Samuel Harding Hairston (January 20, 1920 – October 31, 1997) was a

Negro league baseball The Negro leagues were United States professional baseball leagues comprising teams of African Americans and, to a lesser extent, Latin Americans. The term may be used broadly to include professional black teams outside the leagues and it may be ...

and

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) ...

player. He played for the

Birmingham Black Barons The Birmingham Black Barons were a Negro league baseball team that played from 1920 until 1960. They shared their home field of Rickwood Field in Birmingham, Alabama, with the white Birmingham Barons, usually drawing larger crowds and equal pres ...

and the

Indianapolis Clowns The Indianapolis Clowns were a professional baseball team in the Negro American League. Tracing their origins back to the 1930s, the Clowns were the last of the Negro league teams to disband, continuing to play exhibition games into the 1980s. Th ...

of the Negro leagues and played part of one season () with the

Chicago White Sox The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team is owned by Jerry Reinsdorf, and ...

as a

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 is buried in Birmingham's Elmwood Cemetery.

Family

Hairston comes from the biggest major league baseball family, as the father of MLB players Jerry Hairston, Sr. and Johnny Hairston, and the grandfather of Jerry Hairston Jr. and

Scott Hairston Scott Alexander Hairston (born May 25, 1980) is a Mexican-American former professional baseball left fielder. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Arizona Diamondbacks, San Diego Padres, Oakland Athletics, New York Mets, Chicago Cubs ...

. A son, Sammy Hairston Jr., and three grandsons, Johnny Hairston Jr., Jeff Hairston and Jason Hairston played in the minor leagues. The five Hairstons who have played in the majors are tied for the most ever with the Delahanty brothers. The two of the three other three-generation MLB families have four members each: the Boone family (

Ray Ray may refer to: Fish * Ray (fish), any cartilaginous fish of the superorder Batoidea * Ray (fish fin anatomy), a bony or horny spine on a fin Science and mathematics * Ray (geometry), half of a line proceeding from an initial point * Ray (gra ...

, Bob, Bret and

Aaron According to Abrahamic religions, Aaron ''′aharon'', ar, هارون, Hārūn, Greek ( Septuagint): Ἀαρών; often called Aaron the priest ()., group="note" ( or ; ''’Ahărōn'') was a prophet, a high priest, and the elder brother ...

) and the Bell family (

Gus Gus is a masculine name, often a diminutive for Angus, August, Augustine, or Augustus, and other names (e.g. Aengus, Argus, Fergus, Ghassan, Gustav, Gustave, Gustafson, Gustavo, Gussie). It can also be used as the adaptation into English of t ...

Buddy Buddy may refer to: People *Buddy (nickname) *Buddy (rapper), real name Simmie Sims III (1993–Present) *Buddy Rogers (wrestler), ring name of American professional wrestler Herman Gustav Rohde, Jr. (1921–1992) * Buddy Boeheim (born 1999), Ame ...

David David (; , "beloved one") (traditional spelling), , ''Dāwūd''; grc-koi, Δαυΐδ, Dauíd; la, Davidus, David; gez , ዳዊት, ''Dawit''; xcl, Դաւիթ, ''Dawitʿ''; cu, Давíдъ, ''Davidŭ''; possibly meaning "beloved one". w ...

, and

Mike Mike may refer to: Animals * Mike (cat), cat and guardian of the British Museum * Mike the Headless Chicken, chicken that lived for 18 months after his head had been cut off * Mike (chimpanzee), a chimpanzee featured in several books and document ...

). The Colemans are the other three generation MLB family ( Joe, Joe, and Casey).

External links

an
Seamheads
* 1920 births 1997 deaths African-American baseball players Baseball players from Birmingham, Alabama Birmingham Black Barons players Charleston ChaSox players Charleston Senators players Charleston White Sox players Chicago White Sox players Chicago White Sox scouts Colorado Springs Sky Sox (WL) players Indianapolis Clowns players Indianapolis Indians players Major League Baseball catchers People from Crawford, Mississippi Rapiños de Occidente players Sabios de Vargas players Sacramento Solons players San Antonio Missions players Burials at Elmwood Cemetery (Birmingham, Alabama) 20th-century African-American sportspeople {{US-baseball-catcher-1920s-stub

Family

See also

External links