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Hughie Jennings Stats & Facts

Hughie Jennings

Positions: Shortstop and First Baseman
Bats: Right  •  Throws: Right 5-8, 165lb (173cm, 74kg)
Born: April 2, 1869 in Pittston, PA
Died: February 1, 1928  in Scranton, PA
Buried: St. Catherine’s Cemetery, Moscow, PA
School: Mansfield University of Pennsylvania (Mansfield, PA)
Debut: 1891 (1,582nd in major league history)
Last Game: September 2, 1918

Hall of Fame: Inducted as Player in 1945. (Voted by Old Timers Committee) No induction ceremony in Cooperstown held (until 2013). View Hughie Jennings’s Page at the Baseball Hall of Fame (plaque, photos, videos).

Full Name: Hugh Ambrose Jennings

Nicknames: Ee-Yah

View Player Info from the B-R Bullpen View Player Bio from the SABR BioProject

Players Who Debuted in 1891

Bill Dahlen
Clark Griffith
Theodore Breitenstein
Joe Kelley
John McGraw
Hughie Jennings
Frank Killen
Jouett Meekin
Buck Freeman

All-Time Teammate Team

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Notable Events and Chronology

 

Biography

Hughey Jennings may be one of the most misunderstood Hall of Fame members. He was elected as a shortstop, but many books and historians continue to claim he was elected because of his managerial career with the Detroit Tigers. Certainly he could have been – he led the Bengals to three straight pennants from 1907 to 1909, and he won 1,131 games in his 16-year career as a manager. But it was his hustling and sometimes vicious style of play with the famous Baltimore Orioles of the 1890s that earned Jennings his place in Cooperstown. In 1,285 games he tallied 1,527 hits and scored nearly 1,000 runs, and he once hit .401 for the Orioles. When he was 40-years old he was 2-for-4 as a pinch-hitter for his 1909 Tigers and he played his final game at the age of 49. The 1890s Orioles In 1892 Ned Hanlon took over the reigns of the Baltimore Orioles, in their first season in the National League after a decade of mediocrity in the American Association. The Orioles lost 101 games that year and finished dead-last in the 12-team league. Within two years Baltimore was the premier team in the league, thanks in large part to Hanlon’s genius. Jennings and others formed a Hall of Fame lineup which steamrolled opponents for three seasons. The Orioles boasted six Hall of Famers in their everyday lineup: Wilbert Robinson behind the plate, Dan Brouthers at first, John McGraw at third, Jennings at shortstop, Joe Kelley in center field and Wee Willie Keeler in right field. They won the NL pennant in 1894, 1895 and 1896. In 1897 and 1898 they finished a close second. In 1899, when Hanlon jumped to the Brooklyn team, Jennings, Kelley and Keller went with him and the quartet won two more pennants, in 1899 and 1900. Best Season: 1896 Jennings hit .401, with a .476 OBP, 209 hits, 125 runs scored in 130 games, 121 RBI and 70 steals. No telling what he may have hit had he not been hit by 51 pitches

A lifetime of tragic accidents

Jennings’ life was filled with several tragic accidents. There was the beaning incident in Philadelphia that left him unconscious for three days. While attending Cornell, he fractured his skull diving head-first into a swimming pool at night, only to find the pool had been emptied. In December 1911, Jennings came close to death after an off-season automobile accident. While driving a car given to him by admirers, Jennings’ car overturned while crossing a bridge near Goldsboro, Pennsylvania. In the crash, Jennings again fractured his skull, suffered a concussion of the brain, and broke both legs and his left arm. For several days after the accident, doctors were unsure if Jennings would survive. The physical abuse and blows to the head undoubtedly took their toll. During the 1925 season, McGraw was ill, and Jennings was put in full charge of the Giants. The team finished in second place and the strain caught up with Jennings, who suffered a nervous breakdown when the season ended. According to his obituary, Jennings “was unable to report” to spring training in 1926 due to his condition. Jennings retired to the Winyah Sanatorium in Asheville, North Carolina. He did return home to Scranton, Pennsylvania, spending much of his time recuperating in the Pocono Mountains. In early 1928, Jennings died from meningitis in Scranton, Pennsylvania at age 58.

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