Ham Hyatt

Ham Hyatt was one of the first great pinch-hitters – a “star emergency swatter.”1 As a rookie with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1909, he entered the deciding game of the World Series as a sub, and his sacrifice fly gave a lead that the Bucs would never relinquish. Hyatt, an outfielder/first baseman, had a potent bat, but lacked defensive skill and speed in an era that particularly prioritized those attributes. These deficiencies precluded him from playing regularly in the majors.

Robert Hamilton Hyatt was born in Buncombe County, North Carolina, on November 1, 1884.2 He was the first child of Jesse Clay Hyatt, “a farmer, tax collector and peace officer,”3 and Eugenia (Genie) Louise Luther Hyatt, a homemaker. They married in 1882 and had eight more children: Ethel, Gertrude, Etta, Blanche, Grace, Hobart, Frank, and Mildred.

Hyatt debuted professionally in 1905 with the Hoquiam Loggers of the Southwest Washington League. He batted .350 that year and an even stronger .375 in 1906.4 Hyatt then played two seasons with Vancouver of the Northwestern League (the club was called the Canucks in 1907 and the Beavers in 1908). With the Beavers, Hyatt earned notice from Sporting Life, which called him one of “the heavy hitters for Vancouver. Faster company is predicted for ‘Ham’ before long, as he is also a great fielder and handles everything ‘just as easy.’”5 One may surmise that Hyatt’s defense in a Class B circuit may not have stood out as a liability.

Hyatt attracted the attention of Cincinnati in mid-1908.6 Shortly thereafter, Pittsburgh purchased his contract for $1,500.7 Scout Tim O’Rourke signed Hyatt for the Pirates.8 Before the 1909 season began, a Pittsburgh newspaper explained the signing. “Frank T. Jones, manager of the Butts ball club in the Montana State league, [had] written … to [Pittsburgh owner] Colonel [Barney] Dreyfuss… ‘What I like about Hyatt is his hitting. You can’t make him move an inch from the plate, and he really has no weakness on the kind of a ball pitched.’”9 Hyatt led Vancouver in 1908 in runs (102), homers (15), stolen bases (46), and total bases (271).

In 1909, over nearly two months with Pittsburgh, Hyatt appeared in just 11 games – all as a pinch-hitter, going 2-for-11. On June 8, he finally started his first game. Handling 11 chances flawlessly and scoring the tying run, he “did the first base job in handy fashion.” He also “ran the bases in superb style.”10

On August 16, 1909, the host Pirates trailed the Giants 2-1 in the eighth. New York ace Christy Mathewson faced pinch-hitter Hyatt, who hit “the horsehide … out into deep center. When it again reposed in Matty’s hands, Hyatt was on third.”11 He scored after his third pinch triple, and the game ended in a 2-2 tie after eight innings, maintaining Pittsburgh’s 11-game lead over the third-place Giants. Hyatt completed his rookie season batting .299 (20-for-67) in 49 game appearances, starting just four games in the outfield and two at first base. He paced NL pinch-hitters with nine safeties.12

That October, the Pirates and the Detroit Tigers met in the sixth World Series, the first in the best-of-seven format to go the limit. Hyatt first appeared in Game Six, grounding out as a pinch-hitter. In Game Seven, Pittsburgh third baseman Bobby Byrne got hit by a pitch in the top of the first; in the bottom half, Tommy Leach moved from the outfield to the hot corner. Hyatt batted in Byrne’s leadoff spot and replaced Leach in center field.

Thus, on baseball’s biggest stage, the spotlight found Hyatt – in extremely unfamiliar territory. Over the course of his career in the regular season, Hyatt had only 15 plate appearances in the leadoff slot. Furthermore, he played just nine games in center with only five starts, two of which came in 1909. He had never played in the outfield of Detroit’s Bennett Park.

In the second, Hyatt hit a sacrifice fly off Tigers right-hander Bill Donovan. That gave Pirates starter Babe Adams the only run he would need in the 8-0 clincher. Against reliever George Mullin, Hyatt walked in the fourth and scored Pittsburgh’s third run. He did not have a chance in center field.

On November 11, 1909, Ham married May Connolly. Like her husband, she was a North Carolina native, although they met at a party in Shelton, Washington.13 May worked there in her father’s butcher shop.14 In the offseason, Hyatt ran a pool hall in Vancouver with a former teammate, minor-league pitcher Rusty Hall.15

Again serving primarily as a pinch-hitter, Hyatt got off to a slow start during the 1910 season. His batting average did not exceed .200 until June 21. That came during a stretch of a little over a month (from June 15 through July 14) in which he was the regular first baseman. The primary starter at first, rookie John Flynn, missed time with a leg injury.16 In the first of those starts, Hyatt hit his first major league home run – again connecting against the great Christy Mathewson (the only run Matty allowed that day).

Hyatt started another 11 games at first in September and finished the season with a .263 batting average. Even though Pittsburgh lacked a regular first baseman, Hyatt had a doubtful future as a major leaguer owing to his lack of speed, questionable glovework, and an offensive record in his second season that fell below league average.

In his 1910 history of the game, Alfred H. Spink, unlike other commentators, praised Hyatt for his fielding prowess, albeit defensively, writing that “he is no unwieldy cow, depending only on his batting for a job. He moved up and down the field with the agility of a cat, although he is a giant in size [a hyperbolic description for the 6-foot-1, 185-pound Hyatt], he caught the long ones … and he threw with accuracy and tremendous power.”17

Over the ensuing winter, Cincinnati again expressed interest in Hyatt but could not come to terms with Pittsburgh.18 Thereafter, Ham was dispatched to the Kansas City Blues of the high minor American Association. He spent 1911 with the Blues, leading the club in triples (13), homers (14), and total bases (309). Hyatt led the AA in runs with 15919 and finished tied for second in homers behind Gavy Cravath, who later led the National League in this category in all but one year from 1913-1919.20

Hyatt also learned a valuable lesson. As he recounted in 1913, “When I was with Kansas City I was hitting well above .300 and they told me that if I quit hitting at the first ball I would be even better. … I followed [the] advice and learned … that it was a lot better to look one or two over so that I could judge the speed and the break of the … curve and time my swing better.”21

The Pirates reacquired Hyatt in September 1911 in part because manager Fred Clarke was “determined not to play next season.”22 (Indeed, the future Hall of Famer did not play in 1912, although he appeared in a dozen games over the ensuing three years.) But Hyatt still lacked a well-rounded game. In spring training 1912, one observer paid these backhanded compliments: “not as slow on his feet as he appears to be…far from being as awkward as he looks.”23

Hyatt made the Pirates roster but found himself again getting action mainly as a pinch-hitter over the first month or so of the season. He did start nine games in right field in June. After that, though, Hyatt spent most of the season on the bench.

On July 4, 1912, Pittsburgh hosted Cincinnati for a holiday doubleheader. In the second game, the Pirates trailed 2-1 in the home ninth. With one out against George Suggs, Honus Wagner had an infield single, and Dots Miller walked. Owen Wilson struck out. Pinch-hitting, Hyatt “swung his mighty cudgel at the second offering and rammed the pellet over the first cushion. It hit just inside the line.”24 The walk-off double gave the Pirates a dramatic 3-2 win.

Hyatt started five more times in right at the tail end of the season (Mike Donlin was out of action). Overall, Hyatt played in 46 Pirates games. He posted a powerless – only four extra-base hits in 97 at-bats – .289 batting average.

Hyatt wintered in Shelton during the 1912 offseason, building a railroad roundhouse 25 and working at his father-in-law’s butcher shop.26 That December, the Pirates waived Donlin – but that did not necessarily signal an opening for Hyatt. According to a Boston Globe report at the end of the month, “Ham Hyatt is on the skids. He’s a .300 hitter, too, and a fair fielder. But both he and Donlin ‘choked the bases’ last season according to Clarke.”27

A couple of years later, the Globe carried Hyatt’s “comeback on that allegation… none of the men preferred over him by Clark [sic] were ‘fast enough to steal first base.’”28 Hyatt has received credit for originating this insult.

Even Hyatt’s teammates mocked his lack of speed. Wally Rehg, who played with Hyatt in 1912, cracked, “There’s Ham at his old trick: stretching a two-bagger into a single.”29

Hyatt, in addition to running slowly, did not always run smartly. As this June 1912 account ran, he “thought he had a two-base strike out … Catcher [Ivey] Wingo let the third strike go through him and Ham went to second while [Max] Carey went from first to third. [Umpire Cy] Rigler declared Hyatt out under the rule that the catcher need not hold the third strike if first base is occupied.”30

Despite the uncertainty, Hyatt exuded confidence going into the 1913 season, boasting “that there is no doubt about his right to a place in the .300 class.”31 Pittsburgh beat writer Ed Balinger prominently invoked Hyatt’s name in verse with more famous figures in a preseason poem entitled The Big Show that began with these artful words:

The happy day is almost ripe,
The best of all the year;
When Wagner with his awful swipe,
Will castigate the sphere.

The famous Matty’s fade-away
And Ham Hyatt, pinch-hitter;
McGraw, with all his inside play
And Marty with his spitter.32

As the 1913 season developed, Hyatt again occupied a bench role. He started just seven games all year, the first on May 28. The next day, again starting at first base, he struck a memorable blow. Chicago led Pittsburgh 4-2 going into the bottom of the ninth. Wagner singled and Hyatt hit a titanic homer to tie the score. The Pirates completed the rally in the same frame and won 5-4. Another Pittsburgh scribe, James Jerpe, wrote that Hyatt’s blast “went over the right field screen and over the nine-foot fence … By some 10 feet it cleared the fence and landed in a little cobblestone street bordering Panther Hollow.”33

Hyatt became the first player to homer over the right-field fence at Forbes Field, a feat next accomplished by Babe Ruth in a 1920 exhibition game. As Jerpe noted in 1914, “Ham himself could never explain how he hit the ball so far. ‘I only know it felt nice when it left the bat.’”34

To celebrate the homer, a G.S. Applegarth poem (written more than one month earlier) called The Boy with the Pinch Wallop found its way into print, with this concluding stanza:

When the score is a tie
And excitement runs high
Till the throngs in the stands hold their breath
And the bases are filled
While the bleachers are stilled
With a hush like the silence of death,
And they call upon Ham
With his little old slam,
It is then we love this old geezer,
For we know it’s a cinch
When it comes to the pinch
He can bang that old ball on the beezer.35

Hyatt received plaudits for days after his clutch hit, as well as prizes including a Hart Schaffner Marx suit36 and extra shoe shining. Bobby Byrne, a lighter hitter, laughed about it. “I don’t blame Ham…If I ever hit one that far I’d make them shine my shoes a dozen times a time, and have a barber and a manicurist here for me after every game.”37

Hyatt got just 81 at-bats in 1913. He was productive in his limited role, though, posting a career-best .333 batting average and .372 on-base percentage. He also reached major league highs in homers (4) and slugging percentage (.605). Three of the homers came while pinch-hitting, then a record.

Hyatt’s lack of playing time seems questionable in retrospect and struck contemporaries as odd, too. Otto Knabe of the Phillies contended, “If that big fellow played regularly on a ground with short fences he would be the greatest slugger of all time.”38 Sportswriter Leslie C. Macpherson, Jr. argued that “it’s too bad that Fred [Clarke] cannot find some place on the team so that Ham can play every day. His batting more than offsets his fielding and slowness on the bases.”39

With an aggregate WAR of -2.6, Pittsburgh had the worst center field play of any National League team in 1913. Defensive liabilities like Mike Mitchell, Fred Kommers, Solly Hofman, Everett Booe, and Ed Mensor saw outfield action. Given young Max Carey’s defensive range and Hyatt’s bat, Clarke could have, depending on ballpark configuration, played Hyatt in left, Carey in center, and triples record-setter Owen Wilson in right. Alternately, Carey could have been in left, Wilson in center, and Hyatt in right. Had he done so, Clarke would have minimized Hyatt’s defensive exposure and maximized the Pittsburgh offense. Instead, Clarke played Hyatt in the field only 10 times in 1913 – even though, per plate appearance, he was the club’s most productive hitter.

Hyatt altered his offseason routine after the 1913 campaign by going to South Carolina. “Instead of … the logging camps of the Northwest Ham took the Southland for a change. Ham has his trusty motorcycle along with his rifle, meerschaum pipe and pinochle deck … [it] will keep him happy until reporting time rolls around.”40

Hyatt had an alternative to warming the bench in Pittsburgh: joining the nascent Federal League, which had begun play in 1913 as a six-team minor league operation and supposedly sought Hyatt.41 The Pittsburgh Filipinos represented a natural landing spot – Hyatt’s former teammate Deacon Phillippe managed the team, which scored the second fewest runs in the league. In 1914, the Federal League expanded to eight teams and declared itself a major league. The Pittsburgh club became the Rebels, and another former Pirates pitcher, Howie Camnitz, jumped to the local FL affiliate. Spurning an FL offer,42 Hyatt stayed with the Pirates after receiving a salary raise for the second straight season.43

James Jerpe proclaimed, “Fans would certainly welcome any move that would bring ‘Sure-Hit’ Ham up to bat four or five times every day instead of once in a pinch every now and then.”44 Nonetheless, from April 18 through June 28, 1914, Hyatt pinch-hit exclusively over a 31-game span.

That April, Hyatt’s glovework also became the subject of verse – albeit with a less epic tone – in Knox Forall’s The Pincher:

Consider Ham Hyatt,
How nobly he does bat;
But in the field
We all must yield,
He don’t know where he’s at.45

Clarke remained hesitant to play Hyatt in the field. Before the season, he had tried Hyatt at a new position, one typically reserved for slow players – namely, catcher. Hyatt had last caught for Vancouver in 1907.46 Seven years later, he expressed regret about the missed opportunity. “The greatest mistake I ever made in my life was not developing myself into a catcher,” mourns Ham Hyatt… “I began as a catcher and then allowed them to put me in the outfield. But I hope to be one yet.”47

Teammate George Gibson was then near the end of a career that saw him catch 1,156 games for Pittsburgh (he later managed another 759 in the National League). Gibson said of Hyatt as a backstop, “He handles himself nice behind the bat there. Just look how he pegs that ball around. With a little practice I don’t see why he wouldn’t develop into a good catcher.”48 Clarke agreed: “I figured that it would do no harm to let him get onto the hang of backstopping. … Ham is a great thrower and is built for that job. If he should be used regularly the best place … would be behind the bat.”49

After catching in a June 14, 1914, exhibition game,50 Hyatt finally got his official chance against St. Louis on July 1. With Pittsburgh trailing 4-0 in the top of the sixth, Ham batted for backstop Bob Coleman, grounded out, and stayed in the game at catcher. In the bottom of the eighth, Art Butler walked with one out, stole second base, advanced to third on a passed ball (“one of those low drops … missed by the best backstops”51), and scored an unearned run to put the Cardinals up 5-0 in a game that ended 5-1. Hyatt reached base in two of three plate appearances but never caught again except in an exhibition game for St. Louis in 1915.52

Earlier that month, off the field – foreshadowing a post-baseball pursuit – he helped policemen after a motorcycle race accident in Pittsburgh.53

Hyatt had his worst season in 1914, with career lows in batting average (.215) and slugging percentage (.316). He “whiffed so often that bugs bawled him out unmercifully.”54 Even so, Hyatt himself waxed poetic, cracking, “a bat is a bat for a’ that.”55 The allusion was to A Man’s A Man For A’ That by the sublime 18th century Scottish poet Robert Burns.

Despite his problems making contact, Hyatt led the National League with 14 pinch hits.56 After the season, he told the Pirates, “I have had a poor year and I think a change of scene would do me good. I have no kick on the treatment accorded me here, but I would like to figure in a deal that might take me to a club where I might be used oftener.”57

His tenure with the Pirates and Clarke ended when the Cardinals, managed by another future Hall of Famer – Miller Huggins – acquired Hyatt in November 1914. A dispute arose about the consummation of the transaction. Pittsburgh purportedly wanted to hold on to Hyatt; Cincinnati, for at least a third time, expressed interest in him. Sporting Life correspondent Chandler D. Richter archly but accurately observed that “it is hard to see where Hyatt would strengthen either enough to warrant all the fuss.”58

Finally playing semi-regularly, Hyatt had his best season for St. Louis in 1915, setting major league career highs in various categories, including runs (23), base hits (79), doubles (8), triples (9), RBIs (46), and walks (28). He attributed his success to higher usage, saying, “This is the first time I ever got a thorough chance…I’ve been in and out, never getting used to a job long enough to play it right. … That’s why I might have done a little better than … expected.”59

On June 18, 1915, Hyatt faced Pat Ragan of Boston in a tie game with the bases loaded and one out in the bottom of the 12th. Hyatt singled to win the game. St. Louis sportswriter L.C. Davis delivered this tribute to the heroic hitter:

With three men on bases
The pitcher who faces
Our trusty old “Hambone” had best have a care;

Don’t fool with Ham Hyatt,
For, if you should try it,
You’ll find, to your sorrow, old “Hambone” is there.60

A Pittsburgh reporter wrote, “That fellow who said Ham Hyatt couldn’t play first must have been joshing himself. Ham showed his caliber to Miller Huggins and the Card fans … when he took 21 chances at the initial corner without an error and drove in the winning run in the twelfth.”61

In his age-30 season in 1915, Hyatt’s lack of speed made him a better fit for first base than left or right. As Davis joked, “Ham Hyatt covers more ground than any outfielder in the business. That is, when he is standing still.”62

Getting a winning hit against Ragan must have especially gratifying for Hyatt because he considered the Boston pitcher the hardest to hit, “even though I have occasionally broken up a game for him. [Hippo] Vaughn of the Cubs was next hardest for me, and the other ones were correspondingly effective in the order named: [Grover] Alexander, [Red] Ames, [Dick] Rudolph, [Larry] Cheney.”63

After a season in St. Louis, the Cardinals reportedly sent Hyatt to St. Paul of the American Association64 before selling him instead to Chattanooga of the Southern Association.65 Hyatt hit well in two seasons with the Lookouts and garnered major-league interest – Brooklyn was rumored to acquire him.66

With U.S. involvement in World War I siphoning off playing talent, Hyatt returned to the majors in 1918 with the Yankees, then managed by his former skipper Huggins, as a replacement-in-waiting for first baseman Wally Pipp. “Hyatt will be played at first base when Pipp is ordered to report to the navy, a call which may come any day. Hyatt led the Southern Association in hitting last year, and evidently still retains his batting ability,” the New York Times reported.67

Baseball completed a truncated season despite calls to stop the game entirely. “President Jacob Ruppert of the Yankees said … that he favored continuing … if enough players could be obtained to take the places of the regular players who will be forced to take up essential employment under the fight-or-work order. Frank Baker and Ham Hyatt will be the only players Huggins will have left.”68

Hyatt did not distinguish himself in New York and failed to report to spring training in 1919, so the Yanks sent him to Toledo of the American Association.69 The demotion brought his major league career to a close. In 465 games over seven seasons, Ham registered a.267 batting average (247-for-925, with 69 extra-base hits). He also scored 85 runs while driving in 145 more. Defensively, Hyatt had fielding percentages of .989 at first base in 125 games and .950 in the outfield with little range in 84 appearances.

Hyatt retired holding the career record for pinch hits with 57.70 Partial credit goes to Clarke for frequently picking “the proper spot to use … his sterling pincher. Hyatt’s ability to come through in the crisis has been remarkable.”71 Hyatt might have made a fine designated hitter. Indeed, a reporter included his name as a player who would have thrived in this role when league magnates discussed legalizing the DH during the 1928 offseason.72

Hyatt played for Toledo in 1919 and part of 1920. He then went to the Vernon Tigers of the Pacific Coast League as part of a package of players to be named later for Johnny Mitchell, a touted prospect who never realized his promise. Hyatt remained in Vernon through 1923, when the Tigers sent him to Galveston of the Texas League.73 Bill Essick, Vernon’s manager from 1918-1925, tried but failed to entice Hyatt to return to the Tigers in 1925.74

Upon leaving the game, Hyatt became a Washington state employee as a policeman and liquor store clerk, settling in Spokane with his family, which included daughters Kathleen (born in 1911) and Margaret (1926), along with sons Robert (1922) and Thomas (1924). Said Ham, “I like my district, which includes Spokane and Stevens counties. The children are in school and that … anchors you down.”75

Hyatt lived and worked quietly for the next three decades. At age 78, on September 15, 1963, he died of colon cancer. Following a Funeral Mass said at Sacred Heart Church, his remains were interred at Holy Cross Cemetery, Spokane. Survivors included the deceased’s mother, who lived a year beyond her eldest child before dying at the age of 97.

In 1924, Wagner, the greatest Pirate ever, named Ham Hyatt (along with Sammy Strang) as pinch-hitter on his all-time team,76 an appropriate tribute to a talented batsman who made much of his limited opportunities.

Acknowledgments

This biography was reviewed by Bill Lamb and Rory Costello and fact-checked by Rod Nelson.

Photo credit: Ham Hyatt, Trading Card Database.

Notes

1 “Campbell Looks Good in Boston,” Pittsburgh Post, February 22, 1912: 10.

2 Baseball-Reference lists December 1, 1883, as Hyatt’s birth date.

3  “Mrs. Hyatt Turns 96,” Asheville (North Carolina) Citizen, June 2, 1963: 6.

4 John Gruber, “Ham Hyatt, Lacking Speed to Make Real Star, Gained Fame in Majors by Excellent Ability to Handle Bat,” Pittsburgh Post, December 13, 1925: section 3, page 4.

5 “The Northwestern League,” Sporting Life, May 9, 1908: 24.

6 “A Fight, Not a Hugging Match,” Vancouver (British Columbia) Daily World, July 3, 1908: 14.

7 “Pertinent Paragraphs Pertaining to Players,” Vancouver Daily World, July 21, 1908: 14.

8 “Stray Notes of Sports,” Vancouver Daily World, December 15, 1908: 14.

9 “Leach Will Pilot Advance Squad to West Baden on Monday, March 8,” Pittsburgh Post, February 12, 1909: 14.

10 “Sporting Notes,” Pittsburgh Post, June 9, 1909: 14.

11 “Skies and Fans Roar and Yell at Great Play,” Pittsburgh Gazette Times, August 17, 1909: 1.

12 The Baseball Encyclopedia (Toronto: The Macmillan Company: 1969), 1011.

13 “How Little Hammie Hyatt Batted His Way to Fame,” Pittsburgh Sunday Post, March 29, 1914: Sporting section 2.

14 “Wedding Bells for Ham Hyatt,” Vancouver Daily World, November 12, 1909: 1.

15 “National League Notes,” Sporting Life, February 5, 1910: 6.

16 “Quickly Sold,” Sporting Life, June 25, 1910: 1.

17 Alfred H. Spink, The National Game (St. Louis: National Game Publishing Co.: 1910), 246.

18 “Cincinnati Would Take Pinch-Hitter Sam sic Hyatt from the Pirate Crew,” Pittsburgh Gazette Times, January 25, 1911: 11.

19 “Gavvy Cravath Leads American Association,” Pittsburgh Post, December 10, 1911: 3. The clipping mentioned in the second footnote also credits Hyatt with 26 sacrifices and 20 steals, two datapoints absent from his Baseball-Reference record.

20 One Pittsburgh writer suggested that Hyatt, had he received more playing time, could have had a Cravath kind of career: “Cravath is no faster than Hyatt but he plays regularly and is the most valuable member of the Phillies.” James Jerpe, “On and Off the Field,” Pittsburgh Gazette Times, June 17, 1914: 11.

21 “‘Just Meet the Ball’– Hyatt,” Pittsburgh Gazette Times, September 7, 1913: section 3, page 4.

22 “National League News in Short Metre,” Sporting Life, January 6, 1912: 7.

23 “Breezy Notes from Pirates Camp at Hot Springs,” Pittsburgh Sunday Post, March 31, 1912: 3.

24 Ed F. Balinger, “Redlegs Are Conquered Twice by Buccaneers before Big Holiday Crowds at Forbes Field,” Pittsburgh Post, July 5, 1912: Sporting News section 4.

25 James Jerpe, “Hyatt as Lumberjack,” Pittsburgh Gazette Times, December 24, 1912: 10. More than one century later, the Blue Jays play across the street from a former railroad roundhouse in downtown Toronto.

26 James Jerpe, “Howard Camnitz Latest to Sign Pirate Contract,” Pittsburgh Gazette Times, February 4, 1913: 10.

27 “Speed Is Clarke’s Demand,” Boston Globe, December 30, 1912: 6. As a 30-year-old, Donlin stole 30 bases for the Giants in 1908; as a 34-year-old, he swiped just 8 for the Pirates in 1912

28 “Hyatt’s Philosophy,” Boston Globe, December 19, 1914: 5.

29 “Hyatt Loves to Wallop Ball,” Pittsburgh Gazette Times, March 25, 1913: 10.

30 James Jerpe, “On and Off the Field,” Pittsburgh Gazette Times, June 20, 1912: 12.

31 “Notes From the Pirates’ Training Camp,” Pittsburgh Post, March 31, 1913: Sports 1.

32 Ed F. Balinger, “The Big Show,” Pittsburgh Sunday Post, April 6, 1913: Sporting section 2. The poem mentions baseball immortals Honus Wagner, Christy Mathewson, and John McGraw along with the highly touted Marty O’Toole, called the “$22,500 Beauty” in reference to the sum that Pittsburgh had spent on his acquisition.

33 James Jerpe, “Hyatt Hits Record Breaking Home Run; Pirates Beat Cubs,” Pittsburgh Gazette Times, May 30, 1913: 14.

34 James Jerpe, “Huggins Gets Ham Hyatt from Pirates for Cash,” Pittsburgh Gazette Times, December 19, 1914: 10.

35 G.S. Applegarth, “The Boy with the Pinch Wallop,” Pittsburgh Gazette Times, May 30, 1913: 15.

36 “Copy of Telegram Received by Ham Hyatt from the Arnfeld Co.,” Pittsburgh Gazette Times, June 1, 1913: section 4, page 7.

37 James Jerpe, “On and Off the Field,” Pittsburgh Gazette Times, June 1, 1913: section 3, page 2.

38 James Jerpe, “On and Off the Field,” Pittsburgh Gazette Times, July 29, 1913: 8.

39 Leslie C. Macpherson, Jr., “Breaking Records,” Pittsburgh Sunday Post, July 4, 1913: Sporting section 1.

40 “National League News in Short Metre,” Sporting Life, January 10, 1914: 10.

41 Knox Forall, “The Morning Hatchet,” Pittsburgh Post, January 5, 1914: 11.

42 “Players Not Dissatisfied,” Pittsburgh Post, March 12, 1914: 11. Hyatt may have again flirted with the Feds after his acquisition by the Cardinals before the 1915 season. L.C. Davis, “Sports Salad,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, March 3, 1915: 14.

43 James Jerpe, “Adams and Hyatt Sign; Ham’s Salary Boosted,” Pittsburgh Gazette Times, January 20, 1914: 10.

44 James Jerpe, “On and Off the Field,” Pittsburgh Gazette Times, April 2, 1914: 10.

45 Knox Forall, “The Morning Hatchet,” Pittsburgh Post, May 26, 1914: 17.

46 “Canucks Went up in Ninth and Lost,” Vancouver Daily World, July 25, 1907: 13.

47 “National League Notes,” Sporting Life, April 25, 1914: 7.

48 “Hyatt May Become Buccaneer Catcher,” Pittsburgh Gazette Times, April 12, 1914: section 3, page 3.

49 James Jerpe, “Babe Adams Will Pitch for the Pirates,” Pittsburgh Gazette Times, April 14, 1914: 10.

50 “Mamaux Pitches Exhibition Game Against Albany and Shows up Well,” Pittsburgh Post, June 15, 1914: 11. Hyatt’s performance behind the dish failed to impress one wag, who wrote, “As a catcher, Hyatt is the league’s best pinch-hitter.” Knox Forall, “The Morning Hatchet,” Pittsburgh Post, June 16, 1914: 13.

51 “Notes from Cardinaltown,” Pittsburgh Post, July 2, 1914: 14.

52 “Hyatt Behind Bat for Cards,” Pittsburgh Gazette Times, March 14, 1915: section 3, page 4.

53 “Motorcycle Kills Two Spectators at Races and Injures Several,” [Pittsburgh] Gazette Times, June 4, 1914: 1.

54 A.R. Cratty, “Pittsburgh Pennings,” Sporting Life, December 26, 1914: 3.

55 James Jerpe, “O’Day Is Scared at an Early Rain,” Pittsburgh Gazette Times, April 28, 1914: 12.

56 L. Robert Davids, “New Records for Pinch Hitters,” SABR Baseball Research Journal, 1977, sabr.org/journal/article/new-records-for-pinch-hitters/ (accessed March 17, 2026). Hyatt also led the American League in pinch-hit at-bats with 21 in 1918.

57 James Jerpe, “Land of Shorter Fences Would Please Ham Hyatt,” Pittsburgh Gazette Times, October 29, 1914: 10.

58 Chandler D. Richter, “Side-Lights on Base Ball,” Sporting Life, November 28, 1914: 12.

59 W.J. O’Connor, “Baseball Flag Follows ‘Ham’ Hyatt Every Time He Joins Another Team,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, June 22, 1915: 10.

60 L.C. Davis, “Sports Salad,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, June 19, 1915: 8.

61 Charles J. Doyle, “On the Side,” Pittsburgh Gazette Times, June 19, 1915: 11.

62 L.C. Davis, “Sports Salad,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, September 20, 1915: 12.

63 Ham Hyatt, “Six Hardest Pitchers I Have Ever Faced,” Boston Globe, February 22, 1916: 7.

64 “Ham Hyatt, Former Pirate Slugger, Sold to Minors,” Pittsburgh Gazette Times, February 27, 1916: section 3, page 2.

65 “Hyatt to Chattanooga,” Pittsburgh Post, April 9, 1916: Sporting section 3.

66 “Well! Well! Here’s Ol’ Ham Hyatt A-Comin’ Back to Civilization,” Pittsburgh Post, April 2, 1918: Sporting section 1.

67 “Three Local Clubs Get Young Players,” New York Times, June 23, 1918: Sports 5.

68 “Ruppert in Favor of Continuing Game,” New York Times, July 21, 1918: Sports 1.

69 “Ham Hyatt Is Released to Toledo Club,” Pittsburgh Gazette Times, April 15, 1919: 15.

70 The Baseball Encyclopedia, 65.

71 Billy Evans, “Pinch Hitters Only Effective in Spots,” New York Times, November 23, 1913: Sports 3.

72 James C. O’Leary, “Weak Hitting Pitchers May Not Go to Bat,” Boston Globe, December 12, 1928: 25.

73 Edward F. Balinger, “Hyatt Goes South to Wallop Sphere in Texas Circuit,” Pittsburgh Post, February 1, 1924: Sporting section 1.

74 Harry M. Grayson, “Essick’s Tigers Even Up Count in 6th Session,” San Francisco Examiner, May 8, 1925: 31.

75 “State Officer Knew Baseball,” Spokane (Washington) Spokesman-Review, December 7, 1937: 6.

76 Hans Wagner, “Wagner Presents His All-American, All-Star Baseball Team of All Time,” Pittsburgh Gazette Times, February 11, 1924: 14.