Solly Hemus facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Solly Hemus |
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Hemus in about 1953
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| Shortstop / Second baseman / Manager | |||
| Born: April 17, 1923 Phoenix, Arizona |
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| Died: October 3, 2017 (aged 94) Houston, Texas |
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| debut | |||
| April 27, 1949, for the St. Louis Cardinals | |||
| Last appearance | |||
| June 14, 1959, for the St. Louis Cardinals | |||
| MLB statistics | |||
| Batting average | .273 | ||
| Home runs | 51 | ||
| Runs batted in | 263 | ||
| Managerial record | 190–192 | ||
| Winning % | .497 | ||
| Teams | |||
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Solomon Joseph Hemus (born April 17, 1923 – died October 2, 2017) was an American baseball player, manager, and coach. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the St. Louis Cardinals and Philadelphia Phillies. Solly, as he was known, was one of the few players who also worked as a player-manager. This means he played on the team while also leading it as the manager.
Solly Hemus was born in Phoenix, Arizona. He grew up in San Diego, California, and went to Saint Augustine High School. He served in the United States Navy during World War II. After the war, he began his professional baseball career in 1946 when he was 23 years old. He started in the Cardinals' minor league system.
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Baseball Career
Playing the Game
Solly Hemus batted left-handed and threw right-handed. He was 5 feet 9 inches tall and weighed 165 pounds. During his 11 years playing in MLB (from 1949 to 1959), Hemus mostly played as a shortstop. He played 472 games in this position. He also spent a lot of time as a second baseman, playing 211 games there.
Hemus had a lifetime batting average of .273 in 961 games. He made 736 hits during his career. These included 137 doubles, 41 triples, and 51 home runs. He also had 263 runs batted in (RBI). He was known for being hit by pitched balls often. He led the National League in this statistic three times (in 1952, 1953, and 1958).
Leading the Team: Manager and Coach
Hemus was known as a tough player and manager. He often argued with opponents and umpires. He was sent out of games 30 times between 1952 and 1965. In May 1956, when he was traded to the Phillies, Hemus wrote a letter to the Cardinals' owner, Gussie Busch. He expressed how proud he was to be a Cardinal.
Near the end of his playing career, the Cardinals brought him back on September 29, 1958. The very next day, he was named the team's player-manager by owner Gussie Busch. Busch admired Hemus' strong personality. Hemus led the Cardinals on a "good will" tour to Hawaii and Japan in October 1958.
In 1959, Hemus played in 24 games, mostly as a pinch-hitter. After that, he focused on his job as manager. His Cardinals team had mixed results. In his first year (1959), the team lost 15 of its first 20 games and finished in seventh place. In his second season (1960), the team improved a lot, winning 86 games and finishing in third place. However, in 1961, the team started slowly. By July 5, they were in sixth place, and Hemus was replaced by one of his coaches, Johnny Keane. His total record as a manager was 190 wins and 192 losses. He was ejected from 11 of the 382 games he managed.
After managing, Hemus worked as a coach for the New York Mets (1962–1963) and the Cleveland Indians (1964–1965). He was a coach for manager Casey Stengel when the 1962 Mets team had a record of 40 wins and 120 losses. This is still the most losses by a Major League team in a single season since the 1800s. In 1966, he managed the Mets' top minor league team, the Jacksonville Suns. After that, he left baseball and started a business in the oil industry in Houston, Texas.
During his time with the Phillies, Hemus was part of a historic moment. On April 22, 1957, he was taken out of a game for a pinch runner named John Kennedy. This was Kennedy's first Major League game, and he was the first African-American player in the Phillies' history. Later, Hall-of-Famer Bob Gibson mentioned that Hemus had disagreements with some players, including Gibson and Curt Flood, about their skills. Hemus' replacement, Johnny Keane, had managed Gibson in the minor leagues and was a strong supporter of the pitcher.
Later Life and Death
Solly Hemus passed away at the age of 94 after a long illness. He died in Houston, on October 3, 2017.
See also
- List of Major League Baseball annual runs scored leaders
- List of Major League Baseball player-managers
