Hubbry Logo
search
logo
1940754

Roy Hartsfield

logo
Community Hub0 Subscribers
Write something...
Be the first to start a discussion here.
Be the first to start a discussion here.
See all
Roy Hartsfield

Roy Thomas Hartsfield (October 25, 1925 – January 15, 2011) was an American second baseman and manager in Major League Baseball; his MLB playing and managing careers each lasted three years. Hartsfield played his entire major league career with the Boston Braves from 1950 to 1952. He was then traded to the Brooklyn Dodgers for outfielder Andy Pafko.

Hartsfield spent the next 19 years in the Dodgers organization as a minor league player, manager and major league coach. In the latter role, he worked under Los Angeles skipper Walter Alston for three seasons.

He later left the Dodgers organization, and worked with the San Diego Padres organization.

In 1977, he became the first manager of the Toronto Blue Jays, helming the club for its first three seasons.

Hartsfield played with the Boston Braves between 1950 and 1952. In 265 career games, he had a .273 batting average, 13 home runs, and 59 runs batted in during his playing career.

Hartsfield was a successful manager at top levels of minor league baseball, with the Spokane Indians, then the top farm team of the Los Angeles Dodgers, and the Hawaii Islanders, the San Diego Padres' top affiliate, where he won Pacific Coast League championships in 1975 and 1976. He also coached in the Majors with the Dodgers (1969–72) and Atlanta Braves (briefly in 1973).

In 1977, Peter Bavasi, general manager of the expansion Toronto Blue Jays, hired Hartsfield, whom he had worked with in the Dodgers and Padres organizations, as the Blue Jays' first-ever manager. Hartsfield was quoted two decades later as saying that "the guys I managed the year before in Hawaii (in the triple-A Pacific Coast League) were probably a better team." Hartsfield led the Blue Jays to a 54–107 record in the 1977 season, 45.5 games behind the eventual World Series champion New York Yankees. Notable games from the season include a 9–5 win against the Chicago White Sox on Opening Day and a 19–3 victory over the Yankees on September 10.

The Blue Jays improved slightly in 1978, compiling a 59–103 record, although they still finished the season in last place. The Blue Jays finished second to last in runs scored and earned run average. In 1979, however, the Blue Jays regressed to 53–109, their worst showing yet and the worst showing of any American League team since 1966. Hartsfield was unpopular with the Blue Jays players, and by August the team was in open revolt against him, with players airing their grievances in the media on a near-daily basis.

See all
User Avatar
No comments yet.