Hughie Jennings

Hugh Ambrose Jennings left school at twelve to work in the anthracite coal mines of northeastern Pennsylvania, separating slate from coal for ninety cents a day. By twenty-seven he was hitting .401 for the Baltimore Orioles. He managed Ty Cobb for fourteen seasons, won three pennants in Detroit, coached John McGraw's New York Giants to four more, practiced law in Scranton, survived at least three incidents that should have killed him, and spent every game in the coaching box screaming "Ee-Yah!" while plucking handfuls of grass from the ground and waving his arms over his head. No one who saw him ever forgot him.

The Breaker Boy

Jennings was born on April 2, 1869, in Pittston, Pennsylvania, the ninth of twelve children in an Irish immigrant family. His father, James, worked the coal pits. Hughie followed him underground as a breaker boy. To the nearly one hundred men from the Pennsylvania coal country who later made the major leagues, Jennings was known as Big Daddy, the most famous athlete their region had produced.

He signed his first professional contract in 1890 with Allentown of the Eastern Interstate League and reached the majors on June 1, 1891, with the Louisville Colonels. He hit .293 in his first season but struggled to .224 in 1892, and by 1893 he had been traded to Baltimore.

The Orioles

In Baltimore, Jennings found the team that made his reputation. Under manager Ned Hanlon, the Orioles won three consecutive National League pennants from 1894 through 1896 with a roster that held six future Hall of Famers at the same time. John McGraw played third base. Willie Keeler hit them where they weren't. Joe Kelley patrolled left field. Dan Brouthers played first base in 1894. Wilbert Robinson caught. Jennings, appointed team captain in 1894, anchored the position at shortstop.

He produced five seasons of extraordinary offense. From 1894 through 1898, he batted .335, .386, .401, .355, and .328, accumulating more than 900 hits and 686 runs scored. In 1896, he set the single-season record for being hit by pitches with 51, a record that still stands. Over those five years he was hit 202 times. His career total of 287 remains among the highest in history. Honus Wagner said of him, "No one compared with Hughie as a shortstop." Ned Hanlon called him "the most remarkable short stop the world has ever seen."

Near-Death Experiences

Jennings suffered repeated head injuries that almost certainly contributed to his later health decline. In 1897, Amos Rusie quick-pitched him near the temple and fractured his skull. He was unconscious for three days.

In February 1904, while attending Cornell Law School, Jennings dove headfirst into the university gymnasium's indoor swimming pool without realizing that maintenance had drained it. He hit the concrete bottom and sustained a lacerated scalp, two badly sprained wrists, and multiple abrasions. It was one of the strangest near-death incidents in baseball history.

In December 1911, driving a car given to him by admirers, the vehicle skidded off a bridge over the Lehigh River near Gouldsboro, Pennsylvania, fell ten feet, and pinned him in the water. He fractured his skull again, broke both legs and his left arm, and nearly drowned.

Managing Cobb

After his playing career declined (a broken throwing arm forced him from shortstop to first base, and eventually out of the everyday lineup), Jennings managed in the minor leagues before taking over the Detroit Tigers in 1907. He inherited a sixth-place club and won the American League pennant in each of his first three seasons, 1907 through 1909.

The Tigers lost all three World Series. The 1907 Cubs swept them after a Game 1 tie. The 1908 Cubs won in five. In 1909, Fred Clarke's Pirates won in seven behind rookie Babe Adams.

Jennings' most lasting accomplishment in Detroit was his management of Cobb. Where others tried to control the volatile Cobb, Jennings gave him latitude. His famous instruction was direct. "There isn't anything about baseball I can teach you. Anything I might say to you would merely hinder you in your development. Do what you think is best and I'll back you up." Cobb won twelve batting titles during Jennings' fourteen years in Detroit. The 1915 Tigers went 100-54 but finished second, two and a half games behind the Boston Red Sox.

Jennings finished with a career managerial record of 1,184 wins and 995 losses in Detroit and with the Giants, where he coached from 1921 to 1925 under McGraw. Together they won four consecutive NL pennants and two World Series titles.

Ee-Yah

The cry that became Jennings' trademark had uncertain origins. He may have learned the word from a Hawaiian teammate who told him it meant "look out," or it may have evolved naturally from "That's the way" to "Way-yah" to "Ee-Yah." Whatever its origin, the sound was unmistakable. Jennings screamed it from the coaching box while plucking grass until the area was bare, waving both arms overhead, and raising his right knee sharply. Umpire Tim Hurst described him as having "the grin that echoed."

When facing Rube Waddell, who was famously distractible, Jennings stationed himself in the first-base coaching box with rubber snakes and jack-in-the-boxes purchased from the dime store. He would call out "Hey, Rube, look at this!" and pop the toys. Sam Crawford confirmed in Lawrence Ritter's "The Glory of Their Times" that Waddell's teammates sometimes had to physically restrain him from abandoning the mound to inspect the diversions.

The Lawyer

Jennings attended Cornell Law School during offseasons, starting in 1899. He passed the Maryland bar in 1905 and the Pennsylvania bar in 1907, then practiced law with his brother W.A. Jennings in Scranton, maintaining the practice throughout his baseball career. He was a respected trial lawyer who defended accused murderers and handled civil litigation.

After the strain of managing the Giants in 1925, Jennings suffered a nervous breakdown. He was diagnosed with tuberculosis and spent time recuperating at a sanitarium in Asheville, North Carolina. He died of spinal meningitis at his home in Scranton on February 1, 1928, at 58. He was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1945 by the Old Timers Committee, alongside two of his Baltimore teammates, Dan Brouthers and Wilbert Robinson.