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Haywood Sullivan
Haywood Cooper Sullivan (December 15, 1930 – February 12, 2003) was an American college and professional baseball player who was a catcher, manager, general manager and club owner in Major League Baseball. From May 23, 1978, through November 23, 1993, he was a general partner in the Boston Red Sox, where he parlayed a $200,000 investment into a cash out of at least $12 million.
Sullivan was born in Donalsonville, Georgia, and raised in Dothan, Alabama. He graduated from Dothan High School on May 27, 1949. He received an athletic scholarship to attend the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida, where he was the starting quarterback for coach Bob Woodruff's Florida Gators football team in 1950 and 1951, and a standout catcher for coach Dave Fuller's Gators baseball team in 1951 and 1952.
In his two seasons as the Gators' quarterback, Sullivan threw for 2,016 yards in an era when the emphasis was on a running offense.
As a Gators baseball player, he was named to the All-Southeastern Conference (SEC) team in 1952.
He threw and batted right-handed, stood 6 feet 4 inches (1.93 m) tall and weighed 215 pounds (98 kg).
Sullivan signed a guaranteed $45,000 bonus contract with the Red Sox in 1952, a contract which would not have been available a year later under pending baseball rules changes, and thereby ended his college football and baseball career after his junior year. He was later inducted into the University of Florida Athletic Hall of Fame as a "Gator Great."
Sullivan's professional baseball playing career—derailed by military service, which caused him to miss the 1953 and 1954 seasons, and back surgery that cost him the entire 1958 campaign—was largely confined to the minor leagues for its first eight seasons.
After three short stays and only eight total games played for the Red Sox (in 1955, 1957 and 1959), Sullivan finally established himself in the big leagues in 1960 at age 29. He was the starting backstop for Boston's first three games, including the then-traditional "Presidential Opener" at Washington's Griffith Stadium. However, Sullivan injured his hand in the third game of the season and struggled offensively afterward, hitting only .135 through June 13 and 36 games played. That day, the Red Sox acquired catcher Russ Nixon from the Cleveland Indians, and from then through the end of the campaign, Sullivan played only sparingly. He ended the season as Boston's second-most-used catcher, behind Nixon, with 50 games and 342+1⁄3 innings caught. But he batted only .161 with four extra-base hits and was left exposed in the 1960 Major League Baseball expansion draft. The newly created edition of the Washington Senators franchise picked him up, then traded him to the Kansas City Athletics for pitcher Marty Kutyna on December 29, 1960.
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Haywood Sullivan
Haywood Cooper Sullivan (December 15, 1930 – February 12, 2003) was an American college and professional baseball player who was a catcher, manager, general manager and club owner in Major League Baseball. From May 23, 1978, through November 23, 1993, he was a general partner in the Boston Red Sox, where he parlayed a $200,000 investment into a cash out of at least $12 million.
Sullivan was born in Donalsonville, Georgia, and raised in Dothan, Alabama. He graduated from Dothan High School on May 27, 1949. He received an athletic scholarship to attend the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida, where he was the starting quarterback for coach Bob Woodruff's Florida Gators football team in 1950 and 1951, and a standout catcher for coach Dave Fuller's Gators baseball team in 1951 and 1952.
In his two seasons as the Gators' quarterback, Sullivan threw for 2,016 yards in an era when the emphasis was on a running offense.
As a Gators baseball player, he was named to the All-Southeastern Conference (SEC) team in 1952.
He threw and batted right-handed, stood 6 feet 4 inches (1.93 m) tall and weighed 215 pounds (98 kg).
Sullivan signed a guaranteed $45,000 bonus contract with the Red Sox in 1952, a contract which would not have been available a year later under pending baseball rules changes, and thereby ended his college football and baseball career after his junior year. He was later inducted into the University of Florida Athletic Hall of Fame as a "Gator Great."
Sullivan's professional baseball playing career—derailed by military service, which caused him to miss the 1953 and 1954 seasons, and back surgery that cost him the entire 1958 campaign—was largely confined to the minor leagues for its first eight seasons.
After three short stays and only eight total games played for the Red Sox (in 1955, 1957 and 1959), Sullivan finally established himself in the big leagues in 1960 at age 29. He was the starting backstop for Boston's first three games, including the then-traditional "Presidential Opener" at Washington's Griffith Stadium. However, Sullivan injured his hand in the third game of the season and struggled offensively afterward, hitting only .135 through June 13 and 36 games played. That day, the Red Sox acquired catcher Russ Nixon from the Cleveland Indians, and from then through the end of the campaign, Sullivan played only sparingly. He ended the season as Boston's second-most-used catcher, behind Nixon, with 50 games and 342+1⁄3 innings caught. But he batted only .161 with four extra-base hits and was left exposed in the 1960 Major League Baseball expansion draft. The newly created edition of the Washington Senators franchise picked him up, then traded him to the Kansas City Athletics for pitcher Marty Kutyna on December 29, 1960.
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