Hawatha Terrell Wade (born January 25, 1973) is an American former
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 leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world.
Modern professional ...
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 ...
who 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), ...
.
Wade attended Hillcrest High School in
Dalzell, South Carolina
Dalzell is a census-designated place (CDP) in Sumter County, South Carolina, United States. The population was 3,175 at the 2020 census. It is included in the Sumter, South Carolina Metropolitan Statistical Area.
History
Orange Grove and St. Ph ...
where he was teammates on the school's
basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...
team with
Ray Allen
Walter Ray Allen Jr. (born July 20, 1975) is an American former professional basketball player. He played 18 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA) and was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame as a player in ...
. Wade played only one season of high school baseball team on a dare. After graduating in 1991, Wade worked a day job as a
bricklayer. In the summer of 1991, he impressed
Atlanta Braves
The Atlanta Braves are an American professional baseball team based in the Atlanta metropolitan area. The Braves compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) East division. The Braves were founded in Bos ...
scouts during a tryout and was signed to an amateur free agent contract.
Wade earned a
World Series ring
A World Series ring is an award given to Major League Baseball players who win the World Series. Since only one Commissioner's Trophy is awarded to the team, a World Series ring is an individual award that players and staff of each World Series ...
by pitching in three games in 1995, a total of four innings. His best season as a major leaguer was 1996 in which he pitched in 44 games, going 5-0 with an
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 ...
of 2.97.
He was selected by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays during the
expansion franchise draft following the 1997 season (November 18, 1997; 60th overall). He pitched a total of 10.2 innings with the Devil Rays posting a 5.06 ERA and 2-2 record.
He spent all of 1998 with the Triple A
Durham Bulls
The Durham Bulls are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League and the Triple-A affiliate of the Tampa Bay Rays. They are located in Durham, North Carolina, and play their home games at Durham Bulls Athletic Park, which opened ...
going 1-7 with a 9.49 ERA in 34 games. The following season he was signed by the
Cincinnati Reds but spent all season in the minors.
Wade played in the independent leagues from 2003 to 2004 before retiring.
References
External links
1973 births
Living people
Tampa Bay Devil Rays players
Atlanta Braves players
St. Petersburg Devil Rays players
Louisville RiverBats players
Greenville Braves players
Richmond Braves players
Macon Braves players
Chattanooga Lookouts players
Durham Bulls players
Nashua Pride players
Atlantic City Surf players
Macon Peaches players
Gulf Coast Braves players
Major League Baseball pitchers
Baseball players from South Carolina
Pennsylvania Road Warriors players
People from Sumter County, South Carolina
African-American baseball players
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