Background
Hugh Duffy was born on November 26, 1866, in Cranston, Rhode Island, United States. Nothing is known of Duffy's family background or early life.
Hugh Duffy was born on November 26, 1866, in Cranston, Rhode Island, United States. Nothing is known of Duffy's family background or early life.
As a young man Duffy worked in a Rhode Island print shop, and around 1884 he played baseball for five dollars per week in the semiprofessional Rhode Island Association. By 1885 Duffy was earning thirty dollars per month playing baseball on weekends for a factory team in Jewett City, Connecticut, while also working in the company mill on weekdays. At the age of nineteen he turned professional, joining Hartford of the Eastern League as a shortstop. He played the first seventeen games of the 1887 season with Springfield (Eastern League) but went over to Salem-Lowell in the New England League when the Springfield club was disbanded for financial insolvency. Duffy was paid seventy-five dollars per month, plus traveling expenses, by Salem-Lowell.
Hitting a league-leading 428 with Salem-Lowell, Duffy was purchased by the Chicago Blackstockings of the National League for the 1888 season. At five feet seven inches and weighing 168 pounds, Duffy was one of baseball's smallest players, even by nineteenth-century standards. When he reported to Chicago manager Cap Anson, he was told, "We've got a bat boy. What are you doing here?" It was Anson who moved Duffy to the outfield, and after two months on the Chicago bench, he broke into the regular lineup hitting a respectable . 282 for the year. He had remarkable power for a man of his size, and the right-handed batter hit home runs in four consecutive games in his rookie season. Beginning in 1890, he hit 300 or better for eight straight years, establishing himself as one of baseball's greatest spray hitters. His batting technique was uncomplicated; as Duffy explained, "You just walk up there and hit it. That's all. "
Although Duffy's rookie salary of $600 was quickly advanced to $2, 000 per year, he shared the players' general resentment against baseball's reserve clause, which bound a player to stay with the team that originally signed him until he was traded or released, and against management's $2, 500 salary ceiling.
In 1890 Duffy joined baseball's Brotherhood revolt, playing for Charles Comiskey's Chicago team on the new Players' League. Unfortunately, the Players' League, partly as a result of high salary levels, did not survive past its first season. The American Association, however, seceded from its working agreement with the National League and set itself up as a rival major league in 1891. Duffy joined its Boston franchise as team captain and led the club to the league championship.
In 1892, the American Association reversed its position and again consolidated with the National League, and Duffy's contract was awarded to the National League's Boston franchise. Duffy's most productive baseball seasons came with Boston in the National League. Duffy received a fifteen-dollar-a-month raise, bringing his baseball salary to the $2, 500 maximum. He never earned more than that as a player.
In 1901 Duffy became player-manager of the new American League's Milwaukee franchise. Along with Cornelius McGillicuddy (Connie Mack) and Clark Griffith, he helped sign most of the players who were lured away from the National League. When the Milwaukee team moved to St. Louis in 1902, Duffy stayed to manage the American Association's new Milwaukee franchise. He returned to the majors in 1904 as player-manager of the Philadelphia Phillies, retiring as an active player after the 1906 season. From 1907 to 1909 he was owner-manager of Providence in the Eastern League but came back to the majors in 1910-1911 as manager of the Chicago White Sox.
In 1912 he again managed Milwaukee in the American Association and from 1913 to 1917 was president-manager and an owner of Portland in the New England League. The Portland franchise failed financially when the United States entered World War I, and Duffy became a scout for the Boston Braves and coached the Harvard University baseball team on the side. He returned to managing in 1920 with Toronto of the International League and managed the Boston Red Sox in 1921-1922. As a major league manager, Duffy never finished higher than fourth in the team standings. He had a year to go on his Red Sox contract when owner Harry Frazee fired him as manager after the 1922 season. The Red Sox's new owner, Bob Quinn, rehired Duffy as a scout in 1924. It was the start of a thirty-year relationship during which he served the Red Sox as scout, coach, and director of the club's rookie instructional school. He died in Allston, Massachussets.
Hugh Duffy is best known as one of the "Heavenly Twins" outfielding duo together with Tommy McCarthy. During his career he achieved in 1894 his 440 average which remains to this day the highest one-season batting average in baseball history, and he is the only man in baseball history to compile lifetime . 300 batting averages in four major leagues. Duffy was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1945.
On October 16, 1895, Duffy married Nora Moore, sister of Congressman M. J. Moore of Massachusetts.
