Leo Hafford

Leo Hafford pitched three games for the 1906 Cincinnati Reds.

Leo Hafford was born September 7, 1883 (not the 17^th as is commonly claimed), in Somerville, Massachusetts, a city adjacent to Boston. His parents, John and Margaret, had both emigrated from Ireland as small children around the time of the potato famine. The family was living at 327 Washington Street in Somerville by 1896.

The 1900 census shows them as one of two families at that address; John, 52, is a policeman, and he and Margaret, 50, have been married for 35 years. Margaret has given birth to nine children, of which six are living. Oldest child William is married and on his own, while the others are all living with their parents: Elizabeth, 31; Elenea, 28; Frank (who would be a minor league infielder from 1901-1912), 21, at school; John Jr., 18, a clerk for a civil engineer; and Leo, 16, at school.

Leo got his first newspaper mention in the Boston Herald of April 16, 1903, when he was listed as a returning member of the “Somerville high and Latin school ball team,” a pitcher and left fielder. From the Herald of July 2:

Several hundred people attended a reception given last evening to the members of the Somerville high and Latin school baseball team, for the past three years champions of the Interscholastic Athletic League and permanent winners of the handsome silver championship cup which was presented on this occasion…

Leo E. Hafford, Latin ’05, pitcher and captain-elect of the 1904 team, was presented with the Oajaca club batting trophy cup, offered to the player obtaining the highest batting average in the league games. Pitcher Hafford was at the bat 42 times, made 18 hits with an average of .429, and scored a total of 25 bases.

Leo was going on 20 years old at this time and would be turning 22 in 1905, so he was pretty old for a high school student. Boston Herald, May 16, 1904:

Hafford the Particular Star at the Present Time.

Leo Hafford of the Somerville high school is the bright star in high school baseball circles at present, having replaced Brayley of Dorchester High, who shone so brightly last week. Hafford got a strike-out streak last week, and in two games he was credited with 40 strike-outs, getting 19 of them in an Interscholastic league game.

In his second league game he struck out 17. From the June 10 Boston Journal:

There are many colleges looking in the direction of Leo Hafford, the Somerville High School twirler, who has made such a reputation in the box and at the bat, but it is whispered that Hafford may never satisfy their hopes. Hafford is a born athlete, and had rather play the game than eat. Someone who knows him pretty well says that he is being looked at through professional telescopes. It would seem novel for a man to step out from high school into professional league company.

On June 18 the Herald reported on Leo’s 14 strikeouts of the day before, and also that he had told friends after the game that he intended to go to Brown University in the fall. In a preview of the Somerville football team, the Herald mentioned on September 19 that “Somerville has lost Leo Hafford, and it will be hard to replace him, as he was speedy, had a good head and knew all the tricks of the game.” They reported on March 20, 1905, that Leo would be an assistant coach for the Somerville baseball team, yet in June he appeared on the list of Latin School graduates; I’m not sure why he wasn’t playing football or baseball when he was still in school. On August 30 the Washington Times reported:

The question of whether or not Leo Hafford, the promising Somerville, Mass., high school pitcher, will enter Georgetown next month and represent the Blue and Gray in the spring, was settled in the past week when it was learned that young Hafford is twirling for Rutland in the Northern league under the name of “George.” “No summer ball players need apply,” is the shingle that is going to hang out at Georgetown field during the coming year. [The “Northern league” was actually the Northern New York League, an outlaw league not part of organized baseball.]

From the Denver Post of October 28:

CINCINNATI IS AFTER PITCHER LEO HAFFORD

Cincinnati, Oct. 28—Manager Kelley is exercising all the arts of persuasion to secure for the Reds Pitcher Leo Hafford of the Vermont League, who this fall entered Bowdoin college at Brunswick, Me. During the last Eastern trip of the Reds, Kelley tried to secure Hafford and failed, but he has not given up the effort to get the former comrade of Reulbach, the star Cub, for the Reds.

Boston Journal, December 19:

LEO HAFFORD SIGNS TO PITCH FOR THE REDS

…Pitcher Leo Hafford, the Vermont College star, is under contract to the Reds. He has been for some time, but the matter was kept a secret. He is halfback of the Vermont College football eleven, and Bowdoin College recently refused to play Vermont on account of Hafford’s suspected professionalism.

…Hafford is regarded as the best college pitcher in the country, excepting, of course, Ralph Glaze of Dartmouth.

I don’t know when he switched from Bowdoin to Vermont; probably the article had that part backwards. And I don’t think he had actually played any college baseball. On December 30 the Washington Evening Star added some details to the story:

CINCINNATI SIGNS A COLLEGE STAR.

…Undoubtedly the best all-around athlete ever developed by a Greater Boston school, Hafford will begin his major league career under Ned Hanlon [who had just replaced Joe Kelley] at Cincinnati next spring.

Hafford is twenty-two years old, is six feet in height, weighs 175 pounds and has all the physical requirements that should make him a star major league box artist…

“I believe I can make good,” Hafford said yesterday. “If I didn’t think I could I would continue to play in Vermont, where I have made good.”

As a school boy athlete Hafford has been a wonder. In 1902, 1903 and 1904 he pitched for Somerville High. He captained the team in 1904, and not only pitched his team to the championship, but batted for .524.

In the summer of 1904 he played for the St. Albans team and batted for .325, and last summer he played for Beverly Addison, N.Y., and Rutland, Vt. He batted last summer for .333.

Hafford is a right-hander. He has all the curves known to pitching. He has a cool head and is fast on his feet.

This fall at Bowdoin he played halfback with much brilliancy.

On March 20, 1906, the Cincinnati Post reported from spring training:

HAFFORD WILL USE A SIDE-ARM SPIT BALL

(Staff Special.)

SAN ANTONIO, TEX., March 20. Ewing isn’t the only Red twirler who will use his spitball this season. Leo Hafford, dubbed “Haff” by his comrades, also uses sputum in his delivery. Only Haff’s spitball is a different article from Lanky Bob’s.

Bob’s is an overhead twirl that shoots down suddenly just as the batsman thinks he has it gauged. Leo uses the side-arm wide curve for his salivated delivery, and the ball takes a shoot sidewise that is likely to prove as puzzling to catchers as to batsmen.

Neither Hafford or Ewing will do much spitball work before the regular season opens, but both declare they will make good use of that delivery in championship games.

Same paper, March 29:

Leo Hafford has a new bat. He got it for nothing while out relic-hunting on the Alamo. It’s a dandy and he prizes it highly, but says he won’t use it in any of his games, for it’s the kind that used to fly around at nights till he killed it.

Leo caught it while chipping off a piece of stone in a dark corner of the Alamo and had it stuffed by…[illegible]

From the Post’s Reds preview, April 3:

Leo Hafford—This lad has been a seven days’ wonder in spring practise, being hit no harder than Overall and giving as few bases on balls as any twirler this spring. He’s got a great side-arm ball, has proven a natural hitter and baserunner, and ought to be a star.

April 9:

SAM THINKS WELL OF HAFFORD

“Wahoo Sam” Crawford, of the Detroits, predicts a great future for Leo Hafford. Sam is one of the greatest batsmen in the American League and had a good chance to size up the Red twirling recruit while vainly trying to connect with it in the last four innings of Saturday’s 4-to-2 defeat of the Reds by Detroit.

“That lad certainly looks like a find,” said “Wahoo” after the game. “He has about as puzzling a delivery as anybody I’ve seen in many moons. And he’s got great control. It’s a peculiar delivery, too, and one that you’d think would make it hard for him to locate the plate. But he doesn’t seem to be troubled in that respect.

“He sort of ties himself up in a knot, then unwinds himself and shoots the ball across at an angle the batsman isn’t used to.

“His slants must have a sort of raise to them, for we didn’t seem to meet them square, just sort of kept popping them up in the air. The Red team as a whole looks mighty good to me and ought to be higher in the race this year than it was last.”

Leo made the team, and he made his major league debut in the Reds’ fourth game of the season, at home against the Cubs on April 15. He came in to relieve starter Orval Overall at the end of six innings, with the Reds down 4-2. The Cubs scored a run in the top of the seventh but the Reds countered with three in the bottom of the inning; the Cubs scored three in the top of the tenth to win 8-5, Leo getting the loss and Ed Reulbach pitching a complete game for the win. From the next day’s Cincinnati Post:

WORRIES CUBS, THEN TAKES AIRSHIP

Leo Hafford again made good in the eyes of the fans, despite the fact that he took a brief airship trip in that fatal tenth inning. He didn’t go ballooning, however, until both of Del’s miscues had been made and the winning runs scored, then he gave two bases on balls in succession and forced a third run across the rubber.

Hafford’s own interference was partially responsible for Del’s first, a wobbly throw of Sheckard’s bunt, which saved Jimmy at first. Hafford ran up toward the ball, but was undecided whether or not to take it. So that all he accomplished was to get in the road.

But Haff had perfect control until that time, and the hits by Reulbach and Sheckard, netting a run in the seventh, were the only square drives made off him. The tenth-inning bingle of Slagle’s was a lucky accident, and all the outs by the Cubs were easy ones—mostly pop-ups made in ineffectual attempts to connect with Leo’s puzzling cross-fire.

Four days later Leo got his first start, in Pittsburgh. From the April 20 Boston Herald:

LEO HAFFORD KILLS PIRATES

(Special Dispatch to the Boston Herald.)

PITTSBURG, Pa., April 19, 1906. Leo Hafford of Somerville, Mass., today went in the box for Cincinnati against Pittsburg and made the tribe of Dreyfuss look like a lot of amateurs. They got five hits off the lad from Bowdoin College in nine innings, and there was never a minute of the way that the nervy lad was in danger. To make matters look a little worse, he had as his opponent, Vic Willis, the long one from Boston. Just what Cincinnati did to Willis should be told with slow music while the lights are dim. It was sad, very sad. The score was 8 to 2.

Ned Hanlon asked Hafford if he would go in, and the Somerville boy almost stuttered as he consented with glee. The Pittsburg crowd warmed to Hafford as he waded through inning after inning, holding the heavy hitting Pittsburgs safe, and they gave him a good bit of applause. There was a moment in the eighth when the road looked hard for Hafford. Wagner the mighty, lammed the ball for two bases when first up, and Joe Nealon tried to land it out of the lot, as the whole Pittsburg team attempted to rattle Hafford. He just grinned and gave Nealon a fast one, which he slammed to Delahanty, who touched Wagner. “Nice work, Jimmy,” said Hafford coolly, as if he had not been pulled over a hard spot by his own nerve. The rest of the way was easy…

Five days later, on the 24^th, at home against the Cardinals, Leo pitched the final six innings of a 9-3 loss, allowing three runs on five hits. At that point he had pitched 19 innings and allowed 13 hits and 11 walks; he had allowed nine runs but since only two were earned his ERA was 0.95. Still, he didn’t get into any more games for the Reds, and it’s unclear why. On May 7 the Cincinnati Post reported:

IS HONUS FASTEST?

The merry effort to find out who is the fastest Redleg goes on.

Leo Hafford thought he was, despite the fact that Hans Lobert beat him a step in a 100-yard dash. So they tried it over again in practise Wednesday, and this time Hans gave him a three-yard handicap and beat him about five yards.

And then on May 11 he was released, as the Kentucky Post reported the next day:

ROCHESTER GETS LEO

Leo Hafford goes to Rochester, N.Y., in the Eastern League. He was given an unconditional release Saturday by President Herrmann, and picked his own berth, and there’s no string to him, ‘tis said.

If that’s the case, and Hafford shows up as good as his early work for the Reds indicates, Hafford is probably lost to Cincinnati forever. But it’s no use to weep—the thing’s done.

Hafford leaves for Rochester Sunday night.

But he didn’t last long in Rochester. From the May 31 Cincinnati Post:

HAFFORD OUT

Leo Hafford wasn’t good enough for Rochester in the Eastern League.

The ex-Red twirler gave so many bases on balls in two games he pitched there [nine, in 15 innings] that he has been released. The Rochester management has written President Herrmann, saying they’re now sorry they paid $300 for Leo.

On June 5 the Boston Journal gave a different story of Leo’s departure from Rochester, while reporting that he had landed with an independent team in Beverly, Massachusetts:

…Hafford is now doing the bulk of the pitching, meeting with great success. In the early part of the season Hafford started out with Cincinnati, and after having but one opportunity to prove his major league caliber, in which game he defeated Pittsburg, he was carried with the team for a short time and was then traded to Rochester. Hafford wanted part of the bonus money, and upon being refused this request, he decided to come home, where he was sure of making a good thing in this vicinity on independent teams.

On June 19 the Boston Herald reported that Leo would soon be joining the Rutland, Vermont, team in the independent Northern League, while the same day the Cincinnati Post said that he had signed a contract with the Indianapolis Indians of the Class A American Association, which was correct. I didn’t find much detail on his time there, but on July 4 he allowed 14 runs on 16 hits. On July 18 and 19 many newspapers ran this short item: “Leo Hafford has been fined $50 and suspended, but he was told when he got into condition his salary would be paid for the time lost.” On the 21^st the Rutland Daily Herald reported:

Manager Daley [of Ottawa of the Northern League] wired to Ottawa last night that Leo Hafford, who pitched at Ottawa with the Beverly, Mass., team a month ago, had been signed and would report immediately. Hafford went to Indianapolis of the American association and was benched for something. Taking offence at this Leo jumped and will now wear a red and grey uniform.

But on August 4 the (Augusta, Maine) Daily Kennebec Journal reported that “Leo Hafford is again pitching for Indianapolis. Toledo found him for 14 hits Monday [July 30].” I found four games he pitched after that, all losses, but he did not pitch enough for Indianapolis to appear in the league stats. The Boston Herald reported on October 7 that he had entered Tufts University’s dental school, and on November 8 that he had served as referee for the Somerville/South Boston high school football game.

On February 5, 1907, the Herald reported that Leo had visited the offices of Boston’s National League team, then called the Doves, unsuccessfully looking for a job; he was unhappy with his salary offer from Indianapolis and had written to them requesting his release. In March the Indians released him to the Trenton Tigers of the Class B Tri-State League, with the option of re-purchasing him by August 25.

Leo spent the season with Trenton, and Indianapolis did not exercise their option. Along the way he hit a grand slam on August 26, and on September 6 field events were held before the last home game of the season, Leo winning the long distance hitting event with 384 feet and finishing second in long distance throwing with 351 feet. He finished with a 16-15 record in 34 games; at the plate he hit .267 and slugged .343.

After the season Leo coached the football team at Somerville, his old high school. In October he appeared on the Trenton reserve list, but in November he was drafted by the Baltimore Orioles of the Class A Eastern League. He started the 1908 season with the Orioles and pitched at least once before he was sold to the Lancaster Red Roses, back in the Tri-State League, in early May. For much of June, Leo filled in in right field on the days he wasn’t pitching, due to an injury. From the Harrisburg Patriot, June 29:

When Egan’s slide to the plate in the tenth inning gave Harrisburg the winning run, Harrisburg players and spectators jumped for joy, but the Lancaster players broke forth with an attempted assault upon Umpire Finneran. Pitcher Hafford, one of the finest types of baseball men in the league, had pitched a splendid game, but seeing it gone he lost his head and, rushing at Finneran, attempted to strike him. This brought spectators and players of both teams on the field and the work of the H.A.C. officials and the police along prevented some of the Lancaster players from being roughly handled…

Wilmington Evening Journal, August 1:

Leo Hafford was grossly insulted by one of the Trenton rooters at the last game Lancaster played in that city. The Trenton State Gazette says:

“This deluded rooter, one of the rabid and unthinking variety, time and again hurled insulting remarks at Leo Hafford, the Lancaster twirler, and disgusted every fairminded patron who attended the game. Had the rooter confined his language to the game alone there would have been no objection, but his remarks were of a personal nature and were resented by Hafford’s many friends in this city, who hate to see he or any other gentlemanly ball player subjected to the abuse of an ignorant, ill-bred rooter.”

Leo ended up with a 19-17 record in 43 games as a pitcher, and he hit .239 in 61 games overall. He returned to Somerville High, this time as an assistant football coach rather than as head coach. He appeared on Baltimore’s reserve list, somehow reverting there from Lancaster.

On January 12, 1909, the Harrisburg Patriot reported that: “Manager Clarence Foster, the former Lancaster leader, was fined $50 for offering a bonus to Pitcher Leo Hafford without the knowledge of the club officials and against the Tri-State salary rules.” The February 13 Sporting Life reported, on two different pages, that Leo had signed with Troy of the Class B New York State League, and that Baltimore had sold him to Albany of the same league. On March 12 the Patriot said:

A deal is pending to trade Arthur Brouthers for Leo Hafford. Hafford, it will be recalled, is the property of the Troy club, of the New York State League, but announces that he will not play there.

Sporting Life, March 27:

Leo Hafford, the pitcher sent to Albany by Baltimore, refuses to sign at any figure, and Hambacher, the fly-stabber in the same deal, has joined Hafford. Both have had trouble with Baltimore and mean to make Albany pay the penalty.

So Leo was refusing to play for either Troy or Albany, depending on who was telling the story. On April 1 the Trenton Evening Times listed him as one of the players at spring training for Trenton, and said:

The deal with the New York State League for Leo is about completed, and word may be received here any time that Hafford is the property of Trenton. This will be good news to the fans, who have always liked Leo’s pitching.

Reading Times, April 3:

Leo Hafford, who was one of the pitching staff of the Lancaster club last year, and who refused to play in the New York State League, has become an inventor. After experimenting the greater part of last season he succeeded in evolving an adjustable toe plate for pitchers which those who have used it say will become very popular among ball players. Leo has patented the device.

On April 11 Leo appeared in a team photo taken at Trenton’s spring training, but three days later the Trenton Evening Times admitted that “All hopes of getting Leo Hafford are rapidly vanishing.” On May 6 it was reported that he had signed his Troy contract; on the 7^th the Wilkes-Barre Times-Leader said:

Pitcher Leo Hafford has reported to Eddie Murphy. Hafford was bought from the Baltimore club, but all along has declared he would never play in the State League. At that time he had some money, but as soon as the roll passed away Leo forgot about his winter declarations and hit the paths for Troy, N.Y.

The day that story appeared Leo was already in Troy, pitching their home opener and losing 3-2. Troy’s third baseman was brother Frank; this was the only season they played together professionally. Frank hit .234 and Leo .215, but I didn’t find any pitching stats. After the season ended Leo pitched a bit for a semi-pro team, the Trenton Dick-Smiths. A disagreement over salary prevented him from becoming the athletic director at Blair Academy in New Jersey; he then signed to coach the football team at Brewster Military Academy. He appeared on Troy’s reserve list, and a November report named him as one of just three players that Troy intended to keep for 1910 (Frank was not one).

Trenton Evening Times, April 3, 1910:

HAFFORD’S BROTHER KILLED.

Leo Hafford was notified by wire yesterday from his home in Somerville, Mass., that his brother, George H. Hafford, had been killed by a train. Hafford started at once for Somerville. Leo Hafford has been a resident of Trenton the past six months. He is to pitch for Troy, in the New York State League, this season. His brother, Frank Hafford, is a member of the Albany team, covering third base.

Leo and Frank did not actually have a brother George; this was brother John, younger than Frank, older than Leo. Leo pitched a few times for Troy in May before being released and immediately picked up by Trenton, who had been seemingly trying to get him back since 1908. He started the season 8-0, then was 11-5 through July 21, but Sporting Life reported on August 6 that “Manager Heckert, of Trenton, is said to be seriously considering the advisability of releasing pitchers Leo Hafford and Stein,” and the following week that “There are rumors that Manager Heckert is trying to get rid of Blanchard and Hafford by trade, but the Trenton leader denies all such reports.” But nothing happened. On August 9 Leo pitched shutouts in both games of a doubleheader, on August 17 he won the fungo hitting event at a field day with 369 feet, and on August 25 he tied a league record by striking out eleven. He finished the season with a 19-10 record, and hit .267 with six doubles and three triples in 101 at-bats.

Leo stayed in Trenton for the off-season, and pitched for the Dick-Smiths again. On December 16 he placed an ad in the Trenton Evening Times, naming himself as the local agent for Formacone, “the Formaldehyde Disinfector.” On January 18, 1911, the Boston Journal reported that Leo had been named the football coach at Connecticut State Agricultural College for the next season. He appears in the 1911 Trenton city directory with an address of 221 West Hanover.

Leo returned to the Tigers for 1911. On June 3 Sporting Life reported:

Leo Hafford, the Tigers’ big cross-fire pitcher, is having trouble with a sore arm. He has not been able to do himself justice so far, but is now rounding into shape.

But two weeks later they said that “Leo Hafford, Trenton’s clever cross-fire pitcher, is out of the game with a sore arm.” But by the time that appeared, he had returned to the mound on the 16^th. Meanwhile, the Trenton Evening Times was running a “Popularity Baseball Contest,” and as of June 17 Leo was in third place, behind Bill Clay and Charlie Girard. At one point he was in the lead, but the final vote totals were 61,682 for Clay, 20,726 for Leo, and 5620 for Girard. Leo went 9-11 for the year (Girard was 20-8) and hit .143.

On October 1^st or 2^nd, Leo died. (Obituaries said he died on the 2^nd; apparently his grave says the 1^st.) From the October 3 Boston Journal:

LEO E. HAFFORD, ATHLETE, DEAD

Somerville Diamond and Gridiron Star Victim of Pneumonia.

Willlimantic, Conn., Oct. 2.—Leo E. Hafford, coach of the Connecticut Agricultural College football team, of Storrs, died at the St. Joseph’s Hospital here tonight after a week’s illness from pneumonia.

Leo E. Hafford, 28 years old, was perhaps the most noted athlete developed in the Greater Boston schools in the past ten years. His home was in Somerville, where his athletic career started at Somerville High. For four years he pitched for Somerville High and was, without doubt, one of the most finished twirlers ever produced in the interscholastic ranks.

During his four years on the mound for Somerville High the Red and Blue won the championship of the Interscholastic Athletic League. He established a strike out record in 1903 of22 against Cambridge Latin School that remained unbroken for a year.

Hafford’s athletic accomplishments were not confined to baseball, for in football he was the most feared halfback that Somerville has sent out in years. A speedy runner and a man who had the art of dodging down almost to a science, Hafford was half the offensive strength of the team during his four years there. For three years he also played on the basketball team, and his aggressiveness made him nearly as much feared as in the gridiron game.

When the school term of 1903 ended, Hafford pitched for the Beverly team. Before the summer was finished, those interested in the athletic welfare of Bowdoin College sized up the Somerville boy, and in the fall he entered the Maine institution. [Actually it was in 1905 that he finished high school and entered Bowdoin.]

He played football at Bowdoin, but scouts of the Cincinnati team had seen such promise in the lad on the diamond that Garry Herrmann wired orders to sign him for the Reds…

In 1905 he coached the Somerville High football and baseball teams with success. His death removes one of the most prominent and popular athletes that ever wore the colors of the Red and Blue. Of a quiet disposition, Hafford made friends everywhere.

He was a brother of Frank Hafford of the New York State Baseball League. His father, who passed away two [six] years ago, was also an athlete of note in his day.

The October 3 Trenton Evening Times version included:

Leo Hafford, one of the best-known pitchers of the Trenton Tri-State baseball team, died yesterday at Willimantic, Conn., after an illness of ten days of typhoid fever. Word of his death was received in this city early last evening from Miss Bessie MacAloan, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. John MacAloan, of 318 Pennington Avenue, who was soon to have become his bride and who had been summoned to Willimantic last Thursday, when his condition became serious. She was present at his deathbed….

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/H/Phaffl101.htm

https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/h/haffole01.shtml