Monday, November 21, 2011

Hughie Jennings: Baseball Hall of Fame Class of 1945

Born: April 2, 1869

Debut: June 1, 1891 (Louisville Colonels)

1893: Traded to Baltimore Orioles

1896: Set ML record with 51 hit by pitches

1896: Hit .401

1896-98: Hit 202 times. One beaning left him unconscious for 3 days.

1898: Suffered arm injury which limited his fielding ability

1899: Sent to Brooklyn Superbas

1899: Traded back to the Orioles and then immediately returned to Brooklyn

1899: Attended Cornell Law School; on one occasion, he dove into an empty pool causing a skull fracture

1901: Sold to Phillies

1903: Returned to Brooklyn

1903: Traded to Baltimore

1905: Passed the Bar Exam

1906: Signed by the Detroit Tigers to manage

1907-09: Tigers won the pennant, but lost the World Series each time

1911: Involved in bad car accident

1912: Tigers went on strike forcing Jennings to play. The umpire noted on the lineup card: “Jennings batted for exercise”

1920: Stepped down as Tiger manager. He was the Tigers’ all-time wins leader until passed by Sparky Anderson.

1920: Final Tiger record: 1131-972 (.538)

1921-25: Served as coach and sometimes as manager of New York Giants.

1924-25: Record as Giants fill-in manager: 53-23 (.697)

1925: Suffered an illness forcing his retirement

1926: Claimed it would be easy to fix games…his statement caused a controversy. He was forced to issue a statement claiming he never cheated or threw games.

Died: February 1, 1928

1945: Elected to Hall of Fame

1992: Sparky Anderson passes Jennings as the Tigers winningest manager

Accomplishments:
.312 career hitter

18 home runs

840 RBI

359 stolen bases

Scored 100+ runs: 5x

200+ hits: 2x

41 doubles (1895)

100+ RBI: 3x

Hit .300+: 5x

Hit .350+: 3x

Hit .401 in 1896

Led the league in HBP: 5x

Led league in sac hits (28) in 1895

.391 career OBP

.400+ OBP: 7x

.512 slugging (1895)

Managerial Record:
1184-995 (.543) 3 pennants

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