Pinky Hargrave
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William McKinley "Pinky" Hargrave (January 31, 1896 - October 3, 1942) was a Major League Baseball catcher who played ten seasons with the Washington Senators (1923-1925, 1930-1931), St. Louis Browns (1925-1926), Detroit Tigers (1928-1930), and Boston Braves (1932-1933). Born in New Haven, Indiana, Hargrave was the younger brother of Cincinnati Reds catcher, Bubbles Hargrave. Bubbles debuted in the Major Leagues in 1913 and became a star (hitting .310 for his career) for the Reds. Pinky played for Waterbury in the Eastern League before following his brother to the big leagues, making his debut at age 27 on May 18, 1923 for the Senators. In ten major league seasons, Pinky played in 650 games (442 as catcher) and hit .278 with a .339 on base percentage and a .428 slugging percentage. He had 1,452 putouts, 445 hits, 265 RBIs, 246 assists, 177 runs, 146 extra base hits, and 140 walks. His best season was 1929 with the Tigers, when he batted .330. Hargrave played his last major league game on September 23, 1933. He played his last professinal baseball with the Syracuse Chiefs in the International League in 1938, and died 4 years later at age 36 in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Ironically, Hargrave, an employee of the Fort Wayne municipal light plant, died of a heart attack on a municipal baseball diamond which he was helping to convert to a football field. [1]
