$\"Always$ <\/a>

Always a Braves’ fan-atic.<\/p><\/div>\n

Heroes are more often born out of circumstances than planning.\u00a0 That was the case with one of my boyhood baseball heroes, who \u2013 aided by circumstance \u2013 took the National League by \u201cstorm\u201d in 1957. \u00a0 I\u2019m talking about Bob \u201cHurricane\u201d Hazle<\/strong><\/span>, who more than held his own in terms of heroics on the Milwaukee Braves’ 1957 pennant (and World Series) winning squad. \u00a0In fact, for a couple of months that year, Wiffle (R) Ball games in and around Milwaukee saw as many youngsters emulating Bob Hazle as were patterning their stances after Braves\u2019 stars and future Hall of Famers Hank Aaron and Eddie Mathews. \u00a0Note: I was a six-year-old baseball fanatic and Milwaukee native when the Braves became Milwaukee’s team in 1953 – and a fan-atic by 1957.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0W<\/em>hat can you say about Hurricane Hazle? He came up to the Braves at the end of July, and for the rest of the year, nobody could get him out. I\u2019ve never seen a guy as hot as he was \u2013 ever. \u2026. I don\u2019t know what happens to suddenly make a minor league ballplayer into Babe Ruth, but Hazle was right out of \u201cThe Twilight Zone.\u201d We were hanging in there pretty well before he arrived, but he just picked us up.<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Hall of Famer Eddie Mathews<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0From the book “Eddie Mathews and the National Pastime”<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Hurricane Hazle’s Milwaukee Story<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n
$\"Bob$ <\/a>
Bob “Hurricane” Hazle … still a treasured autograph.<\/p><\/div>\n
On July 11, 1957, the Milwaukee Braves \u2013 who had finished just one game behind the NL Champion Dodgers in 1956 \u2013 brought a 44-35 record (three games behind the league-leading Cardinals) into a game against the Pirates (in Pittsburgh).\u00a0 One the very first play in the bottom of the first inning, Braves center fielder Billy Bruton<\/strong>, chasing down a fly ball to shallow left by Pirates\u2019 lead-off hitter Bill Virdon,<\/strong> collided with shortstop Felix Mantilla <\/strong>(the ball fell in for a double). Both Mantilla and Bruton were knocked out of the game. Mantilla was back on the field in a few weeks, but Bruton \u2013 who had an eight-stitch cut on his lip and, even worse, a torn ligament in his right knee \u2013 was out for the season and headed for surgery.<\/p>\n
Braves\u2019 fans (including this soon to be ten-year-old) were devastated.\u00a0 Bruton was the team\u2019s leadoff hitter and a slick fielding center fielder, who had led the NL in stolen bases three of the past four seasons. The hopes for catching the Stan Musial<\/strong>-led Cardinals now seemed out of reach.<\/p>\n
Bruton\u2019s injury led to a series of moves that saw 2B Red Schoendienst<\/strong> move to the leadoff spot, Hank Aaron<\/strong> move to center field, Andy Pafko<\/strong> to right field and journeyman outfield Nippy Jones<\/strong> (who hadn\u2019t played in the majors since 1952) move from the Triple A Sacramento Solons (PCL) to a reserve (1B\/OF) role with the Braves. Even catcher Del Crandall<\/strong> found himself taking a few turns in the outfield. Also in the mix was emerging power hitter Wes Covington<\/strong>, a stabilizing regular in left field.<\/p>\n
Bob Hazle first picked up the nickname “Hurricane” during a 1954 stint in the Venezuelan winter league; a response to the fact that his home state of South Carolina was hit by Hurricane Hazel that October.\u00a0 The nickname resurfaced when he took the National League \u201cby storm\u201d in 1957.<\/strong><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Still the Braves\u2019 felt they needed more. So, in late July, they called up Bob Hazle<\/strong>, a 26-year-old outfielder who was hitting .279-12-58 at with the Triple A Wichita Braves. The 6-foot, 190-pound left-handed hitter was initially slated to spell the 36-year-old Pafko (the Braves\u2019 outfield was now Covington in left, Aaron in center and Pafko in right).\u00a0 Hazle got in his first game on July 29 \u2013 as he sacrificed in a pinch-hitting role.\u00a0 On July 31, with the Braves (59-41, and one tie) in basically a dead heat with the Cardinals (58-40), \u00a0Hazle got his first start in right field.<\/p>\n
Hazle went one-for-four in his first start in right field for the Braves (a 4-2 win over the Pirates), but there was much more to come. In 21 August games, Hazle hit .493 (33-for-67), with four home runs, 21 RBI, 16 runs scored and 11 walks versus just eight strikeouts. By the end of August, the Braves were 79-48 \u2013 and held a 7 \u00bd game lead over the Cardinals.<\/p>\n
$\"Kept$ <\/a>
Kept the card, too!<\/p><\/div>\n
Hazle slowed down a bit in September, but still hit over .300 (.317), with two home runs, 10 runs scored and five RBI (seven walks and seven strikeouts) for the month.\u00a0 The Braves, with the help of their new right fielder, finished the season at 95-59, eight games up on the Redbirds. (In the games in which Hazle appeared, the Braves played .659 ball, while their winning percentage in games – for the entire season – in which Hazle did not appear was .591.)<\/p>\n
Hazle ended the season hitting .403 in 41 games with 12 doubles, seven home runs, 27 RBI, 26 runs scored and 18 walks versus just 15 strikeouts \u2013 as well as praise from his teammates for playing a key role in bringing the World Series to Milwaukee \u2013 not to mention a lot of love from Wiffle Ball-playing youngsters.<\/p>\n
Unfortunately, like many hurricanes, things calmed down considerably once the storm blew through. Hazle hit just .154 in the World Series, but did go two-for-four with a run scored (from the leadoff spot) in the decisive Game Seven \u2013 won by the Braves 5-0 behind Lew Burdette. \u00a0He got off to a slow start in 1958 \u2013 hampered by a couple of beanings and an ankle injury \u2013 and his contract was sold to the Detroit Tigers on May 24. At the time, he was hitting just .179, with no home runs and five RBI in 20 games.\u00a0 With the tigers that season, he put up a \u00a0.241-2-5 line in 43 games. Hazle spent 1959 and 1960 back in the minors, before retiring as a player at the age of 30. \u00a0Notably, he did retire with a .310 career average (in 110 games over three seasons).<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/em>Bob \u201cHurricane\u201d Hazle \u2013 The Back Story<\/strong>\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n
Bob \u201cHurricane\u201d Hazle was born. Robert Sidney Hazle, in Laurens, South Carolina, on December 9, 1930. He was the last of six children (four sons) in the Hazle family. Of the four Hazle sons, three (Robert, Joseph and Paul) signed professional baseball contracts, but only Bob made it to the major leagues.\u00a0 (Paul made it as high as the Norfolk Tides (B-level, Piedmont League), while Joe made to the Double-A Chattanooga Lookouts of the Southern Association. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
Bob Hazle was a Hurricane long before he got the nickname \u2013 earning sixteen sports letters in high school (baseball, football, basketball and tennis). Hazle, who graduated from high school in 1949, signed with the Cincinnati Reds in 1950 (reportedly choosing to pass on a football scholarship to the University of Tennessee).\u00a0 While in the Cincinnati system, he was selected to the Texas League all-star team in 1951), when he hit .280 with the Double A Tulsa Oilers as a 20-year-old.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
Military service, however, interrupted this promising start (and a potential callup to the Reds), as Hazle spent two years in the Army \u2013 returning to Tulsa in 1953, where he hit .272 with three home runs in 57 games. In 1955, Hazle hit just .224 with four round trippers at Triple A Indianapolis in 1954 \u2013 a discouraging season.\u00a0 However, he bounced back with a .314 average and 29 home runs at Double A Nashville in 1955 \u00a0\u2013 earning a late-season callup to the Reds (three hits in just 13 MLB at bats.)<\/span><\/p>\n
Prior to the state of the 1956 season, Hazle and pitcher Corky Valentine (who had a 6-14, 4.81 MLB record over 1954-55) were traded to the Milwaukee Braves for 34-year-old first baseman George Crowe (who had hit .281 with 15 home runs the previous season). The Braves assigned Hazle to their Triple-A team in Wichita, where he hit .285-13-46 in 124 games \u2013 despite a mid-season knee injury that hampered his mobility. He was back at Wichita in 1957 and was hitting .279-12-58 when the Braves called him up following Billy Bruton’s injury. And the rest, as they say, is history.<\/span><\/p>\n
BBRT Note: Bob Hazle died on April 25, 1992, in Columbia, South Carolina, of a heart attack. \u00a0<\/em><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
<\/p>\n
I tweet baseball @DavidBBRT<\/h3>\n
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Member: Soceity for American Baseball Research (SABR); The Baseball Reliquary; Baseball Bloggers Alliance.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Heroes are more often born out of circumstances than planning.\u00a0 That was the case with one of my boyhood baseball heroes, who \u2013 aided by circumstance \u2013 took the National League by \u201cstorm\u201d in 1957. \u00a0 I\u2019m talking about Bob \u201cHurricane\u201d Hazle, who more than held his own in terms of heroics on the Milwaukee […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[11],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n