Hughie Jennings, Attorney At Law

Hughie Jennings, Attorney At Law

A youngster in Scranton, Pennsylvania hit a foul ball that landed in a chicken coop and killed a rooster. The farmer sued the boy and his dad for the value of the bird. The defendant’s lawyer claimed absurd law suits such as this would harm our national pastime. Attorney Hughie Jennings, who represented the farmer, argued that the object of baseball is to hit balls in play, not foul balls. The jury deliberated for seven minutes, accepted Hughie’s argument, and decided for the farmer.

Baseball was Hughie Jennings way out of the mines in northeastern Pennsylvania and education paved the way for his off seasons. In 1894, the legendary John McGraw hired Jennings, a former teammate, as his assistant coach at St. Bonaventure University. The two were students themselves by day and organized baseball practices by evening in the basement of Alumni Hall.

Jennings subsequently attended Cornell Law School and settled in Scranton to practice law with his brother in the early 1920’s. A wealthy self-made man, Jennings was extremely generous. He obtained lists from priests of families in need and personally dropped off groceries and clothing. He also assisted elderly retired baseball players who outlived their resources. Hughie Jennings passed away on February 1, 1928 at 58 years of age.

There have only been a handful of attorney managers in the history of baseball. Two coached in 1922. Miller Huggins, Yankees manager, was a graduate of the University of Cincinnati Law School where one of his professors was future President and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, William Howard Taft. Branch Rickey, Cardinals manager, was a graduate of the University of Michigan Law School. Rickey invented baseball’s farm system in the early 1920’s by convincing the Cardinals to buy minor league teams in Houston, Fort Smith and Syracuse.