Individual Details
Raymond Hayworth
(29 Jan 1904 - 25 Sep 2002)
Ray Hayworth, a longtime catcher who was the last surviving teammate of Ty Cobb on the Detroit Tigers and the oldest living former major league player, died Wednesday at a nursing home in Salisbury, N.C. He was 98.
When Hayworth made his debut in the major leagues, Calvin Coolidge was president and Charles Lindbergh was 11 months from flying over the Atlantic.
It was the summer of 1926 and Cobb, who was managing the Tigers and was in his 22nd and final season as a Detroit outfielder, summoned Hayworth after being impressed by him at spring training.
''In July of that season, the regular Detroit catcher broke his leg and Cobb sent for me,'' Hayworth recalled in a 1998 interview in The Denver Post. ''He put me in the game the next day as a pinch-hitter. I hit the ball pretty darn good, but didn't get a hit.''
Hayworth became known for his defensive skills during his 15 years in the major leagues. He set an American League record for consecutive chances without an error by a catcher when he handled 439 flawlessly from September 1931 to August 1932.
He became a backup when the Tigers obtained the future Hall of Famer Mickey Cochrane as their manager and catcher, but Hayworth played on the Tigers' pennant winners of 1934 and on the World Series champions of 1935.
He also played for the Brooklyn Dodgers, the New York Giants and the St. Louis Browns before retiring in July 1945 with a career batting average of .265.
Hayworth then scouted the Negro leagues for Dodgers prospects as the team owner, Branch Rickey, was preparing to break the color barrier by signing Jackie Robinson. Hayworth also managed in the minor leagues and scouted for the Chicago Cubs, the Milwaukee and Atlanta Braves and the Montreal Expos; he retired from baseball in 1973.
His brother, Myron Hayworth, known as Red, caught for the 1944 St. Louis Browns, the franchise's only pennant winner.
In addition to his brother, of High Point, N.C., Hayworth is survived by two sons, Raymond Jr. of Salisbury and John of High Point; two sisters, Gertrude Macon of Kannapolis, N.C., and Hallie Brower of High Point; five grandchildren, among them United States Representative J. D. Hayworth, Republican of Arizona; and five great-grandchildren.
Hayworth was born Jan. 29, 1904, in High Point. His death leaves Paul Hopkins, who yielded Babe Ruth's 59th or next-to-last home run in 1927 as a rookie pitcher for the Washington Senators, as the oldest former major leaguer, according to the Baseball Hall of Fame. Hopkins turned 98 on the day Hayworth died.
As for his memories of Cobb, Hayworth told The Denver Post that ''everybody wrote so many bad stories about him, but he never cussed at us or treated us wrong.''
In July 1998, Hayworth attended ceremonies opening a Ty Cobb museum in Cobb's hometown, Royston, Ga. Hayworth acknowledged then that Cobb would slide into bases with his spikes flashing, but, as Hayworth told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution: ''That was the game back then. Today, if you get a little nick, you're on the disabled list for two weeks. Not so then.''
Hayworth was asked how Cobb would have fared in the modern game.
''Oh, he'd love to play today,'' Hayworth said. ''With some of the pitching I see on television today, Ty wouldn't hit .400 -- he'd hit .500.''
Photo: Ray Hayworth, missing this tag on Babe Ruth in August 1934, helped Detroit win the A.L. pennant that year. (Associated Press)
When Hayworth made his debut in the major leagues, Calvin Coolidge was president and Charles Lindbergh was 11 months from flying over the Atlantic.
It was the summer of 1926 and Cobb, who was managing the Tigers and was in his 22nd and final season as a Detroit outfielder, summoned Hayworth after being impressed by him at spring training.
''In July of that season, the regular Detroit catcher broke his leg and Cobb sent for me,'' Hayworth recalled in a 1998 interview in The Denver Post. ''He put me in the game the next day as a pinch-hitter. I hit the ball pretty darn good, but didn't get a hit.''
Hayworth became known for his defensive skills during his 15 years in the major leagues. He set an American League record for consecutive chances without an error by a catcher when he handled 439 flawlessly from September 1931 to August 1932.
He became a backup when the Tigers obtained the future Hall of Famer Mickey Cochrane as their manager and catcher, but Hayworth played on the Tigers' pennant winners of 1934 and on the World Series champions of 1935.
He also played for the Brooklyn Dodgers, the New York Giants and the St. Louis Browns before retiring in July 1945 with a career batting average of .265.
Hayworth then scouted the Negro leagues for Dodgers prospects as the team owner, Branch Rickey, was preparing to break the color barrier by signing Jackie Robinson. Hayworth also managed in the minor leagues and scouted for the Chicago Cubs, the Milwaukee and Atlanta Braves and the Montreal Expos; he retired from baseball in 1973.
His brother, Myron Hayworth, known as Red, caught for the 1944 St. Louis Browns, the franchise's only pennant winner.
In addition to his brother, of High Point, N.C., Hayworth is survived by two sons, Raymond Jr. of Salisbury and John of High Point; two sisters, Gertrude Macon of Kannapolis, N.C., and Hallie Brower of High Point; five grandchildren, among them United States Representative J. D. Hayworth, Republican of Arizona; and five great-grandchildren.
Hayworth was born Jan. 29, 1904, in High Point. His death leaves Paul Hopkins, who yielded Babe Ruth's 59th or next-to-last home run in 1927 as a rookie pitcher for the Washington Senators, as the oldest former major leaguer, according to the Baseball Hall of Fame. Hopkins turned 98 on the day Hayworth died.
As for his memories of Cobb, Hayworth told The Denver Post that ''everybody wrote so many bad stories about him, but he never cussed at us or treated us wrong.''
In July 1998, Hayworth attended ceremonies opening a Ty Cobb museum in Cobb's hometown, Royston, Ga. Hayworth acknowledged then that Cobb would slide into bases with his spikes flashing, but, as Hayworth told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution: ''That was the game back then. Today, if you get a little nick, you're on the disabled list for two weeks. Not so then.''
Hayworth was asked how Cobb would have fared in the modern game.
''Oh, he'd love to play today,'' Hayworth said. ''With some of the pitching I see on television today, Ty wouldn't hit .400 -- he'd hit .500.''
Photo: Ray Hayworth, missing this tag on Babe Ruth in August 1934, helped Detroit win the A.L. pennant that year. (Associated Press)
Events
| Birth | 29 Jan 1904 | High Point, NC | |||
| Death | 25 Sep 2002 | Salisbury, N.C |  | ||
| Burial | Guilford Memorial Park, Jamestown, Guilford County, NC |
Families
| Spouse | Virginia Jones (1906 - 1995) |
| Child | Raymond Hayworth Jr ( - ) |
| Child | John D. Hayworth Sr ( - ) |
| Father | John Ensley Hayworth (1873 - 1949) |
| Mother | Mary Emma Hepler (1873 - 1944) |
| Sibling | Nettie Regina Hayworth ( - ) |
| Sibling | Dovie Hayworth (1896 - 1985) |
| Sibling | Alice Gertrude Hayworth (1907 - 2007) |
| Sibling | Henry Hayworth ( - ) |
| Sibling | Orvie Hayworth ( - ) |
| Sibling | Chester Hayworth ( - ) |
| Sibling | Myron Claude "Red" Hayworth Sr (1915 - 2006) |
| Sibling | Hallie Elizabeth Hayworth (1912 - 2009) |
Endnotes
1. Obituary- Local Newspaper- High Point Enterprise.