Joe Hewitt was a scrappy infielder and base-stealing leadoff hitter who played for a number of teams in the 1910s and 1920s, notably the St. Louis Giants/Stars and the Detroit Stars. Here’s the Indianapolis Freeman writing about him on April 3, 1920:
“Joe Hewitt, the St. Louisian, who cavorts around the short-stop territory for the Wolverine aggregation, is considered by the well informed, to be one of the most valuable assets that any club in the new circuit can lay claim to. Hewitt is a slashing left hand hitter, a nifty fielder and with a wealth of baseball brains, acquired through his familiarity of the methods employed by the half dozen big teams of the country, he takes high rank in the class of those infielders unanimously recognized as great.”
Hewitt was one player whose death nobody (to my knowledge) had tracked down. Well, Dwayne Isgrig has found his death certificate, which shows that he died of tubercular pneumonia on April 2, 1948, in St. Louis. It also tells us he was born in New Market, Alabama—his family had moved to Nashville sometime prior to 1900, and it was well-known that he had come from Nashville, so it was assumed he was born there.
The death certificate also tells us he was buried in Oakdale Cemetery in St. Louis, and Dwayne has confirmed that his grave is unmarked.
The 1900 Census shows the Hewitt family, including 13 year old Joe, living at 1014 High St. in Nashville (now named 6th Ave N). This house was on the NE side of the street, approximately where the small traffic circle on the NE side of Bicentennial Park in Nashville is now located. Note that this was only a block over from the old Sulphur Dell ballpark, which was located between 4th and 5th Ave. Joe's Draft Registration shows that in 1918, he was working as a porter at Grand Central Station in NYC, and that his middle name was William.
Posted by: Bill Mullins | November 8, 2012 at 11:15 AM
Interestingly looks like he lived less than a mile from the former Stars Park.
Posted by: Kevin | November 2, 2012 at 01:14 AM