Chicken Hawks

Chicken Hawks was a double threat for those who construct imaginary teams of players named after birds.1 Despite batting .316, the lefty swinger had just 393 at-bats spread across two major league seasons. His time at the top level was limited because he was streaky at bat and suspect on defense in the outfield and at first base. However, he had a long and colorful career in the minor leagues. Hawks was noted for his speed, his blond hair, and for giving sportswriters an opportunity to let the bird puns fly. 

The great Damon Runyon opined in 1920, just after the speedster was signed by the New York Yankees, that Hawks had “about as appropriate a name for a ball player as you could find in a telephone directory.

“He is Nelson Hawks. They will probably immediately nickname him ’Ball’ Hawks, or ’Sparrow’ Hawks, or ’Chicken’ Hawks, or some such.”2

Runyon, in this case, was late when it came to Hawks’s nickname – he had been known as “Chicken,” or sometimes just “Chick,” since his semipro days in Northern California.3

***

In 1895, a 21-year-old singer4 with the most avian name of Birdsall Hawks, also known as Bud, married 17-year-old Grace Ilene Barnard.5 Nelson Louis Hawks, their only child, was born on February 3, 1896, in San Francisco, California. (Chicken Hawks’s grandfather and namesake, Nelson Crocker Hawks, was a printer who created the 12 points per inch pica typographical standard.6)

Three years later, Birdsall Hawks served as a sergeant in the 1 st California Infantry Regiment, seeing action in the Philippines in the aftermath of the Spanish-American War.7 Returning to the Bay Area after the war, he worked as a Pullman car conductor.8 The ballplayer later attributed his speed as an inheritance from his father, whom he said once set a record in the 220-yard dash.9

At age 14, the Hawks family was torn apart by a scandalous affair involving Grace and a prominent San Francisco developer, William B. Reis.10 A year later, Hawks was rescued with four other boys as their small boat was adrift in San Francisco Bay.11 In between these dramatic scenes, he was a student at San Francisco’s Lowell High School, where he suffered numerous injuries as a rugby player – “his nose broken four times, one of his legs twice, and his [left] throwing arm three times. The last time the doctor, in setting it, placed a small silver wire in the arm to hold the bones in place.”12

The first reference in print to “Chicken” Hawks appeared in 1917, playing for a local semipro team called the Oakland Native Sons.13 A year later he was with the Oakland Oaks in the Pacific Coast League, drawing rave reviews for his speed:

“One of these days ‘Chicken’ is going to chuck in an extra spurt and run right out from under his hair. He starts out to get somewhere and is decidedly in a hurry. Believe us, this boy can go. He laid down a tap to short at this point and beat it to first by a couple of strides. Then he stole second…. He is remarkably fast and looks like a sweet hitter.”14

During his rookie season he was billed as “the fastest man in the Pacific Coast League.”15 Indeed, Hawks’s quickness was already so renowned that a high school second baseman was touted as “a second Chicken Hawks when it comes to speed.”16

Hawks’s hair also drew attention: “‘Chicken’ Hawks is sporting an extravagant coiffure that interferes with his batting eye. Even the small cap the Oaks wear cannot keep his vision clear when those long golden locks begin descending.”17 Both qualities were combined for another nickname: “The Blonde Streak.”18

In May, Hawks caught the eye of St. Louis Browns scout Eddie Herr.19 A month later, however, his budding baseball career was put on hold as he was drafted for World War I service.20 Hawks was told to report to the U.S. Army at the end of June;21 honored with a dinner to send him off, he asked Oakland Oaks manager Del Howard for his release so when he returned he could sign with the team of his choosing. Howard refused.22

Hawks spent the rest of 1918 in the Army’s Spruce Production Division in Vancouver, Washington. There he participated in a track meet and won the 100-, 220-, and 440- yard dashes, “and also won the shoe race, picking out his own shoes and getting back to the line first.” After the races, Hawks played right field in an 11-inning game.

He was discharged from service on December 27, 1918.23 Two months later, he informed the Oaks that he would “probably quit baseball for good and all” to pursue an undisclosed “business proposition.”24 (Seven years later, a newspaper reported it was a cover story for a salary holdout.)25 Hawks returned to the Oaks at the end of the 1919 season.26

Hawks signed with the Calgary Bronchos in the Western Canada League for the 1920 season and led the league in batting average (.359) and hits (161) in 449 at-bats, but with 25 errors, a .907 fielding percentage. As an outfielder, he also had 20 assists in just 93 games. Although his Baseball-Reference.com page doesn’t show it, Runyon noted that Hawks, who stood 5-foot-11 and weighed 167 pounds, also played first base for the Bronchos and made 11 errors in 18 games at that position.27 By this time, according to the 1920 U.S. Census, Hawks was living in San Francisco and married to Sarah Irene Hawks (née Richardson). He gave his occupation as clerk.

Hawks’s contract was sold to the Yankees during the 1920 season, but he was allowed to stay with Calgary for the pennant drive.28 (Calgary finished 2 ½ games ahead of the Regina Senators, then beat them in a seven-game championship series.)29 Hawks, who reportedly roomed with Babe Ruth during the 1921 season,30 quickly gained notice with three spectacular defensive plays in a spring training game against the Brooklyn Robins.31

He made his major-league debut on April 14, pinch-hitting for Waite Hoyt in the bottom of the seventh inning against Eddie Rommel of the Philadelphia Athletics. With two out and two on, “the ‘Chicken’ drove a liner over short and ‘Tillie’ Walker was so flummuxed as the ball came at him that he missed connection altogether and the ball rolled on and on until the men on the paths had crossed the plate and the ‘Chicken’ himself was snugly roosted on third.”32

Hawks got into five more games, all as a pinch-hitter, over the next five weeks. He went 2-for-6 with a double and two RBIs, but manager Miller Huggins had yet to give him a start behind regulars Ping Bodie and Braggo Roth.

That changed during a road trip “out west” – Detroit, Cleveland, Chicago, and St. Louis, followed by a one-game rainout makeup in Washington, D.C. – from May 10 through May 27. The Yankees went 11-6 during the 17-game road trip. Roth had started it red-hot, going 11-for-25 with four doubles and a home run in the first six games, but then was 5-for-31 (.161) in his next seven starts and found himself benched for the final three games west of the Appalachians. Bodie, on that same trip, was 1-for-8.

“Bodie and Roth didn’t look like anything in center field out West, so Huggins experimented with young Hawks, who may be a brilliant star some of these fine days,” The Sporting News reported.33

And so, Hawks finally got an opportunity, albeit a short-lived one. During a 10-game stretch from May 25 through June 2, he started seven games – benched for Bodie in the three when opponents started a lefty – and went 7-for-23 (.304) with two triples, three walks, and six RBIs. The streak was bolstered by his best day as a Yankee, a 4-for-4 performance against Dave Keefe of the Philadelphia Athletics on May 29, 1921.34 The New York Tribune called Hawks “the real batting hero of the day” for his first-inning two-run triple, overshadowing a third-inning home run from Ruth.35

Despite his success at the plate, Hawks struggled in the field. His reputation as a poor fielder was reported in the press as early as 1918, though in the context of being better on defense than advertised.36 His throwing arm in particular was seen as his biggest weakness.37 On the other hand, the Omaha Bee opined in 1921 that Hawks “is a great asset” in the field, “for he can travel over a greater distance to get a ball than any of the other men, and he is a sure catch.” As to his “brittle” throwing arm, the newspaper reported he was “shooting the leather in from the fences now and it is moving with true power.”38

But during his seven starts between May 25 and June 2, Hawks recorded no assists and an error. In a loss to the Washington Nationals on June 1, he “let several go past him that a better man would have stopped.”39

Between June 3 and June 14, the Yankees faced right-handed starters in 12 consecutive games, but the lefty-batting Hawks started just twice. During that stretch, Ruth started in center field six times, and in both games where Hawks started, Ruth was out of the outfield. (Ruth was in jail June 8 after receiving a speeding ticket, arriving in time to pinch-hit for Hawks in the sixth and take over in center. On June 13, Ruth started the game on the mound before moving to center in the sixth, with Carl Mays replacing Hawks in a double switch; Hawks went 2-for-3 with an inside-the-park homer.)

Hawks started in left field in four games between June 20 and June 22, going 2-for-16 with a home run, but never started for the Yankees again. On June 23, Ruth returned to left field and Bob Meusel to right, and another bird took flight in between them: Chick Fewster.

“Fewster will be tried in center field now, as Bodie, Roth and young Hawks have been found wanting.”40 But Fewster, too, struggled on defense, most notably with a “lamentable showing”41 in a 6-4 win over the Browns on July 12 at Sportsman’s Park when he lost “a harmless fly” in the sun. The ball hit him in the head and was scored a triple.42

The Yankees finally found a solution by bringing back outstanding defender43 Elmer Miller, a former Yankee who had hit .321 over the last three seasons with the St. Paul Saints. Hawks, after his last start on June 22, was used exclusively as a pinch-hitter or pinch-runner for the rest of the season. He went 5-for-18 (.278) with a triple, three runs scored, two RBIs, no walks, and six strikeouts. Four of those at-bats, one of the hits, and three of the strikeouts came in the meaningless44 second game of a doubleheader on October 1, with Babe Ruth giving up six runs but getting the win in relief.

The only action Hawks saw in the eight-game World Series loss to the New York Giants was a race prior to Game One. Hawks was among four players from the Giants and Yankees to compete against “champion walker” George Brown. Hawks and Al DeVormer represented the Yankees; Bill Cunningham and Wally Kopf ran for the Giants. “The idea was for Brown to walk twice around the bases while the four runners made one circuit apiece. Brown won by two yards.”45

Following the season, Hawks was traded to the Vernon Tigers of the PCL, along with Jess Doyle and Ray French, as the “players to be named later” in a trade the previous year for DeVormer. Hawks, the “blond meteor,” was praised as “just about the speediest thing in shoe leather at the Polo Grounds last year.” Again, though, he was faulted for his “crotchety throwing arm.”46 He hit .279 with 15 triples in 319 at-bats.

On January 24, 1923, Hawks’s contract was sold to St. Paul.47 The Saints moved him to first base.48 He hit .273 in 110 at-bats but, on June 8, Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis declared the previous year’s trade between the Yankees and Vernon illegal and made Hawks, Doyle, and French free agents.49

Ten days later, Hawks signed with the Nashville Vols in what was supposed to be a temporary roost: he was to be flipped immediately to the Memphis Chicks for Ernie Padgett, but the deal fell through.50 With Southern Association veteran Al Bernsen already manning first base, Hawks was moved back to the outfield. He hit .339 in 248 at-bats and returned to the Vols the following season. With Bernsen heading to the Texas League to become player-manager of the Beaumont Exporters, Hawks took over at first base for the 1924 season.

While with Nashville, Hawks disputed a call with an umpire while acting as the third base coach in a game against Atlanta. With a runner on third base, one out, and the Vols down by two, the batter hit a line drive to right field that the outfielder caught, then threw home. The runner beat the throw, but the catcher appealed at third base, arguing the runner had left early. The umpire agreed and called the runner out. Hawks protested: “Why, you didn’t see that man leave the bag, you had your back to the play.” The umpire claimed he had one eye on the ball being caught in right, and the other eye on the runner on third base.

“Sweet mamma,” Hawks yelled, “we have a Ben Turpin in our league.”51 (Turpin was a comic actor of the era known for his crossed eyes.)

During the 1923-1924 season, Hawks played winter ball with “Universal City, the moving picture show team.” Determined to stick at first base, he told the Nashville Tennessean he had “run three birds off first base” that winter, including a 21-year-old prospect with the Memphis Chickasaws:

“I’m ready to run anybody off that is after that job. I run off this Babe Herman and two other birds. I made this Herman get a glove and go to the outfield. That ought to be a warning to anybody that thinks he can get this job away from me.”52

Hawks hit .336 with 27 doubles, 10 triples, and 11 home runs in 506 at-bats with Nashville in 1924, then was traded to the Philadelphia Phillies.53 Advertised in spring training by manager Art Fletcher as “my new first baseman,” 54 Hawks missed time with an injury during spring training.55 He opened the season on the bench behind the previous year’s starter, Walter Holke, who collected 10 hits in the first six games. Holke then went 2-for-14 in his next five, and the Brooklyn Daily Times reported that the 32-year-old was “beginning to show signs of wear and tear.”56 On April 29, Fletcher turned to Hawks, who had gone 2-for-6 with two walks and two RBIs as a reserve.

His first game as a Phillies starter was against the Giants at the Polo Grounds, where he had hit .395 in 38 plate appearances as a Yankee in 1921. Hawks had two hits and two RBIs, “a flock of hits.”57 He homered in his second start, “a tremendous slam over the right field fence” at the Baker Bowl.58 He was 12-for-36 with two doubles, a triple, and two home runs before leaving the May 8 game after re-aggravating his spring training injury.59 Although still “maimed,”60 Hawks had a pinch-hit ninth-inning single on May 14 off Pete Alexander and returned to the starting lineup the next day, going 1-for-3 with an RBI. The following day, an eighth-inning double off Guy Bush began a remarkable hitting streak. The double in his final at-bat on May 16 was followed by a 5-for-5 performance in his next game, then he had three hits to begin the game on May 19. Of the nine hits, five were doubles. He followed with two hits on May 20 and three on May 21 to raise his batting average to .448.

“No player in Christendom is delivering the blobs of hits that Hawks has done this week,” the Philadelphia Inquirer gushed.61

The Inquirer also revealed: “Here is the secret of ‘Chicken’ Hawks’ success as a fence demolisher. Before each game, he massages his bat by rubbing a pop bottle against the wood. This produces a wonderful gloss. But this is not all. Hawks’ bats are made from the wood of a gumfa tree, which grows only on isthmuses.”62

The barrage came amid a 20-game hitting streak from April 28 to the first game of a doubleheader on May 26; over the streak Hawks hit .427/.463/.707 with 17 runs, 16 RBIs, and 53 total bases. He had another torrid five-game stretch in June, going 9-for-18 with five runs scored, five RBIs, and two walks, highlighted by a 4-for-4 (with a walk) performance in the second game of a doubleheader on June 23. In four starts between July 7 and July 11, he went 8-for-16.

Outside of these hot spells, however, Hawks’s numbers faded. Between that 4-for-4 on June 23 and a 3-for-4 outing in the first game of a doubleheader on July 7, Hawks hit .182 in 44 at-bats.

In the second game of a July 6 doubleheader, Fletcher began platooning Hawks at first base. Usually, second baseman Lew Fonseca moved to first and third baseman Bernie Friberg to second, while Clarence Huber – who had lost the starting job at third base when the Phillies acquired Friberg from the Cubs on June 15 – came off the bench to play third. Over the rest of the season, Hawks started against just one more left-hander.63

Beginning on July 20, Hawks began sitting against right-handers as well. He started just three games in August, and 13 games in September, all during a 15-game stretch between September 2 and 16. After ending May with a .416/.464/.652 line, Hawks hit .307 in June, .264 in July, .208 in August, and .283 in September. Overall, he hit .322/.387/.447 for the season, a 106 OPS+; for context, league-average was .292/.348/.414. “Hawks hit .400 early last season but slumped after the midway station and was not much of a help to the team afterward,” the Inquirer reported in December.64

Hawks did have one last highlight in the 1925 season. On September 8, Dazzy Vance’s bid to become Johnny “Double No-Hit” Vander Meer – 13 years early – was denied by a Hawks single to right field with one out in the second inning. Hawks was later thrown out stealing to end the inning, and Vance didn’t allow another baserunner, so he faced the minimum 27 batters.

Pitching against the Phillies again five days later, Vance threw the first no-hitter in Ebbets Field history. Hawks came within a scorer’s decision of having the only hit in this game, too: his routine fly ball to left field was dropped by Jimmy Johnston, with the Brooklyn Eagle saying the “miscue was rather excusable” because he had lost the ball in the sun. Johnston picked up the ball and threw wildly to the infield, allowing Hawks to reach second for his second error on the play. Hawks then advanced to third on a passed ball and scored Philadelphia’s only run on a sacrifice fly.

On Sunday, September 27, Hawks played in his final major league game. With one out in the eighth inning and the Phillies losing 3-1 to Alexander and the Cubs in Chicago, Hawks pinch-hit for reliever Jimmy Ring. He drew a walk, advanced to second on a single, but was stranded there. He stayed in the game at first base but didn’t get another plate appearance. In 446 career plate appearances, he hit .316/.377/.453 (105 OPS+) with 17 doubles, eight triples, and seven home runs.

After the season, Hawks was sold to the Newark Bears. “The sale of Hawks came out of a clear sky. The hefty clouting initial sacker was one of the best hitters on the Phillies’ roster last year. He had a streak that carried him to the top of the .300 hitters.”65

“No reason for the sale, it appeared,” the Reading Times wrote three years later. “Just one of those things. Or else William F. Baker needed money, as usual.”66

Hawks hit .297 in 620 at-bats with the Bears. One highlight was an eighth-inning grand slam to help the Bears come back from a six-run deficit and beat the Buffalo Bisons, 12-11, to complete a four-game sweep in the opening series.67 He was named the team’s captain.68

After the season, Newark sold Hawks to Denver, reportedly for $1,000,69 but he refused to report.70 He played semipro ball in California instead.71 The Bears finally told Hawks to come back to Newark, but it wasn’t to play – “it was to be punished.” Mostly relegated to the bench, Hawks demanded a change of scenery: “‘Trade me!’ he begged. ‘Sell me! Do anything with me! Get me on some team where I can play baseball!’” The Bears finally traded him to the Reading Keystones on July 24 for Rube Parnham, an “eccentric pitcher.”72 Denver protested the deal, claiming Hawks was rightfully theirs, but Landis awarded his rights to Reading.73

During his two and a half seasons in Reading, Hawks became a noted bench jockey. “He’s got plenty of pepper. If you catch him silent for a moment it’ll be a wonder. Listen to him jabber! Say, he never quits talking!”74

He also acquired a peculiar nickname: “The Little Chinese Boy.” It appeared frequently but only during his time with the Keystones, in stories by Reading Times sports editor Shandy Hill. It first surfaced in an account of an exhibition game between the Keystones and Phillies,75 but was used in almost every story Hill wrote about Hawks. Hill later recounted that Hawks coined the nickname himself: “The little Chinese boy, as Hawks called himself, came down to Newark from the Philadelphia Nationals after the 1925 season.”76 Hill even quipped that “whenever he hits a homer, the little Chinese boy will wire the Chinese ambassador!”77

After the 1929 season, in which he hit .316 with a .463 slugging percentage in 640 at-bats, Hawks asked for his release so he could become manager of Allentown in the Eastern League. “However, the Keystone officials are reluctant to do this, as they realize Hawks is a valuable asset, and that to drop him outright would be a big sacrifice. Hence, if Allentown is really anxious to get the San Francisco spark plug to run the team, a deal will have to be made for him.”78

A deal could not be reached, apparently; Hawks instead went to the Buffalo Bisons in the International League.79 He started the 1930 season with a hit in every game; in the 21 st game of the streak, against his former mates in Reading, Hawks went 2-for-5 with a double and a homer, knocking in five runs.80 Hawks apparently was unaware of the streak, but then someone told him. “Immediately the jinx went to work and ‘Chick’ went hitless, getting a walk, sent a long fly to center and grounded out twice. He nearly had another chance in the eighth inning when Ollie] Sax had three balls called on him and the fourth pitch dusted him off but the ball struck his bat for a foul and Ollie then popped out for the final out.”81 He finished the season hitting .301 and slugging .462 in 385 at-bats.

Released by Buffalo at the start of the 1931 season,82 Hawks returned to his native California and signed with the San Francisco Seals on June 12 as a temporary replacement for the injured Jim Keesey. A month later he joined the Mission Reds following the resignation of first baseman-manager George Burns. Released by Mission at the end of the season,83 Hawks played semipro ball for Palo Alto in 1932.84 The following season he served as an umpire in state league games.85

Hawks died May 26, 1973, at Kaiser Hospital in San Rafael, California. He was 77 years old and suffering from a chronic pulmonary condition.86 He had operated a bar in San Francisco87 and had been a ship’s clerk for the Pacific Maritime Association for 15 years.88 His wife, Sarah, had died December 27, 1962. They had two children, Nelson John Hawks (October 30, 1924)89 and William Warren Hawks (September 14, 1927).90

He was cremated and his ashes buried at Cypress Lawn Memorial Park in Colma, California.91

Acknowledgments

This biography was reviewed by Rory Costello and Mike Eisenbath and checked for accuracy by members of SABR’s fact-checking team.

Photo credit: Nelson “Chicken” Hawks, Trading Card Database. 

Notes

1 MLB.com’s Chris Landers listed an “All-Bird Team” for Thanksgiving in 2018: Birdie Tebbets, Greg Bird, Jay Bell, Wade “Chicken Man” Boggs, Robin Yount, Chicken Hawks, Turkey Stearnes, Ken “Hawk” Harrelson, Andre “The Hawk” Dawson, Mark “The Bird” Fidrych, and reliever Aaron Crow. Jonathan Fraser Light’s The Cultural Encyclopedia of Baseball (2005) had a more exhaustive list on Page 116: “Robin Roberts, George Crowe, Chicken Hawks, Frank Bird, Sparrow McCaffrey, Craig Swan, Ducky Swan, Jiggs Parrott, Johnny Peacock, Andy Swan, Hawk Taylor, Birdie Tebbetts, Joe Finch, Bob Swift, Jay Partridge, Goose Goslin, Turkey Gross, Ed Hawk, Alan Storke, Thorny Hawkes, Ducky Hem, Sparrow Morton, Mike Parrott, Birdie Cree, Sam Crane, Red Bird, Doug Bird, Webbo Clark [sic], Ivy Wingo, Conrad Cardinal, Cuckoo Christensen, Joey Jay, Hal Peck, White Wings Tebeau, Chick Cargo, Henry Cote, Jim Duckworth, Wingo Anderson.”

2 Damon Runyon, “What’s in a Name? Well, A Good Deal, in Baseball,” The Sporting News, December 2, 1920: 8.

3 “Chick Hawks May Sign Up with Oakland,” Oakland Tribune, January 8, 1918: 10.

4 “Personal,” Alameda Daily Argus, May 25, 1896: 4. Birdsall Hawks, along with his brothers John and Berthelet, performed in a “Hawaiian sextet,” singing “delightful Hawaiian melodies in costume.” Birdsall Hawks was billed as a tenor.

5 “Marriage Licenses,” Oakland Enquirer, October 17, 1895: 5.

6 “Inventor Of ‘Point’ System for Measuring Type Dies,” Oakland Tribune, July 2, 1929: 12.

7 “From the Battlefield: Sergeant Hawks Describes the Fighting,” Alameda Daily Argus, March 18, 1899: 1.

8 “Mrs. Reis Will Be Granted Divorce: Infidelity Charge Is Not Contested By Wealthy Construction Magnate,” San Francisco Call and Post, May 20, 1910: 9.

9 Joseph McInerney, “Seals and Senators Are Due To Be ‘In Form’ For This Week’s Program,” San Francisco Bulletin, April 30, 1918: 15.

10 “Mrs. Reis Will Be Granted Divorce: Infidelity Charge Is Not Contested by Wealthy Construction Magnate,” the San Francisco Call and Post, May 20, 1910: 9. Chicken Hawks’s mother later married William Reis, giving Hawks a step-brother, William Dent Prentigass Reiss. Birdsall Hawks later married a woman named Metella Apple, but she filed for divorce in 1917. At the time of his death, Birdsall Hawks was married to a woman named Albertina.

11 “Helpless In Boat,” Oakland Tribune, May 28, 1911: 41. The newspaper reported Hawks and the four other boys, ranging in age from 11 to 18, were in a small skiff that was pulled far into the bay by the outgoing tide. “Several times the boat was on the point of sinking, the waves washing over its decks, but by diligent labor the youths bailed it out and kept it above water.” They were rescued by a passing schooner.

12 Joseph S. McInerney, “M’Credie And His Hive of Trained Bees Expect To Sting Seals This Week,” San Francisco Bulletin, May 7, 1918: 3. Oakland Oaks manager Del Howard may have dreamed up a form of Tommy John surgery five decades before Dr. Frank Jobe: “Del Howard is thinking of replacing the small wire with a piece of cable and giving Hawks more strength.”

13 Eddie Murphy, “Native Scores Are All Made After Two Out,” Oakland Tribune, December 10, 1917: 6. Thirteen months earlier, the Long Beach Press reported on a Long Beach Polytechnic High School football player named “Chick” Hawks (“Several Changes Are Made In Poly Football Lineup That Will Meet Santa Ana,” the Long Beach Press, November 2, 1916: 10), but this was a boy named Francis Hawks, who had been elected Poly’s sophomore class president earlier that year. (“New President Is Selected,” Long Beach Daily Telegram, January 26, 1916:5.) Chicken Hawks was 20 years old at the time.

14 Al Joy, “Martin Pulls Oaks Back To Prominence With 3 To 0 Shutout,” the San Francisco Examiner, April 13, 1918: 11.

15 “Chicken Hawks Lost to the Oaks,” Oakland Enquirer, June 21, 1918: 13.

16 “A.C.A.L. Baseball Gossip,” Oakland Enquirer, April 23, 1918: 9.

17 Joseph S. McInerney, “‘Rowdy’ Elliott to Go to Shipyards; Hamilton To Enlist In Medical Corps,” San Francisco Bulletin, May 17, 1918: 13. Hawks’s blonde hair was often noted by sportswriters: “He looks better every day, this big blonde youngster,” the Oakland Enquirer reported on May 22, 1918 (page 9).

18 Joseph S. McInerney, “Even Oaks Might Have Players for St. Louis, According To Eddie Herr,” San Francisco Bulletin, May 27, 1918: 9. 

19 Joseph S. McInerney, “Even Oaks Might Have Players for St. Louis, According To Eddie Herr.”

20 “Chicken Hawks Lost to the Oaks,” Oakland Enquirer, June 21, 1918: 13.

21 “Coast League Chatter,” the San Francisco Examiner, June 28, 1918: 19. 

22 Joseph McInerney, “Bill Essick In Favor Of Lay-Off For Baseball At Close Of Season,” San Francisco Bulletin, June 27, 1918: 17. Hawks told Howard he “would like to be restored to his status quo for the simple reason that Oakland was not running the most expensive ball club in the world and that there would undoubtedly be a chance to sign up with some other club that would kick in with more jack in the bi-monthly check.”

23 “Sport Notes: ‘Chicken’ Hawks Sent Home,” Spokane (Washington) Chronicle, December 31, 1918: 9. The Spruce Production Division managed lumberjacking operations in Oregon and Washington to ensure factories had enough wood for airplanes.

24 Al C. Joy, “The Limit! Haw! Haw! Laugh the Magnates,” San Francisco Examiner, February 23, 1919: 33. “‘Chicken’ Hawks, the fleet young outfielder who made a real hit in his last few appearances with the Oaks last season, appeared at Oak headquarters yesterday and reported to secretary Herbert McFarling that he will probably quit baseball for good and all. He likes the game and is entirely satisfied to continue with Oakland. But a business proposition has presented itself which Hawks does not believe he can afford to turn down. It offers him a future with which baseball does not compare. Hawks was one sweet-looking youngster last season. He hit fairly well, was a grand fielder, and had no end of speed. However, he is not as good a hitter as Leboruveau [Bevo LeBourveau] and it is doubtful if he is any better in any department than [Bobby] Smale, who was one of his rivals for a steady job last season.”

25 “Jack Knight Hurls Good Ball Against Major Leaguers,” Times-Picayune, July 6, 1925: 15.

26 Bill Yeager, “Piercy Hands the Oaks Row of Blanks,” San Francisco Examiner, September 19, 1919: 14. Apparently Yeager didn’t recognize Hawks as a returning player from the previous season: “A youth bearing the moniker of ‘Chicken’ Hawks took a position in right field for the Oaks. This gent is a sure ‘nough hawk and every ball that came his way was a chicken. He pounced on the horsehide and rassled it around in his glove, threw gents who would steal home out at the plate and made himself generally useful in various ways. Hawks will have a regular berth in the right garden if Del Howard doesn’t make a mistake.” 

27 Runyon.

28 “Christensen and Hawks Go to the New York Yanks,” Calgary Herald, July 27, 1920: 14. “Two Calgary ball players, ‘Chick’ Hawks and ‘Seacap’ Christensen, are going up to the big show at the close of the Western Canada league, for Tom Connery, scout of the New York Yankees, has closed a deal with the club management, and the boys will report to the New York club after the race is over.” Walter “Cuckoo” Christensen, the other player in the deal, played in the majors with the Cincinnati Reds from 1926 to 1927.

29 Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles. The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball: A Complete Record of Teams, Leagues and Seasons, 1876–2019 (4th edition). Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, 2024, 303.

30 “Hawks, Ruth’s Roomie, Dies,” San Francisco Examiner, May 27, 1973: 31. According to Sleeper Cars and Flannel Uniforms by Elden Auker, the Yankees’ veterans didn’t like rooming with Ruth, so the assignment usually fell to a rookie.

31 “Dodgers Rise Up to Smite Yankees,” the New York Times, March 26, 1921: 18. “The Robins annexed a total of seventeen blows off the combined offerings of the Huggins hurlers, and would have swelled their total in both hits and runs but for the fielding of Chicken Hawks, who was in center field for the American Leaguers. Hawks, who had been on the Yannigan squad all Spring, got his chance because both Ping] Bodie and Tom] Connelly are laid up with injured ankles…. Any one of three catches which Hawks made this afternoon would have been sufficient to feature any game. With one out in the fourth inning, Hawks ran in from deep center and picked a drooping fly by Ivy] Olson off the grass top. Jimmy] Johnston followed with a single and Bernie] Neis hit hard and fast toward right centre. Hawks, after racing back and toward right field, went into the air and pulled down the drive with his gloved hand. In the eighth inning, with two on bases, Johnston was the victim of another spectacular catch by Hawks. Olson had left first base, as he did not believe the ball could be caught, and was retired as the second section of a double play. Hawks lost a hit in the second inning when Bill] Lamar backed to the fence and made a one-hand catch, the best fielding play of the game on the Brooklyn side.”

32 Charles A. Taylor, “Bob Meusel Jazz Dances Game Into Hands of Eager Mackmen,” New York Tribune, April 15, 1921: 12. Hawks’s two-run single gave the Yankees a 3-2 lead, but in the top of the ninth Meusel was faulted for allowing a Cy Perkins fly ball to drop untouched for a triple. Rommel pitched a scoreless bottom of the ninth to give the A’s a 4-3 victory.

33 Joe Vila, “Shifty as Attell Is He Can Hardly Side Step This One,” The Sporting News, June 2, 1921: 1. (The article began with recapping Abe Attell’s testimony in the Black Sox trial before recapping recent games by the New York Giants and New York Yankees.)

34 Philadelphia Athletics vs. New York Yankees, May 29, 1921.

35 Charles A. Taylor, “Ferguson and Sheehan Share Pitching Burden for Hugmen,” New York Tribune, May 30, 1921: 10.

36 “Coast League Chatter,” the San Francisco Examiner, May 22, 1918: 15.

37 Joseph S. McInerney, “M’Credie And His Hive of Trained Bees Expect to Sting Seals This Week,” San Francisco Bulletin, May 7, 1918: 13. “‘Chicken’ Hawks, the young outfielder with the Oaks, has everything a ball player needs but a throwing arm.” His reputation as a poor thrower followed him to the Yankees: “The only weak feature about Hawks is his throwing arm. If Huggins can develop this boy’s wing, another outfield star is ready to begin writing brilliant history in the box score.” (“New Training Methods Put Yankees in Best Form Reached in Many Years,” (New York) Evening World, March 28, 1921: 14.) 

38 “Nelson Hawks, Kid Outfielder, Wins Yank Favor,” Omaha Bee, July 3, 1921: 5.

39 Jack Nye, “Nationals’ Five-Run Rally in Ninth Beats Yanks, 8-7,” Washington (D.C.) Herald, June 2, 1921: 8. With two outs in the ninth and the Yankees leading 7-5, “[Sam] Rice got his first hit of the game, a three-sacker past Hawks in right center,” scoring Bucky Harris from first; then, after a game-tying single by Frank Brower to knock in Rice, Bing Miller stepped up to the plate. “After two strikes had been called he slapped a hit into center which trickled past the overanxious Hawks, Brower dashing home with the winning run.” Rice’s hit was scored a triple and Miller’s a double. The Herald also faulted Hawks for “slow fielding” to allow Rice to go from first to home on a two-out single in the first inning. 

40 Joe Vila, “Mystery of The Two Attells Should Be Solved This Week,” The Sporting News, June 9, 1921: 1.

41 “Yankees Dispose of an Old-Time Jinx,” New York Times, July 14, 1921: 20.

42 “Ruth’s Two Homers Smother St. Louis,” New York Times, July 13, 1921: 15. With two outs and George Sisler on second base, Ken Williams hit “a harmless fly” to center, where Fewster “circled in sweeping arcs until the sun finally obscured the ball. The sphere terminated its flight by striking Fewster on the head. Achilles never would have survived it, but the Yanks centre [sic] fielder hastened after the sphere and managed to hold the hit to a triple, Sisler scoring meanwhile.”

43 “Irish Meusel Sent to Giants in Trade,” New York Times, July 26, 1921: 19. “Miller, who is perhaps the best defensive outfielder who ever played with the Yankees, has been a star in the American Association since released by the New York club two years ago.”

44 After battling the Cleveland Indians for first place for much of the season, the Yankees took three out of four from them between September 23-26 to take a two-game lead. A Yankees loss to the St. Louis Browns on September 27 game left the Indians a game and a half behind with four games remaining on the schedule. But the Yankees beat the Athletics on September 29, while the Indians lost to the White Sox; the Indians won on September 30 while the Yankees were idle, leaving them two out with two games left. New York’s win in the first game of the doubleheader on October 1 clinched the first pennant in Yankees history.

45 “Walker Defeats Runners,” New York Times, Oct. 6, 1921: 25. According to an article printed on page 84 in the New York Clipper on December 21, 1921, Brown was working the vaudeville circuit with an act called “Pedestrianism.” “In his act, Brown gives a demonstration of his remarkable ability as a pedestrian and, with the admixture of some comedy, makes it an interesting one.”

46 “Hawks Is Sent to Vernon Coast Club,” Binghamton (New York) Press, January 7, 1922: 20.

47 “‘Chicken’ Hawks Is Sold to St. Paul,” Salinas (California) Daily Index, January 25, 1923: 3.

48 “Razorbacks Open Home Season by Playing St. Paul,” Commercial Appeal, April 3, 1923: 19.

49 “Landis Frees Hawks After Much Trouble,” Elmira (New York) Star-Gazette, June 9, 1923: 9. “An investigation of the Hawks case showed, according to the commissioner’s decision, that Hawks had been placed with the Vernon club of the Coast League and later sent to St. Paul, both of the minor league clubs holding the player back from other clubs in organized baseball, which is contrary to the rules of the major league agreement.” In an article the previous month focusing on French and Doyle, The Sporting News reported: “The Landis decision is based on the theory that French and Doyle were turned over to Vernon by the New York Americans after the breaking off of relations between the majors and the non-draft leagues. Landis also holds that the option rule was violated.” (“Barrow’s Force Play Costs Vernon Dearly,” The Sporting News, May 10, 1923: 2.)

50 Blinkey Horn, “Vols Obtain Chicken Hawks to Use in Swap Which Fails,” Nashville Tennessean, June 18, 1923: 8.

51 John B. Sheridan, “Baseball By-Plays,” The Sporting News, February 26, 1925. The date of the game wasn’t given, and the anecdote was introduced as: “Stuffy Stewart of Birmingham tells this one that is supposed to have happened in Atlanta.”

52 Blinkey Horn, “Bob Wells Comes Back to Place Where He Got His Start Seventeen Years Ago,” Nashville Tennessean, March 20, 1924: 11.

53 “Macks Play Role of Hope Killers,” The Sporting News, September 25, 1924: 5.

54 “Many New Faces Will Appear in Phillies’ Lineup,” Montgomery Advertiser, March 19, 1925: 6.

55 S.O. Grauley, “Mitchell Weakens in Eighth and Pirates Scuttle Fletchermen,” Philadelphia Inquirer, May 10, 1925: 19.

56 Frank Kearns, “Phillies Do Look as Though They’re Going Somewhere,” Brooklyn Daily Times, April 29, 1925: 20.

57 “Phillies Begin to Command Respect,” The Sporting News, May 7, 1925: 3.

58 “Homers and Triple Play Beat Braves,” Boston Globe, May 2, 1925: 8.

59 Grauley. Holke, who had two hits in his first game back but thereafter was 3-for-17, started just one more game for the Phillies before getting claimed off waivers by the Reds on July 9.

60 “Alexander the Great Subdues his Old Pals,” Philadelphia Inquirer, May 15, 1925: 25.

61 James C. Isaminger, “Hawks and Harper Big Guns in Assault as Quakers Lick Reds,” Philadelphia Inquirer, May 22, 1925: 25.

62 “Breezes From Baker Bowl,” Philadelphia Inquirer, May 23, 1925: 23.

63 Bill Sherdel of the St. Louis Cardinals on July 11; Hawks was 1-for-4 against him, reaching on a ground ball hit back to the pitcher. Full play-by-play is not available for the 1925 season, but baseball-reference.com gives Hawks’s splits as .316/.377/.431 vs RHP and .274/.309/.484 vs LHP. In 1933, Nashville Banner sportswriter Freddie Russell had this from Nashville Vols trainer Dr. Willie White: “One of White’s favorites was Chicken Hawks, the first sacker. “Mr. Hawks told me that if he had $1,000,000, he would buy every lefthander in baseball and break his arm,’ quoth the rubber.”

64 James C. Isaminger, “Kid Gleason Will Join Mackmen as Veteran Advisor for Next Season,” Philadelphia Inquirer, December 9, 1925: 26. Hawks hit .350/.405/.482 in the first half and .245/.336/.351 in the second half.

65 “Phils Sell Hawk to Newark Bears; Mack Signs Pate.” Reading (Pennsylvania) Times, December 10, 1925: 10. The terms of the sale were not disclosed. Noting that Holke had been sent to the Reds earlier that season, the Times speculated the Phillies were about to trade for a first baseman, possibly with the Chicago Cubs. Later that month, a deal was made, but with the New York Giants, as the Phillies acquired first baseman/pitcher Jack Bentley.

66 Shandy Hill, “One More Word,” Reading (Pennsylvania) Times, December 18, 1928: 16.

67 “Hawks Hits Home Run with Bases Clogged In Eighth, Wiping Out Herd’s Big Lead,” Buffalo Times, April 18, 1926: 47.

68 Shandy Hill, “Discarded by Other Clubs, Quartet of Reading Players Responsible for Placing Keystones in Pennant Fight,” Reading (Pennsylvania) Times, May 6, 1929: 14.

69 Shandy Hill, “Sold For $1,000 Because Prexy Goes Broke, Hawks Now Star of Int League,” Reading (Pennsylvania) Times, June 29, 1929: 14.

70 “Recalcitrant Athletes Punch Denver Bears Full of Fissures,” the Tulsa Tribune, April 10, 1927: 14.

71 “Eagles Short Enders with Truckmen,” Pasadena Star-News, March 28, 1927: 14. A month later, he was playing with Ping Bodie for Joe Pirone’s All-Stars. (“All-Stars Will Meet Eagles on Sunday,” Pasadena Star-News, April 23, 1927: 23.)

72 Shandy Hill, “One More Word,” Reading (Pennsylvania) Times, December 18, 1928: 16.

73 Shandy Hill, “Sold For $1,000 Because Prexy Goes Broke, Hawks Now Star of Int League,” Reading (Pennsylvania) Times, June 29, 1929: 14.

74 Shandy Hill, “Reading, Montreal Tangle Here Today In Opening Game,” Reading (Pennsylvania) Times, April 18, 1928: 1.

75 Shandy Hill, “Reading Keys Trim Phillies in Training Camp Battle, 2 to 1,” Reading (Pennsylvania) Times, March 22, 1928: 1.

76 Shandy Hill, “Sold For $1,000 Because Prexy Goes Broke, Hawks Now Star of Int League,” Reading (Pennsylvania) Times, June 29, 1929: 14.

77 Shandy Hill, “One More Word,” Reading (Pennsylvania) Times, December 18, 1928: 16.

78 Harry Glover, “Hinchman Seems Sure To Stick With Reading,” The Sporting News, October 31, 1929: 6.

79 Harry Glover, “Reading Keys Undergo Thorough Overhauling,” The Sporting News, December 19, 1929: 2.

80 The Associated Press, “Reading Wins In Tenth,” New York Times, May 13, 1930: 38.

81 Freddie Brann, “Jinx Grabs Chick Hawks,” Buffalo (New York) Times, May 14, 1930: 12.

82 “Baseball Round-Up,” Oakland Tribune, April 29, 1931: 23.

83 “Sixty-Seven Contracts Announced by Farrell,” The Sporting News, November 12, 1931: 6. He was listed as “Nelson Hawks.”

84 “Verdi Club Rates Vote of Thanks from Padre’s Management for Bottling Up the Buzzing Bees,” Santa Cruz Evening News, May 17, 1932: 4.

85 “Umpire Tells of Baseball Games in State League,” Santa Cruz Sentinel, May 7, 1933: 4.

86 “Hawks, Ruth’s Roomie, Dies.”

87 “Hawks, Ruth’s Roomie, Dies.”

88 Bill Lee. The Baseball Necrology: The Post-Baseball Lives and Deaths of Over 7,600 Major League Players and Others. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, 2003. 174.

89 Nelson J. Hawks died June 17, 1976, at age 51; he was a member of the Ships Clerks Union Local 34 and Golden Gate-Speranza Lodge No. 30, F.&A.M., according to his funeral notice in the San Francisco Examiner (June 18, 1976: 34).

90 Bill Hawks, a U.S. Army veteran of World War II, died September 7, 2005.

91 Lee.