Some baseball players are memorable for having long and successful careers. Some are memorable for coming up with a huge play or hit in a big moment. Some are memorable for the wrong reasons, like making a mistake in a big moment or for some other controversial reason.
Then, there are some who are memorable just because they have a funny name. With that in mind, a happy birthday to Chicken Hawks.
Nelson Louis “Chicken” Hawks Born: February 3, 1896 (San Francisco, CA) Died: May 26, 1973 (San Rafael,
CA) Yankee Tenure: 1921
Nelson Hawks was born in 1896 in California. Not a ton was out there to be unearthed about his upbringing, but he ended up at nearby Santa Clara University for his schooling. He first pops up in stat books in 1918, when he played for the Oakland Oaks of the Pacific Coast League.
Seemingly, Hawks didn’t get much playing time at any MiLB level until 1920. That year as a 24-year old, he hit .359 while playing for the Calgary Bronchos of the Western Canada League. That was apparently enough to get him a look with the Yankees, who purchased him from Calgary that July.
The Yankees brought him up to the big league team for the 1921 season, where he made his MLB debut off the bench on April 14th. Coming in as a pinch-hitter for pitcher Waite Hoyt, Hawks hit a two-RBI single in the seventh inning that gave the Yankees a 3-2 lead. However, they eventually lost the game to the Athletics 4-3.
Some early success got Hawks a run of regular playing time in May and June, but in total, he ended up appearing in 42 games for the 1921 Yankees.
Hawks posted a batting line of .288/.333/.479. That equated to a 104 OPS+ in a fairly offense heavy season across baseball. That being said, his .479 slugging was the third best of anyone on the team in players who got more than 10 at-bats, behind just Babe Ruth and Bob Meusel. Speaking of Ruth, Hawks was a roommate of the burgeoning legend during the 1921 season.
You would think that would’ve been enough to get Hawks another season with the Yankees, at least. However, the following January, the Yankees traded him to the minor league Vernon Tigers of the Pacific Coast League as a player to be named later from an earlier trade.
Hawks spent the next couple seasons as a minor league journeyman. He really broke out in 1923-24 while playing for the Nashville Volunteers of the Southern Association. He posted batting averages over .330 in both seasons and hit a career best at any level — at least according to the stats for him that we have — 11 home runs in 1924. Having played outfield for most of his career, including with the Yankees, Hawks also began playing first base in Nashville. That finally got him another major league shot, as the Philadelphia Phillies traded for him that offseason.
Playing semi-regularly at first base for the Phillies in 1925, Hawks was once again perfectly solid. Appearing in 105 games, Hawks hit .322/.387/.447 with five home runs. Again, the era was a little offense heavy, so that only graded out to a 106 OPS+, but again, that still should’ve been enough to get further run with some big league team.
However that December, the Newark Bears of the International League purchased Hawks from the Phillies. Hawks would then remain in the minor leagues for the remainder of his playing career. He continued playing through 1931 at age 35 before retiring.
Hawks then seemingly returned to his native California, where he eventually passed away in 1973 at age 77.
There wasn’t enough information out there that I could find that could explain exactly why Hawks’ career played out the way it did. Unless he was an absolute butcher on defense, a career OPS over .800 should’ve been enough to keep a roster place somewhere, even if he wasn’t a star or even a regular starter. Maybe it was due to minor league teams genuinely being independent and trying to win and not just develop players that led teams to going out of their way to acquire him from MLB teams.
Whatever the reason is, I feel like Chicken Hawks should be much more known than he is. His name is Chicken Hawks for Christ’s sake.
See more of the “Yankees Birthday of the Day” series here.
