Harry Hooper

From SoSH

Harry Hooper was born August 24, 1887 in Bell-Station, California. He signed with the Red Sox in 1909 and played there until he was traded to the White Sox in 1921. Hooper played with Chicago until he ended his career in 1925. Hooper was elected into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1971.

Contents 1 Overall Career 2 Moment in the Sun 3 Red Sox Career Records 4 Trivia 5 Transactions 6 External Links

Overall Career

Hooper signed with the Red Sox for $2,850 in 1909. He was the right fielder in the fabled "Million Dollar Outfield" with Tris Speaker and Duffy Lewis. His strong, accurate arm accounted for 150 of the trio's 455 assists. Hooper never led the American League in any of the important offensive categories, but he did compile a valuable .403 on-base average as the Red Sox leadoff hitter from 1909 to 1920, and became the Red Sox' all-time leader in triples with 130 and in stolen bases with 300. He went on to collect 2,466 hits over 17 seasons.

Hooper was a career .281 hitter with 75 home runs, 817 RBI, 1429 runs, 2466 hits, 389 doubles, 160 triples, and 375 stolen bases in 2309 games.

Moment in the Sun

Hooper secured a Boston victory in the final game of the 1912 Series with his bare-handed, game-saving catch off Larry Doyle which prevented victory by the Giants.

Red Sox Career Records

• Triples-130

• Stolen Bases-300

Trivia

• On May 30, 1913 Hooper became the first player to hit a home run to leadoff both games of a doubleheader, a mark only matched by Rickey Henderson 80 years later.

• Hooper is the only person to be a part of four Red Sox World Series championships: in 1912, 1915, 1916 and 1918.

• On October 13, 1915, he became the first player to hit two home runs in a single World Series game.

• Earned a Civil Engineering degree from St. Mary's College (California), and worked as a surveyor for the Western Pacific Railroad before joining the Red Sox.

• It has been written (Timothy Gay: Tris Speaker, p. 16) that Hooper would juggle, but not catch, a sacrafice fly while moving toward the infield, thereby preventing the runner on third base from tagging up and scoring. The author claims that Hooper’s antics caused the league to change the rule to allow the runner to leave for home on initial contact by the outfielder, instead of when the outfielder catches the fly.

Transactions

• November 23, 1908: Signed as a Free Agent with the Boston Red Sox.
• March 4, 1921: Traded by the Boston Red Sox to the Chicago White Sox for Shano Collins and Nemo Leibold.

External Links

• Baseball-Reference.com - Career Statistics and Analysis