Ernest Anyz Koy (September 17, 1909 – January 1, 2007), nicknamed "Chief", was an American
left fielder in
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...
, who played for four
National League
The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team ...
teams from 1938 to 1942. He was born in
Sealy, Texas
Sealy is a city in Austin County in southeastern Texas, United States. The population was 6,839 at the 2020 census. Sealy is located west of the downtown Houston area, on the most eastern part of the Texas-German belt region, an area settled by ...
and was of
American Indian ancestry. He attended the
University of Texas at Austin
The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,07 ...
(UT). While at UT he was a
fullback on the
football team
A football team is a group of players selected to play together in the various team sports known as football. Such teams could be selected to play in a match against an opposing team, to represent a football club, group, state or nation, an all-s ...
from 1930 to 1932. He played as an outfielder on the
baseball team from 1931 to 1933 and served as
captain in 1933. He was also a member of the
Sigma Nu fraternity, Upsilon chapter, while at UT. In 1960, he was inducted into the University of Texas Longhorn Hall of Fame.
Major League Baseball Career
After signing with the
New York Yankees
The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. They are one of ...
, his contract was sold to the
Brooklyn Dodgers on April 15,
1938. He hit a
home run in his first at bat with the Dodgers on April 19, and played 142 games that season as an outfielder and one game as a
third baseman
A third baseman, abbreviated 3B, is the player in baseball or softball whose responsibility is to defend the area nearest to third base — the third of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. In the scoring system us ...
. He finished the year ranking second in the NL with 15
stolen bases, and ninth with a .468
slugging average. He appeared in 125 games during the 1939 season, and 24 during the 1940 season as an outfielder. In 1940 he
batted .301 for the Dodgers. He was traded on June 12,
1940
A calendar from 1940 according to the Gregorian calendar, factoring in the dates of Easter and related holidays, cannot be used again until the year 5280.
Events
Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix.
January
* Januar ...
to the
St. Louis Cardinals
The St. Louis Cardinals are an American professional baseball team based in St. Louis. The Cardinals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Since the 2006 season, the Cardinals ha ...
with
Bert Haas,
Sam Nahem
Samuel Ralph "Subway Sam" Nahem (October 19, 1915 – April 19, 2004) was an American pitcher for the Brooklyn Dodgers (1938), St. Louis Cardinals (1941), and Philadelphia Phillies (1942 and 1948). His professional baseball playing was interrup ...
and Carl Doyle and $125,000 for Curt "Coonskin" Davis and Joe "Ducky" Medwick. He played 91 games as an outfielder with the Cardinals in 1940, and 12 games of the 1941 season with the Cardinals. He was traded from the Cardinals to the
Cincinnati Reds on May 14,
1941. He played 49 games of the remaining 1941 season in a Reds uniform. He was sold by the Reds to the
Philadelphia Phillies on May 2,
1942
Events
Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix.
January
* January 1 – WWII: The Declaration by United Nations is signed by China, the United Kingdom, the United States, the Soviet Union, and 22 other nations, in w ...
. He appeared in 78 games with the Phillies, and was eventually released from his contract May 27,
1946 after serving in the
Navy
A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and related functions. It in ...
during World War II. He ended his career with a .279 batting average, 36 home runs, 260
runs batted in
A run batted in (RBI; plural RBIs ) is a statistic in baseball and softball that credits a batter for making a play that allows a run to be scored (except in certain situations such as when an error is made on the play). For example, if the ba ...
, 238
runs, 515
hits and 40 stolen bases in 558 games.
Personal life
His son
Ernie Koy, Jr. starred on the
1963 National Champion Texas Longhorn football team. He later played professional football for the
New York Giants from 1965 to 1970. His youngest son
Ted Koy
Ted Koy (born September 15, 1947 in Bellville, Texas) is an American football former tight end for the Buffalo Bills and Oakland Raiders of the National Football League. He was drafted out of the University of Texas by the Raiders in the 1970 N ...
played for the college national champion
Texas Longhorns in 1969 and went on to play with the
Oakland Raiders and
Buffalo Bills. His daughter Margaret Koy Kistler (August 14, 1944 – February 22, 2008) was one of the first woman sportswriters in Texas. Koy died at age 97 at his home in
Bellville, Texas, one month after breaking his hip. He is buried at Oak Knoll Cemetery in Bellville.
[ ]
See also
*
Home run in first Major League at-bat
References
Further reading
*
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Koy, Ernie
1909 births
2007 deaths
Major League Baseball left fielders
Brooklyn Dodgers players
St. Louis Cardinals players
Cincinnati Reds players
Philadelphia Phillies players
Texas Longhorns baseball players
Texas Longhorns football players
United States Navy personnel of World War II
United States Navy sailors
Durham Bulls players
Newark Bears (IL) players
Binghamton Triplets players
Oakland Oaks (baseball) players
People from Sealy, Texas
Players of American football from Texas
Baseball players from Texas