- Joined
- Aug 6, 2016
William Ellsworth "Dummy" Hoy
May 23, 1862 – December 15, 1961
(United States Public Domain)
May 23, 1862 - there is fighting this day in Warren County, Virginia; but on this Friday in a small town called Houcktown located in Ohio a baby was born. Billy Hoy, as he was called, had a good life until he was 3 years old and contracted meningitis. He survived the illness yet it would leave him deaf. But he had a destiny to fulfill and his deafness was not going to stop him for achieving his love. His love and his dream . . . was baseball.
A talented student he was class valedictorian when he graduated the Ohio State School for the Deaf. He began a shoe repair shop but always played baseball on his time off, eventually earning a professional contract in 1887 with a team in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. By 1888 he was with the Washington Nationals of the National League. He was the 3rd deaf player playing professional baseball.
During this time in history, people who were unable to hear were usually not able to speak and were therefore called “dumb”. Billy Hoy began using the name “Dummy” Hoy and it was soon what he preferred to be called and corrected people that called him by any other name. Dummy Hoy became his name.
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Known for his speed, when he was a rookie he led the National League in stolen bases. Records indicate he stood at 5'6" and weighed in at 160 pounds.
He was fast on his feet as he played in the outfield. He was able to run from the outfield to play shallow and as a result on June 19, 1889, he set a MLB record by throwing out three runners at home plate in one game. (This record has since been tied twice.) {*}.
Dummy Hoy became a remarkable baseball player. He is the 1st baseball player in the American League to hit a “gran slam” home run. This happened in 1901.
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(United States Public Domain)
A Summary of His Career
The Teams He Played On
Washington Nationals (1888–1889)
Buffalo Bisons (1890)
St. Louis Browns (1891)
Washington Senators (1892–1893)
Cincinnati Reds (1894–1897)
Louisville Colonels (1898–1899)
Chicago White Sox (1901)
Cincinnati Reds (1902) *
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His Stats
288 batting average
2048 hits, 1429 runs, 725 runs batted in
248 doubles, 121 triples and 40 home runs
488 stolen bases from 1888 through 1897
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What was his greatest contribution to the game of baseball? This question is debated even today. The story is told that when Hoy was at bat he could not hear the umpire’s shouts of whether the pitch was a “ball” or “strike” which created a problem for Hoy. He asked his 3rd base coach if he could signal with his right hand if the ball was a strike and his left hand if it was a ball. The coach started doing this when Hoy was in the outfield and was this the beginning of hand signals that are now used by umpires, coachers and players to this day? There is one thing that is certain. The fans began using signals to cheer for Dummy Hoy. They would jump and wave their hands instead of clapping and cheering.(United States Public Domain)
A Summary of His Career
The Teams He Played On
Washington Nationals (1888–1889)
Buffalo Bisons (1890)
St. Louis Browns (1891)
Washington Senators (1892–1893)
Cincinnati Reds (1894–1897)
Louisville Colonels (1898–1899)
Chicago White Sox (1901)
Cincinnati Reds (1902) *
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His Stats
288 batting average
2048 hits, 1429 runs, 725 runs batted in
248 doubles, 121 triples and 40 home runs
488 stolen bases from 1888 through 1897
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Not everyone is quick to give Hoy credit for “hand signals. There was this report to contradict the claim (that Hoy himself never made).
“Some historians credit Hoy with umpires using hand signals for balls and strikes and safe and out calls, but their view is open to question. Bill Deane challenges that claim. Deane said, "We can find no contemporary articles about Hoy, or even any written while he was alive, that claim a connection between Hoy and the umpire's hand signals--much less any claim by Hoy himself." Bill Klem, a showboating umpire who began his umpiring career two years after Hoy retired, is officially credited with inventing hand signals as noted on his Hall of Fame plaque.” {2}
Whatever story is true it doesn’t take away from Dummy Hoy’s career when he played the game.
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After his career he married his deaf-wife Anna a teacher of the deaf in Ohio. They married at the home where Anna grew up - the Children' Home in Cincinnati, Ohio. Together they had 6 children, 2 died during childbirth, and one died during the Spanish flu epidemic. Hoy lived to see a son serve as a Judge and a grandson serve in the Ohio State House of Representatives, there is little information on what happened to his other 2 children Carmen and Clover. Dummy Hoy lived to dance the Charleston when he was 80 and when he was 99 and he attended Crosley Field the site of his former home field where he threw out the ball for the 3rd game of the 1961 World Series. Unfortunately Hoy’s team the Cincinnati Reds lost that day to the New York Yankees (the Yankees won the title 2 games later). Dummy Hoy died just 5 months shy of his 100th birthday.
He was the first player to be inducted in the American Athletic Association for the Deaf’s Hall of Fame. The year was 1951. although there is one honor that escapes him today - - the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY.
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Sources
1. https://www.startasl.com/dummy-hoy/
2. https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/763405ef
3. *Wikipedia/Dummy Hoy