Hazen Shirley "Kiki" Cuyler (Template:Pron-en; August 30 1898 – February 11 1950) was a Major League Baseball right fielder from 1921 until 1938. His nickname "Kiki" (Template:Pron-en Template:Respell) reportedly came from the way in which he once stuttered his own last name. He was born in Harrisville, Michigan.
Cuyler broke into the big leagues in 1921 with the Pittsburgh Pirates and became a fixture in the lineup in 1924. Playing for the Pirates, Chicago Cubs, Cincinnati Reds and Brooklyn Dodgers over the next decade and a half, Cuyler established a reputation as an outstanding hitter with great speed. He regularly batted .350 or higher and finished with a .321 lifetime batting average. In 1925 Cuyler combined this great hitting with 18 home runs and 102 RBI. Cuyler's Pirates won the World Series that year, the only time in his career he would be part of a championship team.
In 1927, Cuyler was benched for nearly half the season because of a dispute with first-year manager Donie Bush. The Pirates went again to the World Series, but Cuyler did not play. That November, Cuyler was traded to the Chicago Cubs for Sparky Adams and Pete Scott. He later played for the Cincinnati Reds and the Brooklyn Dodgers. As a Dodger, he played in the 2nd consecutive no-hitter by Johnny Vander Meer of the Cincinnati Reds in 1938.
Cuyler led the league in stolen bases four times and finished his career with 328 steals.
After his illustrious career as a player, Cuyler managed in the minor leagues, winning the Southern Association Championship in 1939 under Joe Engel and the Chattanooga Lookouts and the Washington Senators at Engel Stadium, with one of the only fan-owned franchises in the nation. He was a coach for the Cubs and Boston Red Sox during the 1940s, and was still active in the role for Boston in February 1950 when he succumbed to a heart attack at the age of 51. He died and was buried in his hometown Harrisville, Michigan.
Cuyler was selected to the Baseball Hall of Fame by the Veterans Committee in 1968 along with Goose Goslin. Both played in the majors from 1921-1938. In 1981, Lawrence Ritter and Donald Honig included him in their book The 100 Greatest Baseball Players of All Time.
See also[]
Tuck Stainback, Buddy Hassett, Kiki Cuyler, and first base coach Babe Ruth in 1938.
- List of major league players with 2,000 hits
- List of Major League Baseball players with 100 triples
- List of Major League Baseball players with 1000 runs
- List of Major League Baseball players with 1000 RBI
- Hitting for the cycle
- List of Major League Baseball runs scored champions
- List of Major League Baseball stolen base champions
- List of Major League Baseball doubles champions
- List of Major League Baseball triples champions
- Major League Baseball titles leaders
External links[]
- Career statistics and player information from Baseball-Reference, or Fangraphs, or The Baseball Cube
- Chicago Cubs Biography Page
- baseballhalloffame.org – Hall of Fame biography page
- Kiki Cuyler at Find a Grave
| Preceded by: Max Carey Frankie Frisch |
National League Stolen Base Champion 1926 1928-1930 |
Succeeded by: Frankie Frisch Frankie Frisch |