Mortimer Martin "Mert" Hackett (November 11, 1859 – February 22, 1938), was an American professional

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding ...

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 catcher ...

. He played 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) ...

from 1883 to 1887 for the

Boston Beaneaters Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- most p ...

, Kansas City Cowboys, and Indianapolis Hoosiers. His older brother, Walter Hackett, and cousins Walter Clarkson,

Dad Clarkson Arthur Hamilton "Dad" Clarkson (August 31, 1866 – February 5, 1911) was a pitcher in Major League Baseball from 1891 to 1896. He played for the New York Giants, Boston Beaneaters, St. Louis Browns, and Baltimore Orioles. Biography Clarkson was ...

and

Baseball Hall of Famer The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is a history museum and hall of fame in Cooperstown, New York, operated by private interests. It serves as the central point of the history of baseball in the United States and displays baseball-r ...

John Clarkson John Gibson Clarkson (July 1, 1861 – February 4, 1909) was a Major League Baseball right-handed pitcher. He played from 1882 to 1894. Born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Clarkson played for the Worcester Ruby Legs (1882), Chicago White Stockin ...

, Tim Keefe 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 Joh ...

(all born in Cambridge, Massachusetts) also played in the majors.

Biography

A native of

Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As part of the Greater Boston, Boston metropolitan area, the cities population of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 U.S. census was 118,403, making it the fourth most ...

, Hackett made his major league debut with the 1883 Boston Beaneaters. He played in 46 of the team's 98 games, and batted .235 with 24 RBI in helping to lead the team to the

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 ...

pennant. He remained with Boston through the 1885 season, then spent 1886 with the National League's Kansas City Cowboys in their only season in the league. In 1887, Hackett's final big league campaign, he played for the Indianapolis Hoosiers in that club's first of three National League seasons. Over five major league seasons, Hackett played in 256 games, batting .216 with eight home runs and 83 RBI, and a .921 fielding percentage in 241 games at catcher. From 1888 to 1891, he played for the Hyannis town team in what is now the

Cape Cod Baseball League The Cape Cod Baseball League (CCBL or Cape League) is a collegiate summer baseball wooden bat league located on Cape Cod in the U.S. state of Massachusetts. One of the nation's premier collegiate summer leagues, the league boasts over one thous ...

. The team was run by Charles Barney Cory and Charles Richard Crane, and featured other major leaguers such as Dick Conway and

Barney Gilligan Andrew Bernard "Barney" Gilligan (January 3, 1856April 1, 1934) was an American professional baseball player whose career spanned 12 seasons, 11 of which were spent with the Major League Baseball (MLB) Cleveland Blues (1879–1880), Providence ...

. Hackett died in his hometown of Cambridge in 1938 at the age of 78, and is interred at St. Paul Cemetery in Arlington, Massachusetts. His brother, Walter, named one of his sons Mortimer Martin Hackett after him.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hackett, Mert 1859 births 1938 deaths Baseball players from Massachusetts Major League Baseball catchers Boston Beaneaters players Kansas City Cowboys (NL) players Indianapolis Hoosiers (NL) players 19th-century baseball players Sportspeople from Cambridge, Massachusetts Fall River Casscade players Springfield (minor league baseball) players Troy Trojans (minor league) players Cape Cod Baseball League players (pre-modern era) Hyannis Harbor Hawks players