Baseball HOFer Chick Hafey’s Fear of Hospitals Almost Ended Career
By: Andrew Martin
Tags: Sports, Baseball, Medicine, History, MLB

Image via Baseball Hall of Fame

Baseball HOFer Chick Hafey’s Fear of Hospitals Almost Ended Career

The dangerous MLB slugger had to be convinced to have a surgery that saved his career temporarily

Despite playing in just 1,283 games in a 13-year (1924–1935 & 1937) career, outfielder Chick Hafey was still inducted in the Baseball Hall of Fame after his playing days ended. He battled a litany of injuries but was so talented that he still received the game’s ultimate honor. However, if he hadn’t overcome a strong fear of hospitals, his time in the big leagues would have been even more abbreviated.

The right-handed Hafey hit a combined .317 with 164 home runs and 833 RBIs, spending the best years of his career with the St. Louis Cardinals before finishing up with his final five years with the Cincinnati Reds. He won the National League batting title in 1931 with a .349 average, received MVP votes in four different seasons and was on four World Series teams (winning two championships).

The first major success from Branch Rickey’s revolutionary farm system method of developing young players, his career nearly came to an end before it barely got started. In 1926, when he was still just 23, he was beaned on multiple occasions with St. Louis. As a result, he suffered significant sinus and vision issues that plagued him for the remainder of his time in baseball.

In the midst of playing through his physical ailments, he had some remarkable seasons, including 1928–1930, where his production each year was almost exactly the same. He hit .337 with 27 home runs and 111 RBIs in 1928; .338 with 29 home runs and 125 RBIs in 1929; and .336 with 26 home runs and 107 RBIs in 1930.

Because of his eye trouble, Hafey famously had to wear glasses. His vision was so unpredictable that he rotated between three pairs depending on the day and the acuity of his eye strain. They were the only thing that allowed him to continue playing baseball, as he told The Brooklyn Daily Eagle in 1929, explaining “When my glasses go, I go.”

Back in 1926, when he had the beanings, his eye trouble first reared its head. Once a strong defensive player, he started struggling picking up balls, especially on sunny days. His manager, Rogers Hornsby, asked him what was wrong, but all he could answer was “I can see just as well as I ever could, Rogers but I suffer a lot with pains over the eyes. It must be neuralgia or something.”

The Cardinals had Hafey see a number of doctors and specialists. It was finally determined that his sinuses were impacting his eyes and causing a great deal of pain. However, their recommendation to have surgery sent the outfielder running for the hills, even though Rickey urged him to have the procedure. He explained:

“I couldn’t see myself going under the knife to oblige anyone. I always had a horror of surgeons and hospitals and I keep as far away from the doctors as I can. The atmosphere of a hospital always gets my goat, and if my best friends were to be confined to one, I don’t think a team of horses could drag me in to see them.”

When he was informed that not having the surgery likely meant the end of his baseball career, it still didn’t persuade the young man to come down from his stance. He became further emboldened upon learning that star first baseman George Sisler of the St. Louis Browns had also refused an operation to relieve himself of his own sinus troubles.

Sometimes there’s nothing like good old reality to help change a perspective. That happened with Hafey after he struggled mightily during spring training in 1927. He recalled:

“I thought I was all through but it was awfully tough to feel that just in my prime, and with a good future ahead of me, such a small thing as a few pains in the forehead, just over the eyes, was going to drive me out of a profession that I loved. I was strong and able-bodied, equipped for almost any kind of work in other lines, but I dreaded the idea of becoming a spectator or getting the reports over the radio.”

What turned the tide was Hafey hearing that Sisler was finally recovering from his sinus troubles. Mistakenly believing that this was because he had relented to surgery, he changed his own mind and went ahead with his recommended procedure, which went as well as could be hoped:

“It’s like being rescued from prison. Just as I thought I was down and out in baseball and I am back, better than ever, and I can thank Branch Rickey especially for the good advice and encouragement he gave in inducing me not to retire. He prevailed upon me at last to have that operation performed and here I am today, ready to face any kind of ball and keep my end up to the boss’ satisfaction.”

While his surgery certainly prolonged his career and allowed him some time to show off his incredible talent, the clock was ticking. The vision issues returned, along with dizzy spells that made life difficult, let alone playing baseball. He retired following the 1935 season when he was just 32 and was able to appear in just 15 games. Although he returned to play in 89 games with the Reds in 1937, he hit just .261 with nine home runs; finally calling it quits for good at the end of the season.

Hafey didn’t get the type of long and fulfilling career deserving of a player of his talents. However, changing his mind on surgery he feared so much saved his baseball career temporarily and allowed the world to see what they would have missed out on if he remained stubborn.