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Biography
Hazen Shirley "Kiki" Cuyler (b. August 30, 1898, Harrisville, Michigan - d. February 11, 1950, Harrisville, Michigan) was a Major League Baseball right fielder from 1921 until 1938. His nickname "Kiki" (pronounced "cuy-cuy", to rhyme with "eye") reportedly came from the way in which he once stuttered his own last name.
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.
Cuyler led the league in stolen bases four times and finished his career with 328 steals.
After his illustrious career as a player, Cuyler coached 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.
Cuyler was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1968. In 1981, Lawrence Ritter and Donald Honig included him in their book The 100 Greatest Baseball Players of All Time.
Cuyler was buried in Harrisville, Michigan.
Statistics
Batting Stats
Year | Team | G | AB | R | H | HR | RBI | AVG | OBP | SLG | 2B | 3B | BB | SO | HBP | SH | SB | IBB | GDP | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1921 | PIT | N | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | .000 | .000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
1922 | PIT | N | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | .000 | .000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
1923 | PIT | N | 11 | 40 | 4 | 10 | 0 | 2 | .250 | .348 | .325 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
1924 | PIT | N | 117 | 466 | 94 | 165 | 9 | 85 | .354 | .402 | .539 | 27 | 16 | 30 | 62 | 7 | 12 | 32 | 0 | 0 |
1925 | PIT | N | 153 | 617 | 144 | 220 | 18 | 102 | .357 | .423 | .598 | 43 | 26 | 58 | 56 | 13 | 12 | 41 | 0 | 0 |
1926 | PIT | N | 157 | 614 | 113 | 197 | 8 | 92 | .321 | .380 | .459 | 31 | 15 | 50 | 66 | 9 | 21 | 35 | 0 | 0 |
1927 | PIT | N | 85 | 285 | 60 | 88 | 3 | 31 | .309 | .394 | .435 | 13 | 7 | 37 | 36 | 3 | 5 | 20 | 0 | 0 |
1928 | CHI | N | 133 | 499 | 92 | 142 | 17 | 79 | .285 | .359 | .473 | 25 | 9 | 51 | 61 | 7 | 24 | 37 | 0 | 0 |
1929 | CHI | N | 139 | 509 | 111 | 183 | 15 | 102 | .360 | .438 | .532 | 29 | 7 | 66 | 56 | 5 | 16 | 43 | 0 | 0 |
1930 | CHI | N | 156 | 642 | 155 | 228 | 13 | 134 | .355 | .428 | .547 | 50 | 17 | 72 | 49 | 10 | 17 | 37 | 0 | 0 |
1931 | CHI | N | 154 | 613 | 110 | 202 | 9 | 88 | .330 | .404 | .473 | 37 | 12 | 72 | 54 | 5 | 20 | 13 | 0 | 0 |
1932 | CHI | N | 110 | 446 | 58 | 130 | 10 | 77 | .291 | .340 | .442 | 19 | 9 | 29 | 43 | 4 | 10 | 9 | 0 | 0 |
1933 | CHI | N | 70 | 262 | 37 | 83 | 5 | 35 | .317 | .376 | .447 | 13 | 3 | 21 | 29 | 4 | 7 | 4 | 0 | 10 |
1934 | CHI | N | 142 | 559 | 80 | 189 | 6 | 69 | .338 | .377 | .474 | 42 | 8 | 31 | 62 | 4 | 13 | 15 | 0 | 10 |
1935 | CIN | N | 62 | 223 | 36 | 56 | 2 | 22 | .251 | .337 | .341 | 8 | 3 | 27 | 18 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 2 |
1935 | CHI | N | 45 | 157 | 22 | 42 | 4 | 18 | .268 | .331 | .389 | 5 | 1 | 10 | 16 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 3 |
1935 | TOT | N | 107 | 380 | 58 | 98 | 6 | 40 | .258 | .335 | .361 | 13 | 4 | 37 | 34 | 7 | 6 | 8 | 0 | 5 |
1936 | CIN | N | 144 | 567 | 96 | 185 | 7 | 74 | .326 | .380 | .453 | 29 | 11 | 47 | 67 | 2 | 7 | 16 | 0 | 7 |
1937 | CIN | N | 117 | 406 | 48 | 110 | 0 | 32 | .271 | .333 | .320 | 12 | 4 | 36 | 50 | 2 | 5 | 10 | 0 | 15 |
1938 | BRO | N | 82 | 253 | 45 | 69 | 2 | 23 | .273 | .363 | .399 | 10 | 8 | 34 | 23 | 2 | 1 | 6 | 0 | 6 |
Total | 1879 | 7161 | 1305 | 2299 | 128 | 1065 | .321 | .386 | .474 | 394 | 157 | 676 | 752 | 85 | 176 | 328 | 0 | 53 |
Fielding Stats
Year | Team | POS | G | GS | INN | PO | A | ERR | DP | TP | PB | SB | CS | PkO | AVG | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1921 | PIT | N | OF | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 |
1921 | PIT | N | RF | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 |
1923 | PIT | N | OF | 11 | 0 | 0 | 26 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .931 |
1924 | PIT | N | OF | 114 | 0 | 0 | 246 | 19 | 16 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .943 |
1925 | PIT | N | OF | 153 | 0 | 0 | 362 | 21 | 13 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .967 |
1926 | PIT | N | OF | 157 | 0 | 0 | 405 | 19 | 14 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .968 |
1927 | PIT | N | OF | 73 | 0 | 0 | 195 | 6 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .980 |
1928 | CHI | N | OF | 127 | 0 | 0 | 257 | 18 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .982 |
1929 | CHI | N | OF | 129 | 0 | 0 | 288 | 15 | 8 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .974 |
1930 | CHI | N | OF | 156 | 0 | 0 | 377 | 21 | 8 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .980 |
1931 | CHI | N | OF | 153 | 0 | 0 | 347 | 11 | 11 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .970 |
1932 | CHI | N | OF | 109 | 0 | 0 | 239 | 7 | 8 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .969 |
1933 | CHI | N | OF | 69 | 0 | 0 | 130 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .978 |
1934 | CHI | N | OF | 142 | 0 | 0 | 319 | 15 | 10 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .971 |
1935 | CIN | N | OF | 57 | 0 | 0 | 123 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .985 |
1935 | CHI | N | OF | 42 | 0 | 0 | 98 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .981 |
1935 | TOT | N | RF | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 |
1935 | TOT | N | CF | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 |
1935 | TOT | N | OF | 99 | 0 | 0 | 221 | 10 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .983 |
1936 | CIN | N | OF | 140 | 0 | 0 | 322 | 9 | 9 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .974 |
1937 | CIN | N | OF | 106 | 0 | 0 | 174 | 8 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .973 |
1938 | BRO | N | OF | 68 | 0 | 0 | 125 | 9 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .993 |
Total | RF | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 | ||
Total | OF | 1807 | 0 | 0 | 4034 | 191 | 121 | 44 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .972 |
Transactions
- Sold by Bay City (Michigan-Ontario) to Pittsburgh Pirates (September, 1921).
- Traded by Pittsburgh Pirates to Chicago Cubs in exchange for Sparky Adams and Pete Scott (November 28, 1927).
- Released by Chicago Cubs (July 3, 1935).
- Signed by Cincinnati Reds (July 5, 1935).
- Released by Cincinnati Reds (October 4, 1937).
- Signed by Brooklyn Dodgers (February 3, 1938).