Hugh Tate
Class of 2014
Bedford County Sports Hall of Fame 2014 posthumous inductee Hughey Tate was the greatest baseball player that ever lived — hitting 10,000 home runs and never making an out in 50 years on the diamond.
OK, that’s not true of course. But that’s the way Hughey would have told it before bursting into laughter.
He was an extremely good player and prodigious home run hitter, but just as importantly, he was one of the real characters who cropped up in sports in the “days before the big money”.
In fact, his calling card read: “I am a great bull*****er myself, but I also enjoy listening to an expert — carry on!”
Hughey was born on May 19, 1880, and died on August 7, 1956. But in the 76 years on Earth, he left a legacy of terrific sports prowess.
He honed his baseball skills at Everett High School. In one game against Saxton, he had three hits in four at-bats, including a home run that a local paper reported was the longest ever hit at the Everett field.
Hughey played in the minor leagues with the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Washington Senators franchises. He made it to the Major Leagues in September of 1905 with the Senators. While he was only in the majors for four games, he made a solid showing by playing errorless ball in left field, while batting .308 and stealing a base.
He also played professional ball in Cumberland, Md, and later was a batmaker for the Pittsburgh Pirate organization.
Hughey moved to Greenville, PA, where he became a legendary home run hitter in independent leagues. He played for a team in Youngstown, Ohio, that competed against teams from Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia.
While playing independent ball in the “dead ball era” in 1911, he hit 27 home runs. At that time in the major leagues, the American League home run leader was Philadelphia’s Frank “Home Run” Baker, who hit only nine homers the entire season.
One of the stories regarding his home run prowess came from the early 1900s in Youngstown. Many ballparks in the area had a sign in the outfield advertising Bull Durham Tobacco. Any player hitting a homer off the sign would win $50 from the company. He did it so often, the company took down the signs.
Hughey’s status as a ballplayer earned him a tremendous honor in 1951. He was chosen to throw out the first ball at Greenville’s first Little League game and headed a parade through the town.
He and his wife Sadie, who he married in October of 1905, had three children. Right after he had his third child in 1912, the doctor who delivered his daughter Ginny was attending a game in which Hughey was playing. After asking how much he owed the doctor, the medical man replied “Just hit me a home run and that will be my payment.”
Hughey delivered with a long blast. On the tombstone of Ginny, it refers to her as the “World’s First Home Run Baby”.
He had a long career as a signmaker and was a constant companion of the “movers and shakers” in the Greenville area. He wrote a book of humorous tales entitled “The Wanderings of a Bush Leaguer or the Biggest Liar on Earth”.
When Hughey died in 1956, a Youngstown sports writer wrote of his passing and called him the “original tape measure walloper from Greenville, PA”.
Here we like to think of Hughey Tate at the “original tape measure walloper from Everett, Pa.”
OK, that’s not true of course. But that’s the way Hughey would have told it before bursting into laughter.
He was an extremely good player and prodigious home run hitter, but just as importantly, he was one of the real characters who cropped up in sports in the “days before the big money”.
In fact, his calling card read: “I am a great bull*****er myself, but I also enjoy listening to an expert — carry on!”
Hughey was born on May 19, 1880, and died on August 7, 1956. But in the 76 years on Earth, he left a legacy of terrific sports prowess.
He honed his baseball skills at Everett High School. In one game against Saxton, he had three hits in four at-bats, including a home run that a local paper reported was the longest ever hit at the Everett field.
Hughey played in the minor leagues with the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Washington Senators franchises. He made it to the Major Leagues in September of 1905 with the Senators. While he was only in the majors for four games, he made a solid showing by playing errorless ball in left field, while batting .308 and stealing a base.
He also played professional ball in Cumberland, Md, and later was a batmaker for the Pittsburgh Pirate organization.
Hughey moved to Greenville, PA, where he became a legendary home run hitter in independent leagues. He played for a team in Youngstown, Ohio, that competed against teams from Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia.
While playing independent ball in the “dead ball era” in 1911, he hit 27 home runs. At that time in the major leagues, the American League home run leader was Philadelphia’s Frank “Home Run” Baker, who hit only nine homers the entire season.
One of the stories regarding his home run prowess came from the early 1900s in Youngstown. Many ballparks in the area had a sign in the outfield advertising Bull Durham Tobacco. Any player hitting a homer off the sign would win $50 from the company. He did it so often, the company took down the signs.
Hughey’s status as a ballplayer earned him a tremendous honor in 1951. He was chosen to throw out the first ball at Greenville’s first Little League game and headed a parade through the town.
He and his wife Sadie, who he married in October of 1905, had three children. Right after he had his third child in 1912, the doctor who delivered his daughter Ginny was attending a game in which Hughey was playing. After asking how much he owed the doctor, the medical man replied “Just hit me a home run and that will be my payment.”
Hughey delivered with a long blast. On the tombstone of Ginny, it refers to her as the “World’s First Home Run Baby”.
He had a long career as a signmaker and was a constant companion of the “movers and shakers” in the Greenville area. He wrote a book of humorous tales entitled “The Wanderings of a Bush Leaguer or the Biggest Liar on Earth”.
When Hughey died in 1956, a Youngstown sports writer wrote of his passing and called him the “original tape measure walloper from Greenville, PA”.
Here we like to think of Hughey Tate at the “original tape measure walloper from Everett, Pa.”
Bedford County Sports Hall of Fame
Bedford County, Pennsylvania
Bedford County, Pennsylvania