Orioles first baseman Jimmy Hart* earned himself a lifelong ban from baseball when, on August 5, 1901, he punched umpire John Haskell after Haskell called him out at third base. Hart played a mere 58 major league games in his career, accumulating 64 hits in 206 at-bats (a .311 batting average), with 23 RBIs.
* I’ve also seen his name listed as Burt Hart, but I haven’t been able to figure out where the discrepancy comes from. If anyone has some insight, please enlighten me!
EDIT: Thanks to The Baseball Bloggess, I have an answer to the mystery! Hart was born James Burton Hart, and apparently had originally gone by “Burt,” until the media kept referring to him as “Jimmy.” Gotta love the press! It almost makes it sound like the guy had multiple personalities, which brings up the question: which one punched John Haskell? Jimmy or Burt?
Yay! Orioles trivia! Which means I have a tiny chance of knowing an answer to a baseball question. And, I know this one (as in, I know which Orioles reference book to use to check on this for you).
He was born James Burton Hart. I think he generally went by Burt … but reporters may have glommed on to the Jimmy part or it may have just sort of happened over time. Old reports and books list him as Burt anyway although on formal records he is James B. Hart. (His father’s name was George, so he wasn’t a James, Jr. who simply took his middle name to avoid confusion … )
So kind of a non-answer answer to your question! 🙂
Thank you for that!! That explanation makes total sense. Now to make an addendum to the post.