Fred Hatfield

Fred Hatfield

Full Name:  Fred James Hatfield
     Born:  March 18, 1925, Lanett, Ala.
     Died:  May 22, 1998, Tallahassee, Fla.

Legacy Bricks:  Legacy Walk Map Link
   1999 Coach HOF - Loc 19

FSU Career

Baseball
Year No Pos Hgt Wgt B T Cl Ltr Hometown 1964 1 Head Coach 1965 1 Head Coach 1966 1 Head Coach 1967 1 Head Coach 1968 1 Head Coach
Coaches & Administrators
C

Member of the FSU Hall of Fame

Elected into the FSU Hall of Fame in 1999

Though he only coached the Florida State baseball team for five years, Fred Hatfield's impact on the program has been felt long after his departure.

A standout baseball player, Hatfield broke into the Major Leagues with the Boston Red Sox and played professionally from 1950-57. He then went into managing at the minor league level before being selected as Florida State's head coach in 1964.

Hatfield wasted no time in keeping Florida State's winning tradition going as he guided the '64 Seminoles to a 23-13 record and a No. 6 final national ranking. In his second season, FSU won the NCAA District III Championship and advanced to the third round of the College World Series, finishing fifth nationally. Over the next three years (1966-68), his teams represented FSU at the NCAA District III playoffs. Hatfield went 35-6, his final year, and that winning percentage of .854 ranked as the best single-season winning percentage at the time of his induction.

Hatfield was instrumental in a number of projects for FSU baseball including spearheading the effort to install lights at the baseball stadium. To get the 'Noles under the lights, Hatfield called on a number of his friends from his years in professional baseball.

After leaving FSU following the 1968 season, Hatfield went back into professional ball where he coached and scouted until 1997.

Hatfield put together a record of 161-57 during his five-year tenure at Florida State. That winning percentage of .737 ranks third all-time at FSU behind only Woody Woodward and Mike Martin, who was a centerfielder for Hatfield from 1965-66.

From the Tallahassee Democrat, May 23, 1998, page 25, by Gerald Ensley, Democrat staff writer.

Former Florida St. baseball coach dies.
The funeral for the former baseball coach and player will be Sunday.

Fred Hatfield finally ran out of outs.

The former major-league baseball player and Florida State baseball coach died Friday at his Killearn Estates home after a year-long battle with cancer.

He was 74.

Hatfield played nine seasons in the major leagues, coached five seasons at Florida State and spent more than 25 years as a major-league coach, minor league manager and scout for seven major-league organizations.

"Fred was a great baseball man, and he was a fun guy to be around," said Dave Miller, director of minor-league operations for the Detroit Tigers. "He had a full life, you can bet."

A native of Alabama, Hatfield had made Tallahassee his year-round home since he coached at FSU from 1964 through 1968.

His death drew sighs from his former players, who plan to erect a plaque in his memory at FSU's Dick Howser Stadium.

"He was a player's manager. I always trusted him to give me advice that was in my best interst, not in the interest of the organization or the university," said former Florida High baseball coach Jeff Hogan, who played for Hatfield at FSU and in the Detroit Tigers minor-league organization. "I thought he was awesome."

Mike Martin, who played for Hatfield at FSU and has been the FSU head coach since 1980, was equally impressed.

"Fred Hatfield was one of the finest baseball men I've ever known," he said. "He could teach all phases of the game. But more than anything, he taught you how to play the game with your mind."

Hatfield learned such lessons during a solid if unspectacular major-league career with five teams (Boston, Detroit, Cleveland, the Chicago White Sox and Cincinnati) from 1950 through 1958. His best seasons were with the Detroit Tigers, where he was an every-day third baseman for most of five seasons (1952-56).

He was the only player to ever pinch-hit for Hall of Fame outfielder Al Kaline - whereupon he hit a game-tying, two-run homer.

As a rookie with Boston, he was nicknamed "Scrap Iron" for his hustling style. The tag stuck throughout a career in which Hatfield never shirked from busting up a double play or playing infield with a broken finger.

"I was never good enough to sit out because of an injury," Hatfield said in a February interview. "I played baseball like a football player."

When his playing career ended in the minor leagues in 1963, he was hired as FSU's head baseball coach. Hatfield led the Seminoles to four NCAA playoff appearances and their second appearance in the College World Series (1965).

Hatfield's tenure at FSU produced more than two dozen professional players, including first-round draft picks Jim Lyttle (1966) and Tom Cook (1968).

"Fred knew how to treat people, everyone who played for him would run through a wall for him," said Tallahassee businessman Gary Sprague, who played for Hatfield at FSU.

Hatfield went on to spend 16 seasons as a minor-league manager for St. Louis, Detroit, Atlanta and Houston. Among the players he helped guide to the major leagues were Mark Fidrych, Ken Forsch, John Hiller, Howard Johnson and Jose Canseco.

Hatfield won a dozen pennants as a manager in the minor leagues and Latin winter leagues. He was renowned as a superb teacher and a skilled strategist.

"Fred was a difficult manager to beat in the late innings," said Bill Lajoie, an Atlanta Braves special assistant who was director of Detroit's minor-league operations when Hatfield managed. "He was very even-tempered, and his players responded to that."

Hatfield hoped to parlay such talents into a major-league manager's post. And in 1977, he was hired as Detroit's third-base coach under Ralph Houk.

But when Houk resigned in 1979, Hatfield was passed over for the manager's job in favor of Les Moss, another Detroit minor-league manager. Moss was replaced in mid-season by Hall of Fame manager Sparky Anderson, who wound up leading the Tigers to the World Championship in 1984.

"When Les got the job, and then Sparky, I knew the (big-league manager's) opportunity has passed me by," Hatfield said.

Hatfield never remained disappointed long. He was a renowned pool player, who claimed "I made more money playing pool than I ever did in the big leagues." A noted bench jockey as a player, Hatfield had a notoriously sharp wit: Disappointed by the Tallahassee Democrat's coverage of FSU baseball in the 1960's, he dubbed the late sports editor Bill McGrotha, "Football Charlie" - a nickname used by many for years.

For the last six month, Hatfield was bedridden and under the care of his second wife, Shirley. But he remained upbeat almost to the end.

"He fought the (cancer) off for so long," Hogan said. "He wasn't going to roll over. It had to knock him down."

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