Sonny Hogg played in two games with the 1934 Brooklyn
Dodgers, one as a pinch runner (for Hack Wilson) and one at third base.
Wilbert George Hogg was born April 21, 1913, in Detroit. The
major baseball websites call him Bert Hogg, but during his career he was more
often called Sonny or Wilbert, and sometimes Bert, Sunny, or Wilbur. He was the
second of five children of George and Clara Hogg, both native Michiganders. In
the 1920 census the family are living at 889 Fairview Avenue in Detroit;
George, 31, works in a powerhouse as a “turban [indecipherable]”—presumably
they meant turbine. Clara is 30, Hazel 8, Wilbert 6, Grace 4, Florence 2, and
Milton seven months.
In January 1928 14-year-old Wilbert finished in third place
in the 220 yard Boys’ Junior Championship at the annual Ford Lake ice skating
meet. In February he and Florence, age ten, won the award for best comic
costumes in the Grand March at the Detroit Times Gold and Silver Skates Derby
at Belle Isle. That summer Wilbert played for East Jefferson A.C. in the
Detroit Baseball Federation Class D championships. The next April he and Grace
were entered in junior events in the North American Indoor Skating
Championships, held in Detroit at Olympia Stadium. From the Detroit Times,
March 13, 1930:
3 MEET TODAY IN PLAY-OFF
Three of the city’s most skillful juvenile ping-pong players were to meet this afternoon at 4 o’clock at the Fisher Theater to play off semi-finals in the Detroit Times-Fisher Theater Ping-Pong Tournament.
Their names: Sonny Hogg, 16, of 3973 Fairview avenue, St. Clair Community Center entrant…
Yesterday they emerged victorious in the elimination matches held at the various centers…
Hutchins and the other boys who play in the finals Saturday will be awarded two guest tickets each to the current Fisher Theater attraction, Gary Cooper in “Seven Days’ Leave.” The winner of Saturday’s match will be eligible to compete in the championship matches, to be held at the end of the tournament, when three handsome silver cups and two silver placques will be awarded. The tournament is open to all Detroit lads between the ages of 10 and 16.
The following month came the 1930 census. As mentioned in
the newspaper, the family was now living at 3973 Fairview Avenue; they owned
the house, valued at $8000. George was now an engineer at the electric company,
and 17-year-old Hazel was a bookkeeper for a bank; the other children were in
school.
Sonny graduated from Southeastern High School in Detroit in
1931. His entry in his senior annual reads “Foch; House Basketball; Varsity
Baseball; ‘S’ Club; Varsity Skating; House Tennis; Glee Club,” and lists
Michigan State Normal as his planned college. A normal college was a
teacher-training school, and Michigan State Normal is now Eastern Michigan
University; Sonny went there from 1931-33. The only mention of him I found
during that period is a Detroit Times article from 9-15-32 which shows
him playing third base for Grand Trunk, Class A champions of the Detroit
Baseball Federation, who were moving on to the national amateur baseball
tournament.
The 1932 national amateur baseball tournament was held in
Dayton, Ohio, and Sonny’s play there led to a 1933 tryout with the Dayton Ducks
of the Class C (we’re talking Class C professional now, not Detroit’s levels of
sandlot baseball) Mid-Atlantic League. He became their regular third baseman,
hitting .263 and slugging .346 on 18 doubles, nine triples and one home run, in
471 at-bats in 128 games. A September 21 Sporting News item said that he
had reported to the Brooklyn Dodgers, with whom Dayton had an affiliation, but
if he did he didn’t play in a game there. A December item said that he would
report to them for spring training.
Sonny started the 1934 season back at third base for Dayton,
and was hitting .200 in 11 games when on May 30 he was purchased by the Dodgers
and called up after Jim Bucher broke his ankle. The move seems not to have
excited people in Brooklyn. From Dan Parker’s syndicated column of June 6:
Brooklyn, in sixth place, is outdrawing most of the other major league clubs. Yet the tightwads who hold the Dodgers’ money bags wouldn’t open up the purse strings for Casey Stengel to get a capable utility infielder when three of his infielders were laid up with injuries. Instead, they sent down to the Mid-Atlantic League for a 20-year-old [21] lad named Wilbert Hogg. (How appropriate a name!)…
And from the Brooklyn report in the next day’s Sporting
News:
In the meanwhile, Ebbets Field, casting around for an infielder, produced a lad named Wilbert Hogg, third baseman with the Dayton club of the Middle Atlantic League. Inasmuch as Hogg last year had a fielding percentage of .900 [.909] and a batting average of .263 at Dayton, the rank and file of Brooklyn fans weren’t expecting a lot.
But by the time these pieces appeared, Sonny’s major league
career had come and gone. The Detroit Times ran an article on him on
June 3:
HOGG IN GAME HIS FIRST DAY WITH DODGERS
Detroit Youngster Called on to Run for ‘Hack’ Wilson in 16-Inning Contest
By Vic Packman
It was getting late Friday evening and Boston and Brooklyn were going into the sixteenth inning with the score tied at 7-all.
A rookie in the Brooklyn dugout, his first day in a Dodger uniform, was wondering if he could break into the lineup and, if so, how soon would that big moment arrive.
That rookie was Wilbur “Sonny” Hogg, a Detroit boy, who barely had enough time to pack his bag and catch the train out of Dayton, O., Thursday night. He was bound for the big leagues.
Yes, a Detroit boy was heading for the big time. Wilbur, he doesn’t like to be called by that name [after all it’s not his name], was hurrying to Boston, Mass., to join the Dodgers. He thought he’d never get there.
Hogg got there all right, jumped into a uniform and worked out in the infield before the game. All rookies work out before the game starts, but after that they just sit and watch the regulars go through their paces.
For 15 innings Hogg just sat and watched.
The great “Hack” Wilson, small and roundish, got on base in the first half of the sixteenth inning.
“Hack” Wilson was tired, no doubt, or maybe he’s not so fast as he used to be.
“Sonny” got his chance. He couldn’t have been more excited in his 21 years when the umpire behind the plate shouted “Hogg now running for Wilson.”
Yes, Hogg finally broke into a major league box score.
The Detroit lad probably will get the assignment at third or short any day now, since the Dodgers have been using the veteran Lopez, first-string catcher, at the hot corner.
Hogg no doubt would have been a regular today. He lacked the funds to make the trip to the spring training camp when the Dodgers had strings on him. Sonny went back to Dayton, Brooklyn farm.
Hogg broke into pro baseball last season, quitting Michigan State Normal College in the Spring.
Dayton scouts picked up the local youngster when Grand Trunk, D.B.F. Class A champion in 1932, was playing in the national amateur tournament in Dayton. Grand Trunk went to the finals and Hogg’s play was the highlight of the tourney.
Sonny, who comes from a family of athletes now residing at 3973 Fairview, is a versatile athlete.
While a freshman at Normal, Hogg won the frosh tennis, golf and ping-pong championships. In 1929 and 1939 he captured the municipal horseshoe pitching crowns. He’s a fine skater, having won the junior championship in the 1930 Winter Sports Day at Belle Isle…
He is 21 years old and stands five-eleven and weighs about 160 pounds. He is a stocky fellow and appears to be much heavier.
The pinch-running appearance was on June 1. The next day,
also in Boston, he replaced Joe Stripp at third base in the middle of the sixth
inning with the Dodgers down 12-3. He flied out to right to end the seventh,
then didn’t bat again, being on deck when the game ended in a 16-6 Brooklyn
loss. He had no chances in the field.
On June 10 the Dodgers signed veteran pitcher Tom Zachary,
released by the Braves, and to make room on the roster optioned Sonny to the
Richmond Colts of the Class B Piedmont League. The Richmond Times Dispatch
reported on the 13th: “The new second baseman, Wilbert Hogg, sent
here by the Brooklyn Dodgers, displayed a perfect knowledge of his position,
handling eight chances without a bobble.” He started out batting first or
second in the order for Richmond, but eventually moved down to eighth. In
August Sonny missed some time due to ptomaine poisoning, and when he returned
he was moved to shortstop while the team tried out a new second baseman. He hit
just .221 for the Colts in 77 games, but was well-regarded in Richmond; on
October 13 the Times Dispatch had this to say:
Wilbert “Sonny” Hogg, who is so nice looking and such a youngster that most of the women fans would like to “mother” him, will be back, too. He played a brilliant game when moved over to shortstop toward the close of the season—and he’ll be kept in that spot.
By then the Dodgers had declined to take up their option on
Sonny and he had reverted to the Richmond reserve list.
In February 1935 Sonny, all four of his siblings, and their father as well, were entered in events at Detroit’s Gold and Silver Skates Derby. By spring training the Colts had signed some new infielders and he was squeezed out of a regular job, though he made the team as a utility player.
In
May he made some starts in left field, but on the 16th he was
optioned to the Reidsville (NC) Luckies of the Class D Bi-State League. From
the June 7 Greensboro Daily News:
SONNY HOGG RAPID DIAMOND RISE FROM DETROIT’S LOTS
Present Member of Reidsville Luckies Began Career At Age of 10 Years.
IS EXCELLENT CLOUTER
(Special to Daily News.)
Reidsville, June 6.—Infielder Wilbert (Sunday) [sic] Hogg, of the Reidsville Luckies, was ruled off his grade school team in Detroit at the tender age of 10, because they said he was too young to play. But his father, one of the foremost independent players in the motor city, went to bat with the board of education and had his offspring reinstated. He knew Sonny could hold his own with older boys…
In 1932 Sonny made the Detroit team which represented the Grotto to oppose the Shrine in a game at Cleveland, and was a teammate of Tris Speaker in the contest…
Hogg can play either second, third or short and is remarkably fast. He is 22 years old and yet has time to beat back to faster company. A consistent hitting stride, such as he showed in Detroit independent ranks, will get him there in short order.
For Reidsville Sonny hit .253/.317/.390 in 387
at-bats in 97 games, hitting 11 homers to beat his previous best by ten. In the
only Reidsville box score I found he was playing shortstop and batting sixth.
Apparently he rejoined Richmond after the Bi-State season ended, as there was a
mention in the Times Dispatch of September 13 of his being one of four
“rookies” not being taken on the trip to Asheville for the championship series.
He played in 18 games for the Colts for the year, hitting .258 in 62 at-bats.
He was on the Richmond reserve list over the off-season.
In January 1936 Colts owner Eddie Mooers announced his intention to send Sonny to Savannah of the Sally League, which would be a lateral move, saying that he didn’t have room for him. But it didn’t happen, and Sonny went to spring training with Richmond, where he played a lot of second base.
On April 7 it was his turn to be the focus of the Times
Dispatch’s “Know Your Colts” series:
Sonny Hogg, the Colts’ rookie [?] second baseman, has won over 100 medals for speed skating…Sonny’s father teaches figure skating and is rated as one of the best teachers in Detroit…Attended Southeastern High School, which is one of the largest schools in the Motor City…Played basketball and baseball…Was a forward in basketball and played any position in the infield…Sonny also was a member of the school’s speed skating team and still holds the Detroit interscholastic speed skating record for 220 and 440 yards…Sonny has an older sister…Hazel…and he says the two of them are planning to go into vaudeville this winter…Hazel is a good figure skater and Sonny says they should go a long ways…The pair use a slick mat to skate on on the stage…Sonny says it’s just as slick as ice, but after a few performances on it you have to take an iron and press out the dents…[I realize it’s impossible to tell which ellipses are where I’ve left something out and which are simply part of the original article.]
Sonny made the team as a utility infielder, but in May he was placed on the suspended list to get the roster below the limit, and again there was talk of sending him to Savannah.
However, in early June he was seeing
time in right field; then, later in the month, he was left behind on a road
trip to the Carolinas. On June 30 he was optioned to Augusta, not Savannah, of
the Sally League, where he played right field until being switched to third. On
July 18 Richmond owner Mooers announced that he had released Sonny after
Augusta announced their intention to return him to the Colts; however, he kept
playing third base and batting second for Augusta. On the 26th he
finally made his way to Savannah, being traded by Augusta along with Carl
Hubbell’s little brother Merritt for three players. One of the terms of the
deal was that after the season Jake Hines, one of the three players, and Sonny
would revert to their original teams—which makes sense, given that Augusta
didn’t actually own Sonny’s contract, Richmond did.
With Savannah Sonny became the regular third baseman,
hitting sixth in the order initially, then later first or second. His final
Sally League hitting numbers were .252/.334/.391 with seven homers in 266
at-bats in 68 games—19 with Augusta and 49 with Savannah. While with Richmond
he had hit .229/.357/.257 in 35 at-bats in 16 games. After the season Savannah
purchased his contract rather than send him back to Augusta (or Richmond).
Over the winter Sonny played for the Friendship team in the
Detroit Basketball Federation (not to be confused with the Detroit Baseball
Federation). In March 1937 there was a report that he would be back at third
base for Savannah, but somehow it didn’t happen, and his pro career was over. He
ended up playing for Friendship in the Detroit Baseball Federation (not to be
confused with the Detroit Basketball Federation). I didn’t find any information
about what happened to him at spring training with Savannah, or if he even made
it there.
In 1938 Sonny switched teams, playing third base for Altes
in the DBF. He had a big month in September, as on the 18th Altes
won the National Amateur Baseball Federation championship in Pittsburgh, while
on the 7th he had gotten married, in LaGrange, Indiana, to Helen
Irene Sinift.
In 1939 Sonny returned to Altes, where he led the DBF’s Class A in hitting at .509, and the team became the first ever to win back-to-back national championships.
In April 1940 he agreed to leave Altes and
play for another DBF Class A club, Paris; that same month his family was
counted in the census. Sonny, Helen, and two-month-old George were living in a
rented house at 12022 Littlefield Avenue in Detroit; Sonny had worked 37 hours
the previous week as a draftsman for the city, and had worked 52 weeks,
supposedly, in 1939, earning $2100. On October 16, still just 27 years old, he
filled out his draft registration card, which listed the Littlefield Avenue
address, the “person who will always know your address” as his uncle Ira
Klibbe, his employer as the City of Detroit Police Department (new job), and
his appearance as 5-11 165, blue eyes, brown hair, and ruddy complexion.
In 1941 Sonny started appearing in the bowling league
results in the Detroit Times, and he returned to third base with Paris
in the DBF. I didn’t find his name in any baseball news in 1942, but on
December 26 of that year this article appeared in the Times:
POLICE SHOOT PURSE THIEF THIS WEEK
Woman Identifies Purse, Youth As Guilty Person
An 18-year-old youth was taken to Receiving hospital suffering from a bullet wound to the right arm after he had been shot by a policeman, several minutes after police had heard a woman scream, it was disclosed this week.
Louis Crump of 52 East Forest avenue was treated for a compound fracture of the right arm. No statements were taken as he was rushed to the operating room at the hospital.
Police say they were cruising on Ledyard street and saw two men enter Cass Park and a short time later heard a woman scream. A man was then seen leaving the scene by Patrolmen Wilbur Hogg and Joseph Neirynck who fired the several shots at the suspect.
Louis Crump fell and police found a woman’s red purse near him in the alley.
Doris Edmondson arrived and identified the purse as belonging to her, and Crump as the alleged purse snatcher.
Police say Crump has a record of three arrests.
In 1943 Sonny was mentioned as playing baseball for the
Detroit Police team in the Detroit Times Servicemen’s League. On January 28,
1945, he and Gladys Nelbock finished second in the “14-step” event in figure
skating at the Times Derby at Belle Isle. On April 23 of that year he again got
mention in the Times for his police work:
Illicit Liquor Sales Bared
Milwaukee Man Held; 2 Bars Are Involved
A warrant charging Peter J. Weaver, 48 years old, of Milwaukee, Wis., with selling illegal liquor to two Detroit night clubs and official of a war plant was recommended today by Prosecutor Gerald K. O’Brien…
The complaint was signed by Patrolman Wilbert Hogg, of Central Station, who with Patrolman Edward Ward arrested Charles B. Brennan, 2621 Ash street, at 3:15 a.m. Saturday for a traffic violation and found 10 cases of whisky in the back seat of his car…
Sonny then disappears from the newspapers until February 4,
1950, in the Detroit Tribune:
ESTRANGED HUBBY SHOT
An estranged husband rests in Receiving Hospital this week suffering a bullet wound of the upper right leg, as a result of a struggle with his wife and attempt to get a revolver from his right coat pocket.
James Denham, 28, of 87 [?] E. Canfield, was shot by Patrolman Wilbur Hogg who responded to a call of domestic trouble on report of Denham’s wife, Christie last Saturday.
Denham was shot by the patrolman as he scuffled with his wife on a roof over an extension of the Denham home.
Both policemen reported that they went to the Denham residence and was [sic] told by Mrs. Denham that her husband had thrown her down the stairs of the two-story flat, when she refused to allow him to take one of their children out for a second time last Saturday.
Denham, according to police, had a nickel plated revolver in his possession when arrested and had fired one shot, which they heard as they arrived on the scene. Denham is held for investigation of felonious assault.
Detroit Times, same year, March 12:
Baseball Group To Hold School
A free baseball school for young players will be offered this year by the Young and Old Baseball Players Association. Johnny Maiullo is president and Bert Pankratz vice president of the new organization.
Sonny Hogg, former Detroit sandlot star who once played with the Brooklyn Dodgers, will supervise the school. The first meeting will be held Monday at 8 p.m. at the Barlum Hotel.
Judge John D. Watts, Roy Cullenbine, Joe Gentile, Tony Dugray and others will attend…
In 1954 an 18-year-old Detroit sandlot pitcher named Dick
Hogg was signed by the Cleveland Indians. The article in the Detroit Times
announcing the signing said that he was Sonny’s nephew, but it’s more likely
they were cousins; Dick’s father seems to have been named Forrest and I can’t
make any direct connection between him and Sonny.
Sonny next turns up in the Detroit Times on September
25, 1956:
Drunk on Duty, Forfeits Leave
Patrolman Wilbert G. Hogg, 43, was charged with drinking on duty in uniform last week and using a scout car to visit bars, was found guilty by a police trial board today and directed to forfeit 26 leave days.
Commissioner Piggins, after hearing testimony about Hogg’s drinking escapades last Wednesday, said:
“One of the most degrading things is to see a policeman in uniform in an intoxicated condition. It is just fortunate that no one was hurt or that the consequences were not more serious.”
Hogg, of 10726 Marne, is attached to Central Precinct and has been a policeman 14 years.
Hogg’s divorce became final today, his wife being awarded custody of their two children.
Hogg met a friend downtown Sept. 19 and together they went to three bars while Hogg’s partner, Patrolman Stanley Belasky, stayed outside in the scout car.
Because of an argument over the price of their drinks in a downtown hotel bar, police headquarters were called and Hogg’s scout car was ordered to report to the station. Belasky drove in, and Hogg, a passenger, was then found in no condition for duty.
The article mentions two children; sometime after George was
born in 1940 Sonny and Helen had a daughter, Carol, but I don’t know when.
Also, at some point after his divorce from Helen Sonny married a woman named
Ruth.
Detroit Times, October 2, 1959:
5 Cheat Death as Wire Falls
Four Conner station policemen and an injured motorist narrowly escaped electrocution early today when a power line fell on the injured man’s car at Gratiot and Georgia.
The policemen were working to remove William A. Dye, 30, of 13515 Greiner from his car when the wire fell. John Puma, 36, of 8917 Clarion, saw the wire about to fall, shouted a warning and the officers jumped away from the car.
Dye, who was stretched out on the front seat, was not touching any of the car’s metal so was unhurt when the wire dropped on the car with an electrical flash and then slid off onto the ground.
Dye, who suffered serious head and back injuries in the crash, was removed to Saratoga General Hospital.
Police said the was driving north on Gratiot at 3:35 a.m. when his car went from the center of the street over the right curb, knocking down a utility pole.
The officers who had the narrow escape were Patrolmen Joseph Joabar, Robert Martz, Wilbert Hogg and Don Hern.
Police could not question Dye to determine the cause of the accident.
A few weeks later came the last mention of Sonny that I
found in the bowling league scores in the newspaper—in fact, that was the last
mention of him that I found, period. He passed away at age 60 on November 5,
1973, in Detroit. Surviving him were Ruth, George, and Carol.
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