“We’ll say this for Fayetteville
Freddie – He is a hustling skipper and a likable guy.”
Carl Bell (sports columnist), Northwest Arkansas Times, January 26,
1942, p. 6.
“Most popular of Fayetteville
managers was Fred Hawn, a home-town boy.” W.J. Lemke, The Fayetteville Angels
"Trader" Hawn [should]
stay with baseball -- because he is to baseball, as far as Fayetteville history
is concerned, a lot like W.J. Lemke is to journalism in Arkansas…The good ones
never quit. Alan Gilbert. Our Town (column): An Angel Revisited. Northwest Arkansas Times, July 8, 1972,
p. 3.
If you were a young baseball player in Arkansas, Missouri,
or Oklahoma during the 1950s and 1960s, and if you had a modicum of talent as a
pitcher or hitter, you hoped that a man named Fred Hawn would show up to watch
you pitch a no hitter or hit four home runs or, preferably, both. Perhaps after
such a game, you thought, Hawn would pull a contract and a bonus check from his
pocket and you would be headed to play for the St. Louis Cardinals.
 |
| Business Card Courtesy of Bubba McCord |
Hawn could do that because he was a Cardinals’ scout. He
signed such major leaguers as Lindy and Von McDaniel from nearby Oklahoma, Jim
King from Elkins, the Smith brothers from Barling, and Wally Moon. Maybe, young
players thought, we could be next.
Hawn, a long-time and well-known Fayetteville resident, had become
a Cardinal scout in about 1946, and he continued in that position until 1972. Before that, the Huntsville native had been a
local luminary as a player for and manager of Fayetteville’s first professional
baseball team.
His pro career began in 1929, when Hawn was 22, as a catcher
for the Muskogee/Maud Chiefs, a team in the Class C Western Association. Hawn, playing
at 5’ 8”, 165 pounds, he did not take pro ball by storm, although he hit a
respectable .261 his first year. He came back to play for the Muskogee Chiefs
in 1930, hitting only .239 in 79 games.
That batting average was not good enough to get him on a
professional team in 1931, but he returned briefly to pro ball in 1932 to play
for the Ft. Smith Twins/Muscogee Chiefs, appearing in only 15 games. In 1933,
he again did not play on a professional team.
Some 27-year-old players might have given up on professional
baseball after they had played only 15 games on pro teams in three years. Not
Fred Hawn. He got back into pro ball in 1934 by helping create the Arkansas
State League (Class D) and co-owning one of its teams, the Fayetteville
Educators. Hawn was not only the team owner, he also organized and managed it, and was
the team’s starting catcher.
 |
Fayetteville Bears, likely 1936. Hawn has his hands on his hips on the back row.
The bat boy in the back row is Sherman Lollar, a Fayetteville resident who
later became a major league star . The picture was published in J.B. Hogan,
Angels in the Ozarks (1913) |
As he played for and managed the Fayetteville team in 1934,
1936 and part of 1937, Hawn became a well-known, popular figure in the city. His
fame was assisted by a talented young reporter for the local paper, W.J. Lemke,
who loved baseball and wrote colorful stories about the local team and others
in the league.[1] Lemke had high regard
for Hawn and was amused by him. Lemke tagged him with several nicknames, such
as “Old Timer,” based on Hawn’s advanced age in a league full of younger
players.
Hawn’s connection with the St. Louis Cardinals’ organization,
for whom he would work for more than 35 years, likely started in 1936 when –
after a year out of pro baseball -- he managed and played for the Fayetteville
team. The team was affiliated with the Cedar Rapids minor league team, a St.
Louis Cardinal Class A farm club. In 1937, Hawn returned to the Fayetteville
Angels as manager-player, but in July he was sent to manage the New Iberia (Louisiana)
Cardinals, another of St. Louis’ Class D teams.
In 1938, Hawn did not manage a team, but had some new
experiences: he assisted with the
Cardinal’s spring training camp in Florida, then worked as a coach with the
Columbus Red Birds, the Cardinal’s AA farm team, its highest level farm team at
the time.[2]
Hawn returned in 1939 to the Arkansas-Missouri League to manage
and play for the Monet Cardinals. After that, he continued to manage Cardinal
farm teams in 1940 and 1941.
Hawn spent 1942, 1943, and 1944 in the Army Air Force (AAF),
mostly playing and coaching baseball at the AAF’s Virginia Beach facility. Back
in civilian life in 1945, he was player/manager for the Johnson City
(Tennessee) Cardinals. Following that experience, he gave up managing and
playing to become a full-time scout for the Cardinal team. Based in
Fayetteville, he evaluated talent in Arkansas, Missouri, and Oklahoma.
When he retired in 1972, it was clear that “Fayetteville
Freddie” had been able to parlay some modest athletic talent, grit, and an
out-sized personality into local fame and a long career in professional
baseball.
Fayetteville
Freddie’s Early Years
Fred Hawn was born in Huntsville on September 26, 1906. [3] He,
his older brother, and his parents, Carl and Mary Olga Baker Hawn, moved to
Fayetteville before he was 9 years old. We know that Fred and his family were
living in Fayetteville in May 1916 due to a short item in the Fayetteville Daily Democrat stating that
9-year-old Fred Hawn had been admitted to the city hospital with lockjaw.[4] A
few days later, on May 29, 1916 (p 4), the newspaper reported that Fred had
been successfully treated and was out of the hospital
The Hawn family was hit by a tragedy in 1918 when Jack Hawn,
Freddy’s older brother was accidentally shot dead as he (age 13), Freddy (age
12), and Lowry Nunnelly (age 13), a neighborhood kid, were “playing
soldier.” According to the front-page
newspaper account, a shotgun that Nunnelly was using as a toy unexpectedly discharged, killing Jack.[5] Fred saw his brother shot. The newspaper described what
happened:
 |
| Fayetteville Democrat, July 15, 1918 |
No blame is attached by relatives
of the unfortunate lad. The trigger apparently was touched accidentally when
the Hawn Lad gave the command “halt” and the Nunnally (sic?) boy lowered the
gun from his shoulder to the ground. It was not known that the weapon was
loaded.
Both children had the desire to
become soldiers and they drilled frequently.[6]
In the years that followed, Fred Hawn’s name appeared in the
local paper on a few occasions in conjunction with sports. In 1920, a newspaper
story reported that the Fayetteville Tigers were going to play the Springdale
“Scrubs” in football. The Fayetteville team was made up of high school freshmen
and some grammar school boys. The starters included Fred Hawn at the
quarterback position and “Lowry Nunnely”(sic?) -- the boy who had accidentally shot
his brother -- as a halfback.[7]
In September 1921, Fred Hawn boxed Fay Lewis in the second
match of a ten-match exhibition staged by the Rotary Club to raise money for a
school playground and athletic field. The matches were held at the Lyric
Theater. According to the newspaper, the four-round Hawn-Fox fight was pretty
even, but Hawn may have won “by a shade.”[8]
A couple of days later, a story in the local paper described
the efforts of Lowry Nunnelly to help create a football conference in Northwest
Arkansas in which Fayetteville High School would compete. Nunnelly was the
team’s captain and Fred Hawn was listed as a candidate to play tackle for the
FHS team.[9]
A newspaper article in 1923 declared that the University
High School baseball team was the champion of Northwest Arkansas. The team’s
catcher was 16-year-old Fred Hawn, whose batting average was .363. It must have
been some team: Hawn’s batting average was only the 7th best of the
starters.[10]
The Early Years in
Professional Baseball
I have no information about Hawn’s life from 1924 to 1928. I
would guess that he was playing semi-pro baseball during these years, perhaps
with a full-time job to support him.
He shows up in the records of professional baseball as
playing baseball in 1929 for a team in the Western Association, Class C ball, the
Muskogee/Maud Chiefs. Hawn had a good
year at the plate, hitting .261 in 68 games (see table 1). His defensive play as
a catcher was not as good, with 36 errors and the team’s lowest fielding
percentage.[11]
In 1930, he was again on the Muskogee Chiefs/Springfield
Midgets team, hitting .239 in 79 games. His fielding improved, with only 15
errors in the 68 games he caught.[12]
Perhaps because of his low batting average the previous
year, Hawn was out of professional ball in 1931, but returned 1932, playing
only 15 games and hitting a lowly .111 for the Fort Smith Twins/Muscogee Chiefs.[13] He was again out of professional baseball in
1933. The following tables show the teams for which Hawn played and/or managed
during his career and his batting statistics for each year he played.
Table 1
Fred Hawn’s Career in
Professional Baseball
Year Teams League Class Sponsor
1929 Muskogee/Maud
Chiefs Western
Association C
1930 Muskogee
Chiefs/ Western
Association C
Springfield
Midgets
1932 Fort Smith
Twins Western Association C St. Louis Browns
/Muscogee Chiefs Western
Association
1934* Fayetteville
Educators Arkansas State League D
1935 Fayetteville
Bears Arkansas State League D Cedar
Rapids
1936* Fayetteville
Bears Arkansas–Missouri League D Cedar
Rapids
1937* Fayetteville
Angels Arkansas-Missouri League D Cedar
Rapids
1937* New Iberia
Cardinals Evangeline League D STL Cardinals
1938** Columbus (OH) American
Association AA STL Cardinals
1939* Monett Red
Birds Arkansas-Missouri League D STL Cardinals
1940* Cooleemee Cards N. Carolina State
League D STL Cardinals
1941* Cooleemee Cards N. Carolina State
League D STL Cardinals
1941* Union City
Greyhounds Kentucky-Illinois-Tenn. League D STL Cardinals
1945* Johnson City
Cardinals Appalachian League D STL Cardinals
* Manager/Player
**Coach
Minor League Batting Average
Year Games At Bats Hits Batting Average
1929 68 199 52 .261
1930 79 209 50 . 239
1932 15 45 5 .111
1934 65 228 51 .224
1935 9 27 12 .444
1936 101 348 100 .287
1937 83 241 50 .207
1939 81 220 39 .177
1940 19 36 4 .111
1941 83 218 49 .228
1945 26 66 18 .273
All (11 yrs) 629 1837 430 .234
Class D (8 yrs) 467 1384 323 .233
Class C (3 yrs) 162 453 107 . 236
The Arkansas State
and Arkansas-Missouri Leagues (1934-1941)
After playing only 15 games of professional baseball over
three seasons, Hawn’s future in pro ball was not bright; however, he found a
way in 1934 to get back into the game: he helped to create a new Class D
league, the Arkansas State League, in which he co-owned the Fayetteville team.
During the first season of the League, it was comprised of the Bentonville
Officeholders, the Siloam Springs Buffalos, Rogers Rustlers, and the
Fayetteville Educators. In the years that followed, some teams left the league
and others joined it. In 1936, the league was renamed the Arkansas-Missouri
League because Cassville and Monett, both cities in Missouri, had teams in the
league.[14].
According to W. J. Lemke, Hawn was a “moving spirit behind
the organization” of the league. At a
meeting on March 1, 1934 to organize the league, he and V. James Ptak, who was
for many years a judge in Fayetteville, represented the city.[15] Hawn led the effort to create a team in
Fayetteville that would be part of the new league. He not only was an owner of
the new Fayetteville team, he recruited and selected the players for the team,
managed it, and usually was its starting catcher. Thanks in large part to his efforts, the Fayetteville
Educators --the city’s first professional baseball team – played its first game
on May 8, 1934.
The team did not do well in the standings and Hawn had a mediocre
year as a player, hitting only .224. Even
worse for him, the team’s revenues were not sufficient to cover its expenses. The
revenues came mostly from the admission charge, 25 cents for adults and 10
cents for children; from the beginning, attendance was often low. It declined
further after the team’s Fairgrounds Park lost some of its best seats when on
June 16, the roof over them collapsed during a wind storm.[16]
The team’s expenses included salaries of $30 to $50 salaries
for each of the teams 14 or so players, payment of league expenses (e.g. for
umpires and dues to a national organization of professional teams), and the
cost of transportation and baseballs (two new balls per game, 80 cents each).[17]
Throughout the first year, teams in the
league were often on the brink of financial disaster.
According to Lemke, the precarious financial situation of
the Educators was evident in the ragged, dirty uniforms the players wore. Lemke
wrote that at the end of the season, “There [wasn’t] a whole suit in the bunch
and the cloth contained more dirt than cloth.”[18]
In late July, the Fayetteville team – and Fred Hawn – faced
a crisis. The other co-owner had given up his interest in the team, leaving
Hawn – who suddenly became the sole owner -- responsible for finding money to
pay a $225 team debt. In this Depression year, he did not have the money and had
no prospect of getting it elsewhere. As
a result, on August 1st he gave ownership of the team (along with
the debt) to the League. He later told a newspaper columnist, “I lost durned
near everything I had.”[19]
This whole matter was so distressing and stressful for Hawn
that he took off a few days from the team and gave up his position as manager. After
missing a few games, he returned as a player, but the season ended early, soon
after his return, because of the league’s financial problems.[20]
After the 1934 financial failure, the ownership of the
Fayetteville team was assumed by a group of local businessmen, and its finances
were somewhat more solid with their backing and some modest assistance from the
St. Louis Cardinals’ organization. Perhaps because of the financial fiasco,
Hawn was not on the Fayetteville team (renamed the Bears) during most of the
1935 season, but returned as the season was ending to play in nine games.
The following year, 1936, Hawn was again hired to manage the
Fayetteville team, likely, at least in part, due to a campaign on his behalf
waged by Al Williams, a sports writer for the Fayetteville Daily Democrat.[21]
On March 2, 1936, the paper announced that the “antediluvian” Hawn, the
“ancient mariner,” had been named to manage the team. Hawn was 29 years old at
the time.
During the 1936 season, Hawn played the best baseball of his
career. In 101 games, his batting average was .287, well above his lifetime
average of .234. At one point in the season, he had a nineteen-game hitting
streak.[22] To celebrate his role with the team, “Fred Hawn Day” was held on
September 3, 1936 at the Washington County Fair Grounds at a Fayetteville Bears
game, and Hawn was given a shotgun as a gift, paid for by contributions from
fans. That day, he was injured by a foul tip off one of his fingers and had to
leave the game and miss the rest of the season.[23]
At the end of the season, Hawn was received an “honorable
mention” for the Arkansas-Missouri League’s all-star team. Although he had a
stellar year as a player, he did not have much to brag about as the manager:
the team’s record was 53 wins and 67 losses
Hawn returned in 1937 to manage and play for the Fayetteville
team, whose name had been changed to Fayetteville Angels. As in 1936, the
Fayetteville team was a St. Louis Cardinal farm club (through its affiliation
with the Cedar Rapids minor league team) and in the middle of the season, Hawn
was promoted to manage another of St. Louis’s minor league teams, the New
Iberia (Louisiana) Cardinals, in the Evangeline League. This team was a direct
affiliate of the St. Louis Cardinals.
Hawn got caught up in a controversy that arose because the
St. Louis Cardinals in 1937, contrary to rules set by the baseball
commissioner, Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis, operated two farm clubs in the
Arkansas-Missouri League: Monett and Fayetteville. The perpetually frowning Landis
had decreed that major league teams could have only one team per minor league
organization, and he held a hearing in March 1938 to investigate St. Louis’s
transgressions. He summoned Hawn to testify at the hearing. When asked what he
had said in his testimony, he replied: “Well…I was so nervous that the first
thing I knew I was telling him the truth.” [24] Apparently his testimony did
not upset the Cardinals too much because he continued to work for its
organization.
In 1938, Hawn had no involvement in the Arkansas-Missouri
League, but he came back to the league in 1939 to manage and play for the
Monett Red Birds, the St. Louis Cardinal’s remaining farm team in the league. According
to W.J. Lemke, Hawn’s first game in Fayetteville as the manager of the Monett
team attracted substantial attention:
The price of admission has been
reduced to 10 cents to assure a big crowd for the homecoming of Fred Hawn….Fred
is pretty popular around these parts and the fans are planning to indulge a bit
of razzing when Fred appears in the third base coaching box. If he should
happen into an argument with the umpire, the fans would really enjoy that.”[25]
Lemke wrote about the Monett-Fayetteville game following
day, noting that when Monett’s catcher got hit on the hand by a foul tip, it
looked as if Fred Hawn would have to catch. But the catcher stayed in the game
so Hawn did not play. Nevertheless, Lemke got in one of his friendly digs at
Hawn, writing: “Fred confined his
activity to walking from the bench to the third coaching box and back again.
That’s pretty strenuous exercise for a man his age.”[26]
 |
| Northwest Arkansas Times, May 5, 1939, p. 9 |
Hawn played in 81 games in 1939, but hit only .177 for
Monett. He also pitched in 6 games for the team, a total of 21 innings in which
he gave up 20 hits and 7 earned runs. His ERA was a respectable 3.00. The
Monett team had a disastrous record, winning only 35 games while losing 89.
The following year, 1940, when the Arkansas-Missouri League
had to shut down because of failing finances, Hawn was managing the Cooleemee
Cards in the North Carolina State League.
In reading about the history of the Arkansas
State/Arkansas-Missouri League, it is clear that Fred Hawn was an important and
popular figure in the League during his two-and-a-half seasons with the
Fayetteville team and his year with the Monett team. Lemke wrote about Hawn:
Much of the local communities’
interest in Ark-Mo baseball was due to the personalities of the team managers.
Fred Hawn, a home-town boy who managed the Educations-Bears-Angels for four
seasons [sic] had a big following. He supplied some good baseball plus a lot of
entertainment.
According to Lemke,
Fred loved his publicity, even when
the sports stories referred to him as “The Ancient Mariner” or the
“antediluvian receiver.” He thought them complimentary remarks. Once, when Fred
accidentally stole a base, a newspaper column described the unusual occurrence
thusly: Hawn went into second base like a freight on the St. Paul branch of the
Frisco.” Fred considered this high praise and carried the clipping around in
his wallet for several years. The lovable guy is still in baseball, serving as
scout for the St. Louis Cardinals. [27]
Lemke told several stories about Hawn and his time in the
Arkansas-Missouri League. According to Lemke, Hawn did not get off to a fast
start in 1934, the first year of the Arkansas State League and did not get a
hit for week. When he did get his first hit, “he knelt down and kissed first
base.” Another account of the incident, cited by Hogan, was in the local
newspaper, which reported that Hawn not only kissed the base, but also shook
the hand of the first baseman.[28]
Lemke wrote about a game on August 27, 1936 when the Bear’s
second baseman, Monte Johnson, was hit on the head by a pitched ball in the
first inning. He noted, “Fred Hawn took Monte’s place at second base, fielded
the position flawlessly, and drove out two hits.” He also described a time in 1939 when Hawn
pitched for the Monett Cards, the team he was managing:
On one occasion Monett was leading
the Angels in the latter part of the game, when the Monett pitcher showed some
signs of weakening. Manager Hawn removed his pitcher and took over the mound
himself. He threw a roundhouse curve that the Fayetteville fans called a
“Dickson street sinker.” Fred saved the game for his club. In one inning he
retired three men on four pitched balls, causing the Times to remark, “Old Trader Horn” must have had something but
what it was nobody will ever know.”
From Lemke, we know that Hawn who “had been a catcher in pro
baseball a long time”…”had every knuckle on every finger on every hand (he had
two of them) busted at one time or another.” He had a “high shrill whistle”
that he used when in the coaching box. [29]
As noted, Lemke liked to make jokes about Hawn’s age: He was
in his late 20s and early 30s when managing and playing for Fayetteville and
Monett. Lemke is the writer who labeled
him “anteviluivan receiver” “old timer” and “The Ancient Mariner.” Nevertheless, Lemke had great respect for him
because “…he knew baseball and how to handle young pitchers.” Writing about a
game when Monett, coached by Hawn, had beaten the Angels, Lemke wrote: “Fred
‘Old Timer’ Hawn … practically won Saturday’s game by using his noodle. He
out-smarted the Angels and the umpires.”[30]
Fred Hawn: Working
for the Cardinals and Uncle Sam
When Hawn managed the Fayetteville team in 1936, he must
have impressed the St. Louis Cardinal organization, which had pioneered the use
of “farm clubs” in the minor leagues to help prepare its players for the major
leagues. In 1937, Hawn was clearly affiliated with, though likely not yet an
employee of, the Cardinals. As mentioned earlier, that year he was promoted
midseason from the Monett Cardinals to manage another Cardinals’ farm
team.
In 1938, Hawn had an unusual year, one that likely
solidified his role with the Cardinals. After marrying Maud Gold in
Fayetteville on February 8, the couple went to Florida where Hawn assisted the
Cardinal’s training school in Winter Haven.[31] When the season started, Hawn
was on the coaching staff of the AA Columbus Red Birds, the Cardinal’s highest
ranked farm team.
 |
| Fred Hawn in 1938 with the Columbus Red Birds; Photo from Hogan, Angels in the Ozarks |
As described earlier, Hawn returned to the Arkansas-Missouri
League in 1939 to manage the Monett Cards, then in 1940, he was sent to manage
the Cooleemee Cards, another St. Louis Cardinal’s class D farm team, in the
North Carolina State League. He also played
in 19 games there, hitting .111.[32]
In late-March, 1941, Hawn headed to Albany Georgia to
instruct pitchers in the Cardinal organization for two weeks; then he did the
same thing for two weeks at Columbus, Georgia. After that, he went to North
Carolina to again manage the Cooleemee Cards.[33]
Hawn was in Cooleemee until July when, according to an
on-line history of the Union City Greyhounds:
Branch Rickey engineered a switch of managers sending [Charlie] Martin
to Cooleemee, North Carolina, and bringing Fred Hawn to the [Union City] Greyhounds.
He said it should put new life into both teams. For a while he was right.
Hawn,
a 14 year veteran in professional ball, was an instant hit in Union City
[Tennessee}, even though he replaced one of the most popular managers to hold
the job. In six weeks he had the Greyhounds in second place with a record of
49-44. The club held a "Freddie Hawn Night", and had 1200 cheering fans turn out for a 3-1 victory
over the Fulton Tigers. [34]
These sentences suggest that the legendary Branch Rickey, who was
for a while manager (1919 – 1925) then the equivalent of the general manager
(1925-1942) of the St. Louis Cardinals, was instrumental in Hawn’s early career
with the Cardinals. In fact, if Rickey had not pioneered the use of minor
league teams for the development of talent for the Cardinals, Hawn may have
been out of professional baseball after 1930. Because the Cardinals, then other
clubs following its example, affiliated with and helped to finance minor league
teams, minor leagues flourished and people like Hawn had a chance to make a
career in baseball with them. It is no wonder that Hawn, according to Lemke,
believed “Branch Rickey is the greatest man this nation has ever produced.”[35]
Hawn interrupted his baseball carrier in 1942, when at the
age of 35 he joined the Army Air force (AAF). As an enlisted man in the AAF, he made good use of his
baseball knowledge. He was stationed at the AAF’s “redistribution center” in
Atlantic City. According to a newspaper
story in the Binghamton (NY) Press, the center operated an extensive sports
program for pilots who had completed their tours on the war fronts. As they
were awaiting reassignment, they came to the facility at Atlantic City to relax
and recuperate.[36] While there, they
had their choice of 22 different sports, including baseball, in which they
could take part. The story noted that Sgt. Fred Hawn was in charge of baseball
and was also the catcher and one of the leading hitters on the station team.
After he was discharged from the military, Hawn managed the
Johnson City (Tennessee) Cardinals in 1945 and, at the age of 39, played in 26 games,
hitting .273. One of his players was a
raw young pitcher from Missouri, Cloyd Boyer. According to Boyer, Hawn’s
coaching advice was vital for his development and helped him become a major
league pitcher. (Cloyd’s brothers Ken and Clete also played in the major
leagues for many years.)[37]
Fred Hawn: St. Louis
Cardinals Scout
Hawn became a full-time scout in the latter part of 1945 or in
1946 after he finished managing the Johnson City team. The 1947 Baseball Guide and Record Book, compiled
by J.G. Taylor Spink, lists Hawn as scout for
the St. Louis Cardinals.[38]
During Hawn’s years of scouting, the job required judgement
and wisdom unaided by tools such as “guns” to measure how fast a ball was
thrown. A scout might occasionally use a stop watch to measure speed, but
mostly formed his impressions of reflexes, hitting and fielding ability, savvy,
speed, and other factors by watching players play.
To find talented country players that might otherwise be
difficult to identify, scouts would invite players to attend tryout camps they
would operate at different locations. There, they could watch players display
their abilities. Also, they would attend special baseball instructional
schools, such as the one conducted in 1948 by Rogers Hornsby in Hot Springs.[39] These camps and schools sometime uncovered
players that made it to the major leagues.
Much of a scout’s time from early spring through December
was spent watching prospects play baseball. Hawn would get tips about players
from a network of “birddogs,” coaches, friends, and acquaintances who loved
baseball and the St. Louis Cardinals. He traveled extensively around his
territory, checking out players who might make the grade.[40]
Of course, a scout’s job was not only to identify top
prospects, but also to sign them before another team got their signature on a
contract. Thus, Hawn had to build relationships with young prospects and,
often, with their parents, preferably starting when the player was still in
high school. A good example of Hawn’s ability to build such relationships can
be seen in the story of the signing of Lindy McDaniel, who grew up on a farm in
rural Oklahoma. He was most successful major league player that Hawn signed.
Newell McDaniel, Lindy’s father, wrote about his son’s
signing in an article published in the Corpus
Christi Caller-Times newspaper in 1957.
In it, he told how Hawn developed his connection with Lindy and his
family and how it paid off:
During the period between 1953 and
early 1955, we had several visits from Fred Hawn the Cardinals’ scout in the
Oklahoma-Arkansas area. Fred is one of the most honest men I’ve ever met and
he’s practically become one of our family.
After Lindy had outgrown American
Legion competition, Fred arranged for him to play in an industrial league in
Oklahoma City and later for team in Bentonville, Arkansas. It was good
experience for Lindy and yet he remained eligible to play baseball and
basketball at college. When Lindy came home from school in the spring of ’55,
Fred offered him a job at an oil company in Sinton, Texas, where he could play
with the company’s traditionally powerful team in the National Baseball
Congress (N.B.C.) competition. The salary was good and Lindy pounced on the offer.
By August, Lindy’s pitching had
helped the team reach the N.B.C. playoffs. I was making plans to take the
family to one of the games when a call from Lindy upset the calm.
“A scout from the Philadelphia
Phillies has just offered me $30,000 to sign a contract, Dad,” Lindy told me.
“What should I do?”
“Don’t do anything for a few
minutes.”
Quickly I called Fred Hawn.
Let’s go down to Sinton,” he said.
At Sinton, Fred watched Lindy
thrown for 15 minutes before a game. When the boy finished, Fred turned to me.
“I’m ready to take him to St. Louis,” he told me.
Lindy got a tryout with St. Louis and impressed manager
Harry Walker and general manager Bing Devine. When they told him they wanted to
sign him, McDaniel replied that he would sign only if he received a bonus of
$50,000. They said they had to get approval from Cardinal owner Augustus Busch to
pay that amount. At first Busch refused to pay that amount, but ultimately
agreed. Then:
The next morning, Fred Hawn almost
broke down our door. His beaming face told use the news. The Cardinals had
decided Lindy was worth $50,000 – the biggest bonus they had every paid any
boy.[41]
This story shows some of the mechanics involved in getting
the signature of a big-time pitcher on a Cardinals’ contract. After building a
relationship over several years, Hawn was able to steer Lindy McDaniel to the
Cardinals when he was ready to play in the Big Leagues.
Hawn must have been a good scout because he kept his job
until he reached retirement age in 1972. As part of his retirement, he was
honored with a special night at the Tulsa 0iler baseball park on August 26.
(Tulsa was the nearest St. Louis farm club to Fayetteville.) According to the
Fayetteville paper, 30 or more couples traveled from Fayetteville to take part
in the night honoring him.[42] .
“Fayetteville
Freddie” on the Sidelines
Perhaps Fayetteville Freddie was nudged into retirement a
bit before he wanted. In an article about his retirement, he indicated that he
might take a job scouting for another team. Apparently, he did not. However, I
doubt that he ever quit keeping an eye out for baseball talent that might be of
value to his Cardinals.
 |
Hawn (left, in white pants) playing golf. Northwest Arkansas Times,
August 23, 1962, p. 1. |
Hawn apparently enjoyed golf and in retirement was often at
the Fayetteville Country Club. My friend and fellow baseball player in the
early 1960s, Bubba McCord, says he often saw him there.[43]
The retired scout had an embarrassing and regrettable
incident in 1975 that made the newspapers, but I will omit that story. Instead I prefer to look back at the career
of Fayetteville Freddie and admire all that he accomplished during his life in
baseball through his grit, hard work, and personality. He was a person that
Fayetteville could proudly claim as its own.
Footnotes:
[1] Walter John Lemke (1891-1968) is a beloved figure in
Fayetteville’s history. Not only did he write for the Fayetteville paper (the
Fayetteville Daily Democrat, whose name
was changed to the
Northwest Arkansas
Times in 1938), he later headed the journalism department at the University
of Arkansas. The department is now named after him. See this Arkansas Encyclopedia
entry:
http://www.encyclopediaofarkansas.net/encyclopedia/entry-detail.aspx?search=1&entryID=2923
[3] The date of birth is from his obituary in the
Northwest Arkansas Times, August 24,
1985, p. 2. Most of his on-line baseball
records are calculated based on a birthday of September 26, 1909. Thus, for
example, the roster of the 1945 Johnson City Cardinals shows that Hawn was 36
years old in 1945 when he actually turned 39 that year.
http://www.baseball-reference.com/minors/team.cgi?id=0c6a14f7
[4] Fayetteville Daily
Democrat, May 23, 1916, p4.
[5] The newspaper story spelled the boy’s last name two
different ways: Nunnally and Nunnely. Other articles in the newspaper in following
years usually spelled his name as Nunnelly. I believe that Nunnelly is the
correct spelling.
[6] “Jack Hawn
Accidentally Killed by Playmate.” Fayetteville
Democrat, July 15, 1918, p 1.
[7] “Tigers to Meet Springdale Scrubs.” Fayetteville Daily Democrat, Nov. 5, 1920.
[8] “10-Bouts Staged as Playground Benefit; About $100
Cleared.” Fayetteville Daily Democrat,
September 8, 1921, p. 1.
[9] “New High School Team Expect to be Winner.” Fayetteville Daily Democrat, Sept 10,
1921 p. 1.
[10] “U.H.S. Nine Champs of N.W. Arkansas.” Fayetteville Daily Democrat, May 15,
1923 p.6
[14] The story of the Fayetteville Educators/Bears/Angels
and the Arkansas-Missouri League has been told well by two writers. First, W.J.
Lemke covered the team and the league throughout their history as a reporter
for the Fayetteville paper. He clearly enjoyed baseball and had an eye for
colorful characters and amusing anecdotes that made for lively and often
humorous reading. A dozen years after the closing of the league, he wrote a
short history of it, titled The
Fayetteville Angels or Why Baseball is Our National Pastime being A History of
the Arkansas-Missouri League (1952?). This booklet has no publication date
(e.g., year of publication) and is not paginated.
More recently, a detailed, well-researched history of the
Fayetteville Educators/Bears/Angels was published in a book, Angels in the Ozarks by J.R. Hogan
[Pen-L Publishing, 2013]. Hogan not only provides a season-by-season account of
the league and the Fayetteville team, but also appends about 60 page of
rosters, player accomplishments, and statistics covering the entire history of
the league. The book recounts many of
the interesting stories about the players and teams, and it gives accounts of
key games played each year.
These two books are the sources of most of what I write
about Hawn’s years in the Arkansas State/Arkansas-Missouri League. They are
supplemented by information from some newspaper articles located through
Newspapers.com.
[15] Hogan [2013] provides a thorough account of the
creation of the league, and Lemke [1952] offers some details about the
creation. (See footnote 14)
[16] According to Lemke,
“On June 16, a windstorm unroofed the central part of the grandstand, so
that for the remainder of that season the fans had to sit at the north and
south ends of the stand, leaving the gaping center section empty.”[Lemke, 1952,
n.p.] Also see Carl Kay Bell. On the
50-Yard Line (column), Northwest Arkansas
Times, March 27, 1941, p. 4.
[17] For details of league and team finances, see Hogan,
2013, especially pages 2-3. (See footnote 14)
[18] See Lemke, 1952. (See footnote 14)
[19] Carl Kay Bell. On the 50-Yard Line (column), Northwest Arkansas Times, March 27,
1941, p. 4.
[20] See accounts in Lemke, 1952 and Hogan, 2013, p. 12. (See
footnote 14)
[21] Hogan, 2015, p. 40
[22] Hogan, 2015, p. 49
[23] Hogan, 2015, p. 53
[24] Quoted in Lemke, 1952, n.p.
[25] W.J. Lemke. “Angel Food” (column). Northwest Arkansas Times, May 4, 1939, p. 4.
[26] W.J. Lemke. “Angel Food” (column), Northwest Arkansas Times, May 5, 1939, p. 8.
[27] Lemke quotes are from Lemke, 1952, unless a newspaper
source is cited.
[28] Hogan, 2013, footnote 9, p. 166.
[29] W.J. Lemke. “Just Neighbors”. Fayetteville Daily Democrat, July 15, 1936, p. 4
[30] W.J. Lemke. “Angel Food” (column). Northwest Arkansas Times, May 29, 1939, p. 6.
[31] Gold had graduated from the University of Arkansas and
was on the staff of the local paper, whose name had been recently changed from
the Fayetteville Daily Democrat to
the Northwest Arkansas Times (NWAT). “Hawn-Gold
Wedding on February 8 Announced Today.” Northwest
Arkansas Times, March 23, 1938, p. 3.
A brief article in the Northwest
Arkansas Times in September 1938 stated that Fred Hawn had returned to
Fayetteville after coaching the Columbus teams.
“Fred Hawn Returns to Fayetteville,” Northwest
Arkansas Times, Sept. 13, 1938, p.5.
It is not clear what Hawn he did in the
off season, but a 1939 article in the Fayetteville paper listed him as a
referee for a University of Arkansas basketball game. “Arkansas Quint Plays
Clothiers Here Tonight.” Northwest Arkansas Times, Feb. 18, 1939, p. 6.
[32] Player and team
statistics for the 1940 and 1941 years can be found at these links:
[33] Carl Kay Bell. “On the 50-Yard Line” (column), Northwest Arkansas Times, March 27,
1941, p. 4.
[36] “Atlantic City Sports Haven Provided Returning Airmen.”
Binghamton (NY) Press, July 27, 1944,
p. 22. A shorter version was published
in the local paper. “Sgt. Hawn Instructs Men Back From Fronts.” Northwest Arkansas Times, June 14, 1955,
p. 6.
[39] For example, see “Cards’ Tryout Camp in Council Bluff,”
The Daily Iowan, August 27, 1947, p.
2 and see the notice about Hornsby camp in the Northwest Arkansas Times, Feb. 18, 1948, p. 3.
[40] “Recruiter for 24 Years, Fred Hawn Looks for Talent,” Northwest Arkansas Times, April 3, 1967,
p. 16 and “Hawn Eyes Another Smith.” Northwest
Arkansas Times, July 11, 1961, p. 12.
[41] Newell McDaniel (as told to John Ross). “My bonus boys
– Lindy and Von.” The Corpus Christi
Caller-Times, Sept. 15, 1957, p. 93, 96
Lindy McDaniel tells a similar story about his signing in
his “Pitching for the Master” blog, but with a few different details:
[After I got an offer from a
Philadelphia scout] I called my dad and told him what the man had said. Dad
immediately called Fred Hawn, a Cardinal scout who had been closely following
my development. Fred lived in Fayetteville, Arkansas. He got excited and hopped
in his Cardinal Red Ford Thunderbird convertible and rushed to Hollis, Oklahoma
to pick up my dad. Then both of them came to Sinton, Texas to see what was
going on.
They picked me up at the dorm, we ate a late
lunch, and all of us went to the ball park. We arrived about 3 hours before
game time. Fred, being an old catcher always carried his catching mitt. He had
swarthy, dark complexion, was short and well built, and he offered a good
target for my pitches. I threw to him for about 40 minutes or so... Then
turning to my dad and me, [Hawn] said, “Lindy, how would you like to try out
for the Cardinals?”
[42] “Tulsa Oilers to Honor Veteran Talent Scout.” Northwest Arkansas Times, August 24,
1972, p. 16
