Roy Hartsfield

Roy Hartsfield

Roy Thomas Hartsfield (October 25, 1925 – January 15, 2011) was a second baseman and manager in Major League Baseball; his MLB playing and managing careers each lasted three years. Hartsfield played his entire major-league career with the Boston Braves (now the Atlanta Braves) from 1950 to 1952. He was then traded to the Brooklyn Dodgers for outfielder Andy Pafko. Hartsfield spent the next 19 years in the Dodgers organization as a minor league player and manager and major league coach. In the latter role, he worked under Los Angeles skipper Walter Alston for three seasons.

Hartsfield was a successful pilot at top levels of minor league baseball, with the Spokane Indians and the Hawaii Islanders of the Pacific Coast League. In 1977, Hartsfield was hired as the first-ever manager of the expansion Toronto Blue Jays by the Jays' first general manager, Peter Bavasi, who had worked with him in the Dodger organization.

Hartsfield managed the Jays from 1977 to 1979, compiling a record of 166–318 (.343) in 484 games, and finishing last in the American League East Division each season. Unpopular with the Blue Jays players, and having lost over 100 games in each of his three years as manager, Hartsfield was let go at the conclusion of the 1979 season and replaced by Bobby Mattick. "This year, we should win 10 more games on attitude alone," enthused pitcher Mark Lemongello about the managerial change. In fact, the Jays improved by 14 games that year.

Hartsfield managed in the Chicago Cubs organization in 1981, starting the season with the Triple-A Iowa Oaks and finishing with the Double-A Midland Cubs. Both teams ended up with losing records, as did the Triple-A Indianapolis Indians in 1983, which was Hartsfield's final management job.

Hartsfield died from complications of liver cancer at his daughter's home in Ball Ground, Georgia, on January 15, 2011, aged 85.