James H. "Jay" Hughes (January 22, 1874 – June 2, 1924) was an American

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), ...

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

who played four seasons from to .

Career

Hughes was born in

Sacramento, California ) , image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg , mapsize = 250x200px , map_caption = Location within Sacramento ...

, in 1874. He attracted attention in 1897 when he threw a three-hit

shutout In team sports, a shutout ( US) or clean sheet ( UK) is a game in which one team prevents the other from scoring any points. While possible in most major sports, they are highly improbable in some sports, such as basketball. Shutouts are usuall ...

during a west coast exhibition game against the famed

Baltimore Orioles The Baltimore Orioles are an American professional baseball team based in Baltimore. The Orioles compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. As one of the American League's eight charter ...

, a team featuring such notable baseball stars as

Wilbert Robinson Wilbert Robinson (June 29, 1864 – August 8, 1934), nicknamed "Uncle Robbie", was an American catcher, coach and manager in Major League Baseball (MLB). He played in MLB for the Philadelphia Athletics, Baltimore Orioles, and St. Louis Cardinals ...

John McGraw John Joseph McGraw (April 7, 1873 – February 25, 1934) was an American Major League Baseball (MLB) player and manager who was for almost thirty years manager of the New York Giants. He was also the third baseman of the pennant-winning 1890 ...

Hughie Jennings Hugh Ambrose Jennings (April 2, 1869 – February 1, 1928) was an American professional baseball player, coach and manager from 1891 to 1925. Jennings was a leader, both as a batter and as a shortstop, with the Baltimore Orioles teams that won N ...

Willie Keeler William Henry Keeler (March 3, 1872 – January 1, 1923), nicknamed "Wee Willie" because of his small stature, was an American right fielder in Major League Baseball who played from 1892 to 1910, primarily for the Baltimore Orioles and Brooklyn ...

, and

Joe Kelley Joseph James Kelley (December 9, 1871 – August 14, 1943) was an American left fielder in Major League Baseball (MLB) who starred in the outfield of the Baltimore Orioles teams of the 1890s. Making up the nucleus of the Orioles along with J ...

. Orioles

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities ...

Ned Hanlon hired him and brought him east, where he played four seasons. Hughes started his

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 ...

(NL) career with two consecutive shutouts, a feat that would not be achieved again by an NL rookie until Al Worthington did so for the New York Giants in 1953. Hughes pitched a no-hitter on April 22, 1898 (another no-hitter, by Cincinnati's

Ted Breitenstein Theodore P. ("Ted" or "Breit") Breitenstein (June 1, 1869 – May 3, 1935) was an American Major League Baseball pitcher from St. Louis, Missouri who played from to for the St. Louis Browns/Cardinals and the Cincinnati Reds. He is best known f ...

, was thrown the same day, marking the first time that two no-hitters were thrown on the same day). Hughes was transferred to the

Brooklyn Superbas The Brooklyn Dodgers were a Major League Baseball team founded in 1884 as a member of the American Association before joining the National League in 1890. They remained in Brooklyn until 1957, after which the club moved to Los Angeles, Californ ...

in ; the Orioles and Superbas were both owned by the same group of individuals. Jennings, Keeler, and several other key Orioles were transferred, including manager Hanlon, who had an ownership stake. Hughes won a league-leading 28 games for the 1899 Superbas. Preferring to play on the west coast, Hughes joined the Pacific Coast League in . As a Sacramento native, he disliked pitching in the east, and on several occasions refused to sign contracts with eastern clubs so he could remain on the west coast. In 1903, playing for the

Seattle Rainiers The Seattle Rainiers, originally named the Seattle Indians and also known as the Seattle Angels, were a Minor League Baseball team in Seattle, Washington, that played in the Pacific Coast League from 1903 to 1906 and 1919 to 1968. They were initi ...

, he tied Doc Newton for the lead in wins with 34, including 12 in a row from September 8 through November 4. Hughes pitched there until a back injury ended his career. Hughes died in 1924 when he fell from a train in Sacramento, fracturing his skull. He was laid to rest at St. Joseph Cemetery in Sacramento.

References

External links

Baseball Almanac

The Baseball Library
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hughes, Jay 1874 births 1924 deaths 19th-century baseball players Major League Baseball pitchers National League wins champions Baltimore Orioles (NL) players Brooklyn Superbas players Sacramento Gilt Edges players Victoria Chappies players Seattle Siwashes players Sacramento Cordovas players San Francisco Seals (baseball) players Santa Clara Broncos baseball coaches Baseball players from Sacramento, California American Roman Catholics Accidental deaths from falls Accidental deaths in California Railway accident deaths in the United States

Career

See also

References

External links