Paul Henry Hopkins (September 25, 1904 – January 2, 2004) was an American right-handed relief

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("Pitch (baseball), pitches") the Baseball (ball), baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of out (baseball), retiring a batter (baseball), batter, ...

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 Washington Senators (1927, 1929) and

St. Louis Browns The St. Louis Browns were a Major League Baseball team that originated in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, as the Milwaukee Brewers. A charter member of the American League (AL), the Brewers moved to St. Louis, Missouri, after the 1901 season, where they ...

(1929). Hopkins was born in

Chester, Connecticut Chester is a town in Middlesex County, Connecticut, United States. The town is part of the Lower Connecticut River Valley Planning Region. The population was 3,749 at the 2020 census. The town center is defined by the U.S. Census Bureau as a c ...

. His major league debut came on the same day that

Babe Ruth George Herman "Babe" Ruth (February 6, 1895 – August 16, 1948) was an American professional Baseball in the United States, baseball player whose career in Major League Baseball (MLB) spanned 22 seasons, from 1914 through 1935. Nickna ...

hit his record-tying 59th

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 ( ...

on September 29, 1927. Hopkins said he did not know that he would be facing Ruth when he entered the game in the fifth inning with the bases loaded. He finished his career with a record of 1–1, 11

strikeout In baseball or softball, a strikeout (or strike-out) occurs when a batter accumulates three strikes during a time at bat. It means the batter is out, unless the third strike is not caught by the catcher and the batter reaches first base safe ...

s, and a 2.96

earned run average In baseball statistics, earned run average (ERA) is the average of earned runs allowed by a pitcher per nine innings pitched (i.e. the traditional length of a game). It is determined by dividing the number of earned runs allowed by the number ...

in 11 games; he left St. Louis following the 1929 season after injuring a tendon. Hopkins died in

Deep River, Connecticut Deep River is a town in Middlesex County, Connecticut, United States. The town is part of the Lower Connecticut River Valley Planning Region. The population was 4,415 at the 2020 census. The town center is designated by the U.S. Census Bureau ...

, at 99 years of age, having worked for the

University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC, U of I, Illinois, or University of Illinois) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Champaign–Urbana metropolitan area, Illinois, United ...

' RSC division for years. At the time of his death, he was the oldest living former major league player.

Quotation

"Then he (Babe Ruth) strolled out from the Yankee bench and walked up to the plate. I was not excited or awed." – Paul Hopkins in ''The Hartford Courant'' (1998).

References

External links

* 1904 births 2004 deaths Baseball players from Middlesex County, Connecticut Colgate Raiders baseball players Major League Baseball pitchers St. Louis Browns players Washington Senators (1901–1960) players People from Chester, Connecticut Topeka Senators players New Haven Profs players Montreal Royals players Wichita Falls Spudders players Milwaukee Brewers (minor league) players 20th-century American sportsmen {{US-baseball-pitcher-1900s-stub