Marty Hogan

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For the championship racquetball player, see Marty Hogan (racquetball player).
Marty Hogan

Born October 25, 1869(1869-10-25)
Flag of England Wednesbury, England
Died August 15, 1923 (aged 53)
Flag of the United States Youngstown, Ohio

Martin Francis Hogan (October 25, 1869 – August 15, 1923), nicknamed "The Indianapolis Ringer", was an Anglo-American right fielder in Major League Baseball who played for the Cincinnati Reds (1894) and St. Louis Browns (1894–1895). After leaving the National League, Hogan moved on to the minor league Indianapolis Hoosiers; he set a national baserunning record in 1895.[1]

When his playing career ended, he worked as a minor league baseball manager in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. As a manager, Hogan groomed several pitchers who excelled in the major leagues. He signed future stars Stan Coveleski and Sam Jones to their first professional contracts[2] and helped launch the career of Roy Castleton, the first native of Utah to play in the major leagues.[2]

In 1912, Hogan was among dozens of veteran managers invited to participate in the United States Baseball League, often referred to as the "Outlaw League".[3] When plans for the alternative major league unraveled, Hogan resumed his career as a minor league manager, with mixed results. He eventually resettled in his adopted hometown of Youngstown, Ohio, where he died in 1923.

Contents

[edit] Early years

Hogan was born to Patrick J. Hogan, Sr., and his wife, the former Margaret Gillen, in the West Midlands industrial town of Wednesbury, Staffordshire England.[1] When he was still a child, his parents, both natives of Ireland, relocated the family from England to Youngstown, Ohio, a steel-production center near the Pennsylvania border.[1] The Hogan family settled on the city's near west side, in a working-class district known as Westlake's Crossing.[4]

In Youngstown, Hogan's father, Patrick J. Hogan, Sr., secured employment as a steelworker,[5] while his older brother, Patrick J. Hogan, Jr., worked his way up to the position of "roller" at the Union Steel Company (later consolidated with U.S. Steel).[6] Martin Hogan moved in the direction of an athletic career, gaining early recognition as a "foot racer".[1] His interest in sports was evidently encouraged by his father, who closely followed his son's baseball career even in later life.[5] Patrick J. Hogan, Sr.'s obituary described him as "a great baseball fan", who "was as quick to appreciate a clever 'steal' or a 'heady' play as any one of the younger generation".[5]

While little is known about Martin Hogan's early years in Youngstown, there is evidence that he was popular among local residents. His obituary referred to him as an individual "of pleasing personality" who "made many friends during his long residence in Youngstown".[1] Another newspaper article described him as "a good fellow",[7] and a third indicated he was well liked among players with whom he worked.[8] At the same time, Hogan was reportedly quick to comment when he felt he was treated unfairly.[9]

[edit] Playing career

The 1894 St. Louis Browns (Hogan in second row, second from left).
The 1894 St. Louis Browns (Hogan in second row, second from left).

He began his career as a major league player with the Cincinnati Reds, on August 4, 1894, but played only six games before switching to the St. Louis Browns. By this time, St. Louis had been frozen out of the league championship, after being tied with Cleveland and Boston for first place in April.[10] Hogan participated in 29 games with St. Louis in the 1894 season. According to the 1895 edition of Spalding's Official Baseball Guide, he ranked tenth among league outfielders with a percentage of .941 for put-outs, assists, and errors.[11] Among his teammates, Hogan held the second highest percentage of stolen bases for games played.[12] Despite Hogan's physical speed, his overall performance with the Browns proved uneven, and his two-season batting average was just .241.[13] He played his last game with the team on April 24, 1895,[13] concluding a major league career that comprised 40 games over two seasons.[14]

That same year, Hogan joined the Indianapolis Hoosiers, a club connected to the well-organized Western League,[15] the predecessor of the American League.[16] His obituary indicated that, at some point in his playing career, he set a record for baserunning.[1] This record was evidently set in 1895, when Hogan rounded the bases in 13.2 seconds.[17] Some observers questioned the veracity of this record. In 1907, for instance, Washington Post sports columnist J. Ed Grillo conceded that "Hogan was a great sprinter" but described his unofficial record as "out of reason". Grillo, who pointed out that "the fastest runners in baseball failed to come anywhere near the mark", lent his support to an official record of 14.1 recently set by Eastern League player Wally Clement.[17] Despite questions surrounding his baserunning record, Hogan became popularly known as the "Indianapolis Ringer".[18]

In January of 1897, The Youngstown Daily Vindicator reported that the Hoosiers had sold Hogan to a club in Grand Rapids, Michigan.[19] The article called Hogan "one of the fastest outfielders and baserunners in the Western League" and predicted he would "greatly strengthen the Grand Rapids outfield".[19] The following month, however, the paper described the previous report as a "mistake" and indicated that Hogan had signed a contract with baseball executive John T. Brush to play with the Hoosiers another year.[4] The paper also reported that the contract granted Hogan "the largest salary he has ever drawn".[4] Hogan played with the Hoosiers for several years. His obituary noted that he worked as a major league trainer before embarking on his later career as a minor league manager.[1]

[edit] Managing career

[edit] Youngstown Ohio Works

In 1902, Hogan was hired as manager of the Youngstown Ohio Works, a ball club sponsored by Joseph A. McDonald, superintendent of the Ohio Works of the Carnegie Steel Company.[7] In May 1905, the club was one of eleven teams to join the Protective Association of Independent Clubs, which formed the basis of the Class C Division Ohio-Pennsylvania League. That September, the Youngstown Ohio Works won the league championship, though sources disagree on the team's final record. As baseball researcher John Zajc writes: "The Reach Guide (1906) credits Youngstown with an 84–32 won-lost record where the Spalding Guide of the same year lists a 90–35 record. The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball (1993) tells a third story, giving Youngstown an 88–35 mark".[20]

Youngstown Ohio Works (1906), with Castleton in second row, second from left
Youngstown Ohio Works (1906), with Castleton in second row, second from left

In 1906, the Ohio Works team took the league championship once again, with an 84–53 record,[21] while new player Roy Castleton gained national recognition by pitching a perfect game against a rival club in Akron.[2] A sports writer for The Youngstown Daily Vindicator predicted, in the autumn of 1906, that the "popular" Hogan would serve a fourth season as manager of the club.[8] Hogan, however, seemed unwilling to negotiate the terms of a new contract without leverage and publicly mulled an offer presented by a team in Nashville, whose representatives reportedly followed him to the train station.[22] According to the same newspaper article, Hogan later reached a verbal agreement with Ohio Works co-owners Joseph and Thomas McDonald, announcing soon after that he would remain with the local ball club.[22]

By January 1907, however, the Newark Advocate reported that Hogan wanted to sell the Youngstown franchise.[23] The paper observed that "a move in offering the Youngstown franchise for sale had created a furor in the league".[23] On January 8, 1907, Hogan and McDonald attended the annual meeting of the National Association of Professional Baseball Clubs in New York City, while the fate of the club remained uncertain.[24] Then, on January 13, The New York Times reported that the Youngstown team would participate in an eight-team "outlaw league" comprising clubs from Elmira, New York; Lancaster, Pennsylvania; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Reading, Pennsylvania; Scranton, Pennsylvania; Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania; and Williamsport, Ohio. The Times described the envisioned league as "the most powerful 'outlaw' league the National Association of Professional Baseball Clubs was ever called upon to oppose", and stated that Hogan would "be at the head of" the Youngstown team.[25]

[edit] Zanesville

In February, the Zanesville Signal reported that Hogan had received permission from the McDonald brothers to negotiate a $3,000 deal for the sale of the Youngstown club, including its players, to a group of investors in Zanesville, Ohio.[26] The investors reportedly raised an additional $15,000 to enter the team into the Ohio-Pennsylvania League, though they were forced to settle for the less prestigious Pennsylvania-Ohio-Maryland League.[27] In October 1907, Hogan was offered management of another league franchise in South Bend, Indiana, but he refrained.[28] He managed the Zanesville ball club for two seasons. During its first season, the team failed to excel, placing third in the eight-team league.[29]

In 1908, his final season, the team was christened as the Zanesville Infants and joined the Central League.[30] Further research is needed to determine the Zanesville Infants' league ranking at the close of the 1908 season, but available information shows that the team neither won the championship nor placed as a runner-up.[30]

[edit] Lancaster Red Roses

The following year, Hogan relocated to Lancaster, Pennsylvania, where he replaced local ball club manager Clarence "Pop" Foster, who had managed the Red Roses since 1907.[31] In 1909, the Lancaster Red Roses worked up a 75–39 record,[31] seizing the championship of the Tri-State League.[32] As Spalding's Baseball Guide (1910) reported: "Lancaster, under manager Marty Hogan, won its first pennant in the league, and the top rung of the ladder was only gained by the hardest kind of fighting".[32] A key player in this struggle was a young pitcher named Stan Coveleski, who made his professional debut with the Philadelphia Athletics three seasons later.[33]

Lancaster Red Roses (1909), with Hogan (standing fourth from right) and Coveleski (left of Hogan).
Lancaster Red Roses (1909), with Hogan (standing fourth from right) and Coveleski (left of Hogan).

The following year, however, the Red Roses' performance fell short of the previous season when it placed second, with 63 wins and 47 losses.[34] According to Spalding's Baseball Guide (1911), the Red Roses were one of several teams in the league caught off guard by a surprisingly strong new club from Altoona, Pennsylvania, which was "sent along at a clip that practically clinched the season".[35] While the Red Roses pulled out of a mid-season slump, the "Altoonas" prevailed with a 72–38 record.[35] Then, in 1911, Hogan's last year as manager of the Lancaster team, the club placed a disappointing fourth in the eight-team league,[34]with 54 wins and losses, respectively.[31] The 1911 league championship went to a franchise from Reading, Pennsylvania, which "took the lead at the beginning of the season and never was headed until the finish", closing with a record of 74–35.[36]

[edit] Zanesville Flood Sufferers

The record of Hogan's last years as a minor league manager is incomplete. In the late winter of 1912, organizers of a proposed United States Baseball League, often referred to as the "Outlaw League", met in New York City's Hotel Imperial.[3] Hogan, who attended the meeting, was named as manager of a Cincinnati-based franchise scheduled to compete in the league.[3] The league apparently failed to materialize, and Hogan was forced to pursue other options.

In November of 1912, The Youngstown Daily Vindicator reported that Hogan would once again manage a local minor league ball club.[37] The article added, however, that the former Ohio Works manager was also considering an offer in Zanesville.[37] Hogan evidently went to Zanesville, where he managed the Zanesville Flood Sufferers.[38] It was there, in 1913, that he signed future Cleveland Indians pitcher Samuel Pond ("Sad Sam") Jones to his first professional contract.[2] The Zanesville club disbanded in early July of 1913, ranking last in the beleaguered Inter-State League.[38] The league itself was dissolved about a week later.[38]

[edit] Fond Du Lac Molls

On July 20, 1913, The New York Times reported that Hogan left Zanesville to manage a Fond Du Lac franchise in the Illinois-Wisconsin League.[39] According to the article, he planned to bring with him five players from the defunct Zanesville club.[39] In Wisconsin, Hogan replaced manager Ernest Landgraf, who led the Fond Du Lac Molls after the franchise moved from Milwaukee on June 28, 1913.[40] The team closed the season with a record of 63–60, placing fifth in the eight-team Illinois-Wisconsin League.[40] At this point, Hogan's managing career evidently came to an end.

[edit] Personal life

Marty Hogan (center), with nephews Edward (right) and Raymond (left), about 1912.
Marty Hogan (center), with nephews Edward (right) and Raymond (left), about 1912.

Hogan married the former Agnes Daugherty in 1897,[1] and the couple settled in Indianapolis.[4] Upon returning to Youngstown, Hogan supervised the athletic training of his youngest nephews, Edward and Raymond Hogan, who became sports stars at Rayen High School.[41][42] In the early 1920s, Edward Hogan emerged as a track and field standout at the University of Notre Dame,[41] where he trained under coach Knute Rockne.[43] Martin and Agnes Hogan had no children of their own.[1]

[edit] Final years

In the mid-1910s, Hogan permanently resettled in Youngstown, where he became athletic director of Thomas Field, a ballpark owned by the local Brier Hill Industrial Works.[1] Prior to the enforcement of the Volstead Act, he was also employed as a clerk at Buckley & Hogan, a downtown saloon operated by Patrick J. Hogan, Jr., and his business partner, John J. Buckley, Sr.[44] Martin Hogan's recreational interests included trap shooting, and his obituary noted that he was an organizer of the Youngstown Gun Club.[1]

Martin Francis Hogan was only 54 years old when he died at his north side home from injuries sustained months earlier in an auto accident. Several blood transfusions failed to revive him, and a bout with pneumonia proved fatal. Funeral services for Hogan were held at St. Columba's Church, and he was buried at Youngstown's Calvary Cemetery. His wife, Agnes, survived him along with his brother, Patrick J. Hogan, Jr. A sister, Mrs. John Dillon, had died several years earlier. Hogan's obituary in The Youngstown Daily Vindicator highlighted his contributions to the community, observing that many young athletes he trained and managed went on to careers in major league baseball.[1]

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l "Death Takes Marty Hogan: Baseball Star Succumbs After Long Illness--Hurt in Auto Crash", The Youngstown Daily Vindicator, August 17, 1923. 
  2. ^ a b c d Lammers, Craig. Roy Castleton. Society for American Baseball Research. Retrieved on 2007-03-04.
  3. ^ a b c "New York Not Yet Named In Outlaw League", The New York Times, March 16, 1912. 
  4. ^ a b c d "Hogan Signed: Will Play With Indianapolis at a Good Salary the Coming Season", The Youngstown Daily Vindicator, February 8, 1897. 
  5. ^ a b c "Patrick Hogan, Father of Baseball Manager, Dies", The Youngstown Telegram, July 16, 1909, p. 20. 
  6. ^ "Patrick Hogan Succumbs at 80", The Youngstown Daily Vindicator, January 14, 1938. 
  7. ^ a b "Baseball Bits: Regard Them as Champions", The Youngstown Daily Vindicator, May 3, 1905. 
  8. ^ a b "Hogan Is Popular Here; Fans Glad He Returned", The Youngstown Vindicator, October 14, 1906. 
  9. ^ "Why Hogan Withdrew", The Youngstown Vindicator, February 24, 1907. 
  10. ^ Spalding's Official Athletic Library Baseball Guide (New York: American Sports Publishing Co., 1895), p. 14.
  11. ^ Spalding's Official Athletic Library Baseball Guide (New York: American Sports Publishing Co., 1895), p. 99.
  12. ^ Spalding's Official Athletic Library Baseball Guide (New York: American Sports Publishing Co., 1895), p. 114.
  13. ^ a b Marty Hogan Stats. Baseball Almanac. Retrieved on 2008-01-05.
  14. ^ Thorn, John; et al. (1989). Total Baseball. New York: Warner Books, p. 1187. 
  15. ^ "Hogan Will Go South", The Youngstown Daily Vindicator, October 19, 1896. 
  16. ^ League American. Baseball Library. Retrieved on 2007-12-15.
  17. ^ a b Grillo, J. Ed. "Sporting Comment", The Washington Post, September 14, 1907, p. 8. 
  18. ^ Lightner, E. Allan. "Recalls When Billy Evans Played Sandlot Ball Here", The Youngstown Vindicator, February 26, 1956. 
  19. ^ a b "Hogan Sold: The Fleet Footed Youngstown Player Will Wear a Grand Rapids Uniform", The Youngstown Daily Vindicator, January 5, 1897. 
  20. ^ Holl, Jim. Ohio-Pennsylvania League of 1905. Society for American Baseball Research. Retrieved on 2007-03-04.
  21. ^ Ohio-Pennsylvania League. Baseball Reference. Retrieved on 2007-10-10.
  22. ^ a b "Hogan Remains in Youngstown", The Youngstown Vindicator, October 10, 1906. 
  23. ^ a b The Newark Advocate, January 5, 1907.
  24. ^ "Tri-State League Admitted: Representatives of 5,000 Players Attend Baseball Meeting Here", The New York Times, January 9, 1907. 
  25. ^ "Another "Outlaw" League: Barney Dreyfuss Will Have Opposition in Pittsburgh–Eight Clubs Formed", The New York Times, January 13, 1907. 
  26. ^ "Franchise, Team and Marty Hogan are Coming Here", The Zanesville Signal, February 18, 1907, p. 1. 
  27. ^ Schneider, Norris F. (1950). Y Bridge City: The Story of Zanesville and Muskingham County, Ohio. Cleveland: The World Publishing Company, p. 307. 
  28. ^ "Sporting News", Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette, October 24, 1907. 
  29. ^ Pennsylvania-Ohio-Maryland League. Baseball Reference. Retrieved on 2007-12-08.
  30. ^ a b Central League. BallParkWatch. Retrieved on 2007-03-12.
  31. ^ a b c 1906-1914: A Rose by Any Other Name. Lancaster County Historical Society. Retrieved on 2007-03-04.
  32. ^ a b Spalding's Official Athletic Library Baseball Guide (New York: American Sports Publishing Co., 1910), p. 181.
  33. ^ Stan Coveleskie. National Baseball Hall of Fame. Retrieved on 2007-03-11.
  34. ^ a b BR-Bullpen Page on Lancaster Red Roses. Baseball.Reference.com. Retrieved on 2007-08-17.
  35. ^ a b Spalding's Official Athletic Library Baseball Guide (New York: American Sports Publishing Co., 1911), p. 218.
  36. ^ Spalding's Official Athletic Library Baseball Guide (New York: American Sports Publishing Co., 1912), pp. 184-185.
  37. ^ a b "Say Hogan Will Succeed Phillips; Reported That Local Baseball Man Has Chance to Again Lead Locals", The Youngstown Daily Vindicator, November 6, 1912. 
  38. ^ a b c Interstate League of 1905. Baseball Reference. Retrieved on 2007-03-04.
  39. ^ a b The Associated Press. "Hogan to Manage Fond Du Lac Nine", The New York Times, July 20, 1913. 
  40. ^ a b Wisconsin-Illinois League. Baseball Reference. Retrieved on 2007-03-04.
  41. ^ a b "Atty. Hogan Dies; Star Athlete at Rayen", The Youngstown Vindicator, March 25, 1976. 
  42. ^ The Rayen Record (Youngstown, OH: Rayen High School, June 1917), pp. 597–598.
  43. ^ The Dome (South Bend, IN: University of Notre Dame, 1924).
  44. ^ Youngstown City Directory (Akron, OH: Burch Directory Co., 1917).

[edit] External links