Harry Hooper
The 1918 season found Harry Hooper in a situation that was unfamiliar for him over the course of his 10-year career playing right field in Boston—he was the most senior man on the team, unquestionably the leader of the Red Sox bunch. For most of his career, Hooper had been overshadowed by star center fielder Tris Speaker and left fielder Duffy Lewis. Hooper had a Hall of Fame career, but at the outset he was clearly the third member of the Red Sox’s “Million Dollar Outfield.”
By ’18, Speaker had been traded to Cleveland and Lewis had chosen to ride out the war with a navy job. Hooper was still around, though, and along with 25-year-old shortstop
Harry Hooper with the Red Sox in 1916. (Photo courtesy of the Library of Congress.)Everett Scott, was one of only two everyday players left over from the 1917 team. Additionally, the Red Sox took on inexperienced manager Ed Barrow—more a disciplinarian than a strategist—leaving the team with a leadership void. Hooper was known for his standout defense, but if the ’18 Red Sox were going to succeed, he would have to hit and be a leader, too.
He did. Hooper got off to a hot start at the plate, batting .320 through July 1. He struggled (like most Red Sox hitters) after that, but his fast start helped boost the offense in the early going and kept Boston at the top of the American League. The 1918 season, it turned out, was one of the best offensive years for Hooper to date. He hit .289, finished second in the A.L. in doubles (26) and triples (13), and third in walks (75) and runs (81).
More than that, as Hooper later told interviewer Lawrence Ritter, “Barrow was technically the manager, but I ran the team on the field.” Because Barrow had a limited knowledge of baseball’s inside strategy, he leaned on Hooper, Scott and coach Heinie Wagner to make the game-to-game decisions. Teammates respected Hooper, an intelligent man who had studied to be an engineer at St. Mary’s in California before embarking on a career in pro baseball.
Hooper was among the Red Sox who tried to keep up with events beyond the box scores. In August, Arthur Duffey described the Red Sox’s, “Strategy Board,” which tracked the events of the war. “Several of the players are following the movements of the Allies by means of maps clipped from various newspapers. And every evening, a Board of Strategy, including Hooper, Walter Mayer, Strunk and a few more gather after dinner to just see what improvements the day’s doings have produced in the situation over there.”
When the players and baseball’s governing body, the National Commission, tussled over money in the 1918 World Series, it was Hooper who became the central figure. Unsatisfied with their projected series shares, the players held a strike before Game 5 of the series. Hooper was a lead negotiator, but was frustrated to find that when the commissioners showed up for Game 5, they were drunk. A.L. head Ban Johnson tossed his arm over Hooper’s shoulder and babbled, according to the Boston American’s Nick Flatley, “‘I went to Washington,’ he said, grandly thumping his own chest for emphasis and directing his speech to Hooper, ‘and had the stamp of approval put on this World’s Series. I made it possible. I did. I made it possible, Harry. I had the stamp of approval put on the World’s Series, Harry. I did it, Harry. I did it.’”
Eventually, Hooper and the players gave up and played Game 5. The Red Sox lost, but wound up winning the series in Game 6. It was Hooper’s fourth—and final—championship. He was traded from the Red Sox to the White Sox in 1920. He was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1971.
