Hank Hulvey | From farming in Mount Sidney to pitching to Babe Ruth

Donald Hulvey, a long-time farmer with about 300 acres in Mount Sidney, in Augusta County, was born in 1937 in California while his father, James Hensel (Hank) Hulvey, played minor league baseball for Tacoma in the Western International League.

The elder Hulvey, along with his wife, Juanita, and son, Donald, moved back to the family farm in Augusta County two years later, and the right-handed pitcher spent the last of 19 pro seasons playing for Harrisonburg in the Class D Virginia League. As Donald Hulvey got older, he began to hear stories of his father’s well-travelled career – including his only Major League appearance on Sept. 5, 1923, against the New York Yankees and Hall of Fame slugger Babe Ruth.

“He pitched against Babe Ruth and struck him out twice, and (Ruth) got one home run off him. That is when the pitchers batted. He (Hulvey) had (one hit) in that game. But Babe Ruth hit a home run, and that more or less won the game for them,” said a proud Donald Hulvey, 88, taking a break from cutting his grass with a riding lawn mower on a recent weekday afternoon, with the town of Verona and the Blue Ridge mountains clearly visible off to the east.

Hulvey – pitching for the Philadelphia Athletics at Shibe Park – gave up a home run with one on and one out in the sixth inning to the Sultan of Swat. It was the 33rd homer of the year for Ruth and the 230th of a career that would see him go deep 714 times. Yankees first baseman Wally Pipp had three hits off Hulvey, but would later lose his starting spot to future Hall of Famer Lou Gehrig, who made his MLB debut earlier in 1923, on June 15.

“That is the story. Sometime in the story (his father told), Babe Ruth would be mentioned,” Donald Hulvey said.

At the age of 26, Hulvey went seven innings and gave up 10 hits and six earned runs with those two strikeouts as the losing pitcher in a 6-3 setback before about 5,000 fans in a game that lasted 2:05. At the plate, he had one hit in two at-bats against future Hall of Fame pitcher Waite Hoyt and the Yankees – who won the World Series over the New York Giants one month later. It would be the only appearance in the big leagues for Hulvey, who posted a record of 216-162 in the minors in 576 games.

It was an unlikely appearance late in the season for the pitcher, who attended Augusta Military Academy and Shenandoah College before starting his pro career. Hulvey earlier in 1923 posted a record of 16-7 with an ERA of 3.86 pitching for Martinsburg in the Blue Ridge League. A standout hitter, Hulvey batted better than .300 in several seasons and had 12 lifetime homers in the minors.

“Before he pitched against Babe Ruth, he was pitching for Martinsburg. The (Martinsburg infielder/outfielder) was the (son) to Connie Mack, who was the manager of the A’s,” said Donald Hulvey, an only child. “His son Earle told (the elder Hulvey), ‘Let’s go up and see a game; dad has a game this week.’ He went up there and met Connie right when he got there.”

“Connie told him, ‘I know you like to play. I have a uniform you can put on. You can go out and shag balls and see how things are.’ He was not even expecting that. Half an hour before the game, Connie came around and said: ‘I know you are a pitcher. I am going to let you pitch today.’ Connie’s son knew about” the secret plan.

Connie Mack, who managed the A’s from 1901-1950 and went into the Hall of Fame in 1937, had a surprise for Hulvey. “The Yankees are here in town. It is a good team to pitch against. I want to see what you can do against the Yankees,” Mack told the pitcher, who was born in Mount Sidney on July 18, 1897.

“The first few innings, he was doing good,” Donald Hulvey said. “After the game, Connie came around and said, ‘You did pretty well. I think I am going to buy (your contract), if that is OK with you. I will send you to Salt Lake City next year and get ready for the Majors.’ It was 1923, over 100 years ago.”

Hulvey got married after the 1923 season, according to his son, and in 1924 pitched in the minors for Salt Lake City and Fort Worth and was 13-5 overall.

He would never go back to the Major Leagues, instead excelling for several years in the minors, with his last stop in Harrisonburg.

“They kept shipping him around (to other teams) as he got older,” Donald Hulvey said. “He came back and started farming (with) horses before he ever got tractors.”

“He had a sterling minor league career – he was 17-9 in the minors in 1923, then 13-5 in 1924 and 11-2 in 1925, but was just getting started,” according to baseballreference.com. “He then had five straight seasons with the Hollywood Stars when he always won in double figures and always had a winning record. He then followed that up with other excellent seasons with Chattanooga (16-10 in 1931), Knoxville (18-14 in 1933) and Tacoma (15-9 in 1937).”

According to statcrew.com, Hulvey managed the Harrisonburg Turks in 1939-1940 in the Class D Virginia League, and then guided the Staunton Presidents, also in the Virginia League, in 1941, compiling a record of 122-103 overall.

Hulvey grew up in the same farmhouse where his son and wife now live. It was built around 1900 by Hank Hulvey’s father, according to Donald Hulvey. Hank Hulvey turned 17 just 10 days before World War I began on July 28, 1914.

“During World War I, they were getting ready to draft him, and he had an uncle that was at Florida Military Academy, so he went down there,” Donald Hulvey said. The elder Hulvey also attended Augusta Military Academy, which closed in 1984.

Hulvey died April 9, 1982, and is buried at Lebanon Church Cemetery, about one mile north of where he grew up. The grave next to his is for his wife, Juanita, who passed on June 9, 1970.

According to sources, the player is one of two former Major Leaguers buried in Augusta County. The other is ex-catcher Jerry May, who died in a farm accident in Swoope in 1996 and is buried at Union Cemetery in Parnassus – about 10 miles west of the Lebanon Church Cemetery. During his career, North River High graduate and Staunton native May played for the Pittsburgh Pirates, Kansas City Royals and New York Mets from 1964-1973.

Hulvey is the only Major League player born in Mount Sidney, according to baseballreference.com and is among a rare group of Major League players that appeared in just one game.

That list includes North Carolina native Moonlight Graham, who played right field for the New York Giants in a game on June 29, 1905, but didn’t get to bat. Graham became famous when he was portrayed in the Kevin Costner film “Field of Dreams,” which came out in 1989.

The elder Hulvey played at Shenandoah College in Dayton, before the school moved to Winchester in 1960. His son said the old field for the school in Dayton was near the present intersection of Route 42 and West Mosby Road, where a poultry plant now stands.

Donald Hulvey played baseball at Bridgewater College and for Staunton and Harrisonburg. His wife, Judy, has worked in the office keeping the books at Shenandoah Valley Livestock Sales in Harrisonburg for more than 60 years.

Donald Hulvey downplays his own ability on the baseball diamond. “He (Hank) wanted me to play. I just didn’t have it. I played for Staunton and Harrisonburg. That was the all the further I got. I played infield, shortstop. I just didn’t make it” to the majors, he said.

But his father did – even if for one day in Philadelphia more than 100 years ago.

David Driver is a Harrisonburg native who played baseball at Turner Ashby, Harrisonburg Legion Post 27, EMU and for Clover Hill in the RCBL. He is the co-author of “From Tidewater to the Shenandoah: Snapshots from Virginia’s Rich Baseball Legacy,” which is available on the websites of Amazon and Barnes and Noble and at daytondavid.com. He was the sports editor of the Daily News-Record from 2019-21 and worked for the paper in the 1980s.