Eugene Franklin "Bubbles" Hargrave (July 15, 1892 – February 23, 1969) was an American

catcher Catcher is a position in baseball and softball. When a batter takes their turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the (home) umpire, and receives the ball from the pitcher. In addition to this primary duty, the catc ...

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

who played for the

Chicago Cubs The Chicago Cubs are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The Cubs compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Central Division. Th ...

Cincinnati Reds The Cincinnati Reds are an American professional baseball team based in Cincinnati. The Reds compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Central Divisi ...

, and

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Am ...

. He won the

National League National League often refers to: *National League (baseball), one of the two baseball leagues constituting Major League Baseball in the United States and Canada *National League (division), the fifth division of the English football (soccer) system ...

batting title in 1926 while playing for Cincinnati. He was nicknamed "Bubbles" because he stuttered when saying "B" sounds. Bubbles' younger brother, Pinky Hargrave, was also a major league catcher.

Career

Hargrave was born in New Haven, Indiana. He started his professional baseball career in 1911 in the

Central League The or , also known as the for sponsorship reasons, is one of the two professional baseball leagues that constitute Nippon Professional Baseball in Japan. The winner of the league championship plays against the winner of the Pacific League i ...

and made his major league debut in 1913 with the Chicago Cubs. He was their backup catcher until 1915. From 1916 to 1920, he played mostly in the American Association. In 1920, he had a big season with the St. Paul Saints, batting .335 with 22

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the Baseball (ball), ball is hit in such a way that the batting (baseball), batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safe (baseball), safely in one play without any error ( ...

s and finishing second in the league batting race. St. Paul won the pennant. Hargrave was then acquired by the Cincinnati Reds. He was their starting catcher for most of the 1920s and consistently put up good hitting numbers. In 1926, he won the National League batting title with a .353 average. The rules at the time required batting champions to play in at least 100 games, and Hargrave pinch hit several times to get to 105. He was the first catcher to lead the NL in

batting average Batting average is a statistic in cricket, baseball, and softball that measures the performance of batters. The development of the baseball statistic was influenced by the cricket statistic. Cricket In cricket, a player's batting average is ...

. In 1927, he led the league's catchers in

fielding percentage In baseball statistics, fielding percentage, also known as fielding average, is a measure that reflects the percentage of times a baseball positions, defensive player properly handles a batted or thrown ball. It is calculated by the sum of putout ...

. Hargrave went back to St. Paul for the 1929 season. He managed the club to a second-place finish and also made the league All-Star team. He batted .369 in 104 games. The following year, Hargrave served as a backup catcher for the New York Yankees. He then went back to the minors for a few seasons before retiring in 1934.

Later life

After his baseball days, Hargrave worked for a valve company."Bubbles Hargrave's Obit"
''thedeadballera.com''. Retrieved 2010-11-04. He died at age 76 in

Cincinnati, Ohio Cincinnati ( ; colloquially nicknamed Cincy) is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Settled in 1788, the city is located on the northern side of the confluence of the Licking River (Kentucky), Licking and Ohio Ri ...

. He was inducted into the Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame in 1962 and the Indiana Baseball Hall of Fame in 2005.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hargrave, Bubbles 1892 births 1969 deaths Major League Baseball catchers National League batting champions Cincinnati Reds players Chicago Cubs players New York Yankees players Terre Haute Terre-iers players Kansas City Blues (baseball) players St. Paul Saints (AA) managers St. Paul Saints (AA) players Minneapolis Millers (baseball) players Minor league baseball managers Baseball players from Indiana People from New Haven, Indiana 20th-century American sportsmen

Career

Later life

See also

References

External links