While there still are some good ones around, they don’t make nicknames quite like they used to. Some of the greatest players in history had great ones, like “The Sultan of Swat,” “The Georgia Peach,” or “The Say Hey Kid.” However, even lesser known players had pretty good ones. For instance, one solid big leaguer from the early 20th century just straight up went by “Bubbles,” even though he reportedly hated it.
Eugene Franklin “Bubbles” Hargrave Born: July 15, 1892 (New Haven, IN) Died: February 23,
1969 (Cincinnati, OH) Yankees Tenure: 1930
Eugene Hargrave was born into a military family in Indiana, the son of a soldier who served in the Civil War. He had several brothers who would also serve, while another brother, William, would also play in the big leagues, where he went by the also good “Pinky” Hargrave.
His family initially did not want Hargrave going into pro baseball, and he briefly attempted a career in upholstering. However, he did not enjoy that field, reportedly saying that there was “too much dust,” and joined the minor league Terre Haute Miners when he was 18.
After a couple successful seasons in Terra Haute, the Chicago Cubs took notice of Hargrave and signed him. He played from 1913-15 with the Cubs, but only appeared in 41 total games as essentially their third-string catcher. As you probably could guess, it was a bit difficult to make much of an impression with that little playing time, and the Cubs eventually sold him back to the minors.
The road back to the majors ended up being a bit of a long one for Hargrave, who spent all of 1916-20 with various minor league teams. However in the final of those minor league years, he hit .335 and helped the St. Paul Saints win the American Association pennant. That got him back on the major league radar, and the Reds bought him from St. Paul, beating out several other MLB teams.
Upon joining Cincinnati, Hargrave initially split time at catcher, but soon proved to be a good major leaguer at the plate. That being said he would never actually appear in more than 118 games in a single season, as his abilities behind the plate weren’t always the best.
Hargrave’s best career MLB season came in 1926. After four consecutive seasons of hitting at least .300, his .353 batting average won him that season’s NL batting title, albeit under weird circumstances.
For one, the .353 mark was well below AL leader Heinie Manush at .378, and well off the pace of what Rogers Hornsby won the crown at the year before: .403. Beyond that, there was also a question of who should be the rightful winner based on their playing time. Hargrave’s Reds’ teammate Walter Christensen outhit him with a .357 mark, but only appeared in 86 games. Hargrave himself played in 105 and got only 326 at-bats, which wouldn’t be remotely enough to get on the leaderboard today. However, as Hargrave got over the 100-game mark, he was declared the winner. He is still only one four catchers to have ever won the batting title — and within a couple years, he’ll be the only non Hall of Famer (Ernie Lombardi and Joe Mauer are already in, with Buster Posey soon to follow).
Hargrave fell off over the next couple seasons and was deemed expendable after a below average 1928. He returned to the St. Paul Saints in the minors, becoming player-manager for them in 1929. After one good year there, the Yankees — who held an interest in Hargrave prior to him joining the Reds — purchased him from St. Paul. Hargrave’s acquisition was supposedly Miller Huggins’ last ever one before he passed away near the end of the 1929 season.
While this is a Yankees’ blog and this one season is really the only reason to write about Hargrave here, there’s not a ton to say about his 1930 with the Yankees. The team was led by excellent season from Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig, but ended up in third in the AL standings. Manager Bob Shawkey found it difficult to replace Huggins, while the pitching staff was pretty average, as the rotation aces of the first dynasty were aging out, and the future aces hasn’t broken out yet. Hargrave himself didn’t have a particularly good season and was again considered expendable.
Following his release, Hargrave returned to the minors and played a couple more years. His final year in baseball came in 1934, when he served as a player-manager for the Cedar Rapids Raiders.
After his playing career, Hargrave returned to the Cincinnati area. He opened a tavern and worked some blue collar jobs. He even had a stint as a manager in something called the National Professional Indoor Baseball League, an ill-fated softball league that had Tris Speaker as president. Hargrave remained in the Cincinnati area until his death in 1969.
As for his nickname, Hargrave reportedly got it because he had a bit of a speech impediment when pronouncing words that contained the letter B. Just because the olden nicknames were interesting doesn’t mean they weren’t also cruel.
See more of the “Yankees Birthday of the Day” series here.
