roy Hitt, will go to Cincinnati ... there is little danger of him falling." Hitt cracked the Reds' starting rotation that year but was not one of their better pitchers; he went just 6–10. It was his only season in the major leagues. After a short stint in the

American Association American Association may refer to: Baseball * American Association (1882–1891), a major league active from 1882 to 1891 * American Association (1902–1997), a minor league active from 1902 to 1962 and 1969 to 1997 * American Association of Profe ...

, Hitt returned to the Pacific Coast League in 1909, with the

Vernon Tigers The Vernon Tigers were a Minor League Baseball team that represented Vernon, California in the Pacific Coast League (PCL) from 1909 to 1925. The team won back-to-back PCL pennants in 1919 and 1920. The Tigers, together with the Sacramento Solons, ...

. He immediately became the ace of the Tigers' staff, leading the team in innings pitched and ERA. In 1910, he had one of his best seasons, going 26–17 with a career-low 1.68 ERA in 402.2 innings. Hitt stayed with the Tigers until 1916. He won over 20 games each year for five straight years (1910–1914), and he ended his organized baseball career with 206 minor league wins to go along with his 6 major league ones. Hitt died in 1956, at the age of 71. He was inducted into the

Pacific Coast League Hall of Fame The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

in 2004."PCL Enshrines Hall of Fame Class of 2004"
April 8, 2004. ''minorleaguebaseball.com''. Retrieved 2010-11-25.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hitt, Roy 1884 births 1956 deaths Major League Baseball pitchers Cincinnati Reds players Oakland Oaks (baseball) players Los Angeles Angels (minor league) players Fresno (minor league baseball) players San Francisco Seals (baseball) players Columbus Senators players Vernon Tigers players Venice Tigers players Baseball players from Nebraska People from Thayer County, Nebraska