Haywood Sullivan | |||
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Catcher | |||
Born: Donalsonville, Georgia |
December 15, 1930|||
Died: February 12, 2003 Fort Myers, Florida |
(aged 72)|||
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MLB debut | |||
September 20, 1955, for the Boston Red Sox | |||
Last MLB appearance | |||
June 30, 1963, for the Kansas City Athletics | |||
MLB statistics | |||
Batting average | .226 | ||
Home runs | 13 | ||
Runs batted in | 87 | ||
Teams | |||
Career highlights and awards | |||
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Haywood Cooper Sullivan (December 15, 1930 – February 12, 2003) was an American college and professional baseball player who was a catcher, manager, general manager and club owner in Major League Baseball. From 1978 through 1993, he was a general partner in the Boston Red Sox, where he reportedly parlayed a $200,000 investment into a $33 million cash out.
Sullivan was born in Donalsonville, Georgia, and raised in Dothan, Alabama. He received an athletic scholarship to attend the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida, where he was the starting quarterback for coach Bob Woodruff's Florida Gators football team in 1950 and 1951, and a standout catcher for coach Dave Fuller's Gators baseball team in 1951 and 1952.
In his two seasons as the Gators' quarterback, Sullivan threw for 2,016 yards in an era when the emphasis was on a running offense.
As a Gators baseball player, he was named to the All-Southeastern Conference (SEC) team in 1952. He threw and batted right-handed, stood 6 feet 4 inches (1.93 m) tall and weighed 215 pounds (98 kg). Sullivan signed a guaranteed $45,000 bonus contract with the Red Sox in 1952, a contract that would not have been available in another year under pending baseball rules changes, and thereby ended his college football and baseball career after his junior year. He was later inducted into the University of Florida Athletic Hall of Fame as a "Gator Great."