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In this second installment of Ask Howard Anything, NAD CEO Howard A. Rosenblum encourages the community to email letters of support for William Hoy to be inducted into the National Baseball's Hall of Fame. Link

The AHA Series is also available at Link .


Video description and transcript:

Video begins with a teal background and a black and white photo of Howard A. Rosenblum slowly increases size as text appears: white text "AHA!", orange text "Ask Howard Anything", white text "with", white text "Howard A. Rosenblum NAD Chief Executive Officer" . The NAD logo appears as a light watermark in the bottom right corner and "#AskHoward" on the bottom left corner.

HOWARD: Hello! Welcome to a new segment of Ask Howard Anything. I'm excited because right now it is Deaf History Month, March 13 to April 15. I picked out a question that best fits this month's theme. Someone asked, “what can we, the deaf community, do to get William Hoy inducted into the Major League Baseball's National Baseball Hall of Fame?” First, I will explain Hoy's history and then answer the question that was asked. William Ellsworth Hoy is also known as "Dummy" Hoy. This was because during the late 1800s and early 1900s, it was common to identify a deaf athlete in any professional sport as "Dummy" with their last name, because they were considered mute and “dummy” was a term for being mute. While he was known in his time as Dummy Hoy, I would like to recognize him as William Hoy.

As for his baseball career, William Hoy was an exceptional athlete who played baseball for many years. He started in 1888 and retired in 1902, which is an unusually long career during that time. Since then there have been a few deaf professional players. William Hoy is known for having great baseball stats. With his strong arm, he was able to achieve many outs while throwing from center field. He was always highly ranked in statistics for his position every year. He had a great batting average as well. For these reasons, he should be inducted into the Hall of Fame. Hoy is already in the Cinncinati Reds' Hall of Fame as that was one of the teams for which he played. He first played for the Washington Nationals, yes the same team that exists now but was disbanded for a time. Next he played with the Buffalo Bisons, which isn't around anymore. Then he joined the St. Louis Browns. He then played the longest for the Cinncinati Reds and became famous playing for them. Afterwards, he played with the Louisville Colonels, then the Chicago White Sox before returning back to the Washington Nationals. That's some career!

Now, there are two other interesting stories about William Hoy. During his last year in 1902, Hoy went to bat while the opposing team's pitcher was deaf! The pitcher's name was “Dummy” Taylor, playing for the New York Giants. Can you imagine, a deaf batter facing a deaf pitcher in professional baseball? Unfortunately for Hoy, the Giants won that game. The other interesting story is that Hoy is most famous for being able to throw to the home plate from center field and get three outs in one game. That record still stands today with two other players having achieved the same record later on. No one has broken that record! Hoy should be recognized for that amazing achievement!

So, what can you do to help? I encourage you to look at Link and email your letter of support. The Hall of Fame committee tends to review statistics as well as public feedback from the baseball community such as sports writers, baseball experts, and others to decide who should be inducted. There's a limit on the number of inductees each year. The ballot of possible inductees is announced in November, so we should overwhelm the committee with our letters before July. I look forward to celebrating with everyone once Hoy is inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Let's honor William Ellsworth "Dummy" Hoy! Thank you for watching.

ON-SCREEN TEXT: Submit your letter of support! Link

ON-SCREEN TEXT: Send AHA questions: Link and comment in social media with "#AskHoward"

Video fades to the same teal background and a black and white photo of Howard A. Rosenblum slowly increases size, white text "Ask Howard Anything!"

Video fades to a gradient background with dark blue to light blue, a grey National Association of the Deaf (NAD) logo is centered. White text below the logo appears, "A production of the National Association of the Deaf (copyright) 2015 All Rights Reserved" with four teal social media icons, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram.

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   CoolPJR Reply

   10 years ago

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