Haywood Sullivan

From SoSH

Haywood Cooper Sullivan (December 15, 1930, Donalsonville, Georgia - February 12, 2003, Fort Myers, Florida) was a journeyman catcher who became a part owner and general manager of the Boston Red Sox after the death in 1975 of owner Tom Yawkey.

Contents 1 Life Before Baseball 2 Baseball Career 3 Life After Baseball 4 Trivia 5 Transactions 6 External Links

Life Before Baseball

Sullivan grew up in Dothan, Alabama. He was an outstanding football quarterback for the University of Florida. Although he played for only two years, he set 12 passing records for game, season or career that would stand until Heisman Trophy winner Steve Spurrier broke them in 1966.

Baseball Career

In 1952, Sullivan signed with the Red Sox organization as a catcher for $50,000. He was drafted by the Washington Senators in the 1960 expansion draft and traded before the 1961 season to the Kansas City Athletics for pitcher Marty Kutyna and cash.

Due to back problems, Sullivan played in only 312 games during seven seasons with the Red Sox and the Athletics, retiring after the 1963 season with a career batting average of .226. He managed for one season in the major leagues with the 1965 Athletics.

After managing the Athletics, Sullivan was hired as director of personnel and player development by the Red Sox, and then was named general manager when Mrs. Jean Yawkey, the widow of Tom Yawkey, fired Dick O'Connell after the 1977 season. With financial assistance from Mrs. Yawkey, Sullivan became one of three general partners of the Red Sox in May 1978.

“I came from nothing,” Sullivan told The Boston Globe in 1994. “I was a player in an era when you didn’t ever go up to the front office. I moved along as a coach and a manager. But never in my wildest dreams did I feel I would be involved in ownership.”

Seeking to hold down salaries, the Red Sox of the Sullivan era failed to retain two of their best players. Carlton Fisk, a hero in New England, went to the Chicago White Sox as a free agent in 1981 after because Sullivan had failed to meet the deadline for a contract submission. He also traded the outfielder Fred Lynn to the Angels before the 1981 season.

In the first years of free agency, Sullivan expressed a yearning for times past, for the days when he was a player and agents had yet to take over contract negotiations. “I like the clubhouse relationships,” he remarked in 1981, the year that Fisk and Lynn departed. “I like the days when everyone had a good time around baseball.”

Life After Baseball

After selling his Red Sox minority ownership in 1993, Sullivan became a real estate developer in Fort Myers. He died after suffering a stroke at the age of 72 in February 2003. A year later, Sullivan was posthumously inducted into the Red Sox Hall of Fame.

Trivia

• Son Marc Sullivan, also a catcher, spent his entire career in the Red Sox organization from 1979 to 1987.
• First major league hit came for Boston in 1960 after five seasons and 16 at bats.

Transactions

• Before 1952 Season: Signed by the Boston Red Sox as an amateur free agent.
• December 14, 1960: Drafted by the Washington Senators from the Boston Red Sox in the 1960 Expansion Draft.
• December 29, 1960: Traded by the Washington Senators to the Kansas City Athletics for Marty Kutyna and cash.

External Links

• Baseball-Reference.com - Career Statistics and Analysis
• GatorSports.com football biography
• Wikipedia article