Painesville native Marvin Hawley's one big-league appearance in 1894 only scratches surface (Part 2 of 2)

Jun. 18—Part 2 of a two-part series on Painesville native Marvin Hawley, who made one appearance in Major League Baseball as a pitcher in 1894.

Perhaps it was Marvin Hawley's father Gideon from whom he learned persistence, given Gideon worked as a railroad engineer for more than 50 years and supported his family that way well into his 70s.

Because Hawley's way of hitching onto a shot in the big leagues, only months removed from his one and only college season at Oberlin, was persistent, all right. And downright unique.

The first available connection in the present day between Hawley and the major leagues can be found in the Sept. 8, 1894 edition of Sporting Life.

The magazine would relay reports from local newspaper writers around the country, as well as its own accounts. In its section for the then-Boston Beaneaters, one of the early forefathers for today's Atlanta Braves franchise, an astounding anecdote is relayed.

Painesville native Marvin Hawley's one big-league appearance in 1894 only scratches surface (Part 1 of 2)

"Pitcher Hawley of the Oberlin College team is so anxious to show what he can do in the big league," the Sporting Life reported, "that he proposes to take the Western trip with the Boston team and pay all of his expenses, to which arrangement Manager Selee has given his consent."

That manager was a Hall of Fame inductee by the Veteran's Committee in 1999, Frank Selee, who couldn't fault Hawley's wherewithal. But he didn't have much opportunity available with a Boston rotation already anchored by a fellow future Hall of Famer, Kid Nichols.

The Beaneaters had been National League champions the year before but were mired in third place as the calendar got into September.

The Painesville Telegraph, not one to discuss sports much at all in that era, made an exception when exciting news reached back home.

"Hawley, Painesville's brilliant young pitcher, has been engaged by the Boston club for the remainder of the season," the Telegraph wrote Sept. 12, 1894.

Engaged didn't mean actively pitching, however, especially with Hawley's arrangement with Selee.

That all changed Sept. 22, 1894.

Boston was on a road trip to last-place Louisville and had a doubleheader that Saturday against the hapless Colonels.

Too far out for contention, the time had come for Selee for experiment in both ends of the twinbill. He rested Nichols and his pitching regulars to see how two new arrivals could fare.

In Game 1, it was George Stultz, a native of nearby Shelbyville, Ky. The Beaneaters won that, 3-2.

In Game 2, it was time for Hawley.

Less than five months removed from his collegiate pitching debut, Hawley found himself paying his own way but on the mound in the big leagues nonetheless.

Before a crowd estimated at around 500 and lasting about 90 minutes, Louisville earned a doubleheader split, 6-4, in a game called early due to darkness.

Hawley's line was one that resembled a pitcher who had been in the collegiate ranks in the not-too-distant past.

He made it through for a complete game, as was commonplace in that era. His line: seven innings pitched, 10 hits, six runs (all earned), two strikeouts, two hit by pitch, one wild pitch and seven walks.

Hawley, who went 0-for-3 at the plate, took the loss.

His Beaneaters lineup that afternoon consisted of a pair of Hall of Fame outfielders in Hugh Duffy and Tommy McCarthy. He also faced a Hall of Famer in Louisville's lineup, Fred Clarke.

"Pitcher Hawley, whom Manager Selee of Boston tried on Saturday last, is the young man from Oberlin College who accompanies the team at his own expense," the Sporting Life wrote Sept. 29, 1894. "Barring his wildness, he put up a pretty fair game."

The Beaneaters finished the day seven games back of league-leading Baltimore. Louisville remained in last place with a dreadful record of 35-89.

In a bizarre twist of fate, not only was it the only major-league appearance for Hawley. It was the only appearance for Stultz, too.

Hawley's last reported connection with Boston came in October in another edition of Sporting Life.

"Hawley, the Oberlin College boy, came (to Pittsburgh) with the team, but only to visit his brother, who is a local life insurance agent," the Sporting Life wrote. "Manager Selee says, 'Hawley has enough speed to break armor plate, but lacks experience.'"

That experience wouldn't come in Boston.

Hawley went to Toledo of the Western League for the 1895 season, with "the new college pitcher believed to be a great find," per Sporting Life.

Then came a stint with Springfield of the Eastern League in 1896.

"Mr. Marvin H. Hawley spent Sunday at his home leaving Monday for Springfield, Mass., where he will pitch the season in the Eastern League club there," the Telegraph stated in its April 15, 1896 edition.

Hawley nearly pitched himself into another big-league stint thereafter, spending 1897 with Newport of the New England League. For that club, he went 24-11 with a 1.56 earned-run average in 37 starts and 317 innings pitched. The 24 wins led the circuit, but he also had a rough walks-to-strikeouts ratio of 111-to-95.

"Pitcher Hawley, of (Newport), has been drafted by the Cincinnati league team," the Sporting Life reported Jan. 15, 1898. "... In Hawley, Cincinnati has undoubtedly the best all-around pitcher and player seen in the New England League in '97. He is a good hitter and base runner, has a great arm and fields his position elegantly. He was our most successful pitcher and was a terror to all batsmen.

"Bad company got him somewhat out of condition during the latter part of the season, but when under restraint of the Cincinnati management he should prove a veritable find. He is ambitious, young, well put together, big and husky and a natural ball player every inch of him. He is an Ohio boy and no doubt will be pleased to hear of his advancement and especially to Cincinnati."

It wasn't to be.

John T. Brush, who ran the Reds and a minor-league team in Indianapolis, traded Hawley to the latter and recalled him once. But Hawley never pitched for Cincinnati.

In June, Hawley was pitching again for Indianapolis.

In 29 starts covering 144 2/3 innings, Hawley went 11-15. The reviews were not kind.

"Farm hand Marvin Hawley seems to have suddenly lost his effectiveness, and some of the Hoosier writers are already making the claim that he is playing for his release," the Sporting Life noted Aug. 27, 1898.

Hawley was said to "desert" Indianapolis in 1899 by Sporting Life but return in 1900.

He logged stints with Salt Lake City, Spokane and a combined Butte-Portland club in 1901 and 1902 in the minors.

Five days before Christmas in 1900, while in Spokane, Hawley married 19-year-old Lucia Bell McKinney, a native of Kansas.

Unfortunately, the next several years would be awful for the Hawley family.

Hawley's mother Sophronia died in 1903 at the age of 69, after having been invalid for four years according to the Telegraph.

According to genealogy records, Hawley and McKinney had a son Victor, who died at one year old in 1903 of "chronic bronchitis."

McKinney later remarried and was said there to be divorced from Hawley. But no records exist of when their divorce occurred between 1902 and 1903.

Hawley's last baseball reference in Sporting Life came in its April 12, 1902 edition.

"Marvin Hawley, once a pitcher on the Indianapolis team, has been let out by Spokane and is running an engine on the (railroad)," the magazine reported.

Indeed, Hawley had followed in his father's footsteps as well.

Hawley began his railroading career in Washington state before relocating back to Northeast Ohio.

That return home, tragically, did not last.

"Marvin H. Hawley, aged 29 years, an engineer on the Lake Erie, Alliance & Wheeling, died Thursday night at the city hospital in Alliance of inflammatory rheumatism," the Telegraph stated in its weekly edition in May 1904. "... The deceased was well known as a baseball player."

Hawley's remains were brought to Painesville the day after his passing April 28, 1904.

He was buried at Evergreen Cemetery, alongside his parents in Division 10.

His death was also reported in the PD on April 29, 1904.

Gideon retired from the railroad and spent the final years of his life in Conneaut and residing with two of his daughters. He died in 1913. Pallbearers for his funeral were his firemen on the railroad train, as well as veteran Lake Shore conductors in tribute to their longtime colleague.

Marvin Hiram Hawley made one appearance in Major League Baseball in the most unusual way possible.

But it was one more than most, and certainly with a back story that resonates to the present.

From Painesville to Oberlin to Boston, with several other points of destination, Hawley will always be known for his cup of coffee one Saturday in Louisville, a persistent narrative that can finally be shared.

"Marvin Hawley was a very popular fellow with his associates," the Telegraph wrote in his 1904 obituary story.

"He was an excellent baseball player."