Twins Executive Vice President Joe Haynes suffered a heart attack while
shoveling snow at his Hopkins , Minnesota home on January 6, 1967 and
died at the age of 49. Haynes was signed by the Washington Senators as a
free agent in 1937. During spring training in 1938 Haynes met and became
smitten with Thelma Griffith who was at the time Clark Griffith‘s
personal secretary and was the daughter of Bruce Robertson whose sister
Addie was Senator owners Clark Griffith’s wife. Although Thelma and
Calvin were never formally adopted by the Clark and Addie Griffith, they
were raised by the Griffith’s as their own children.
After just 2 years in the low minors Haynes made his major league debut
as a reliever for the Washington Senators on April 24, 1939 at Fenway
Park and picked up his first big league win while allowing 1 earned run
in 2.2 innings in a 10-9 Washington victory in 10 innings. Haynes
pitched for the Senators in 1939 and 1940 before hurting his arm and was
sold to the Chicago White Sox in January 1941 by his future
father-in-law. Haynes ended up marrying Thelma Griffith in 1941 and
pitched for the White Sox for eight years from 1941-1948. Haynes led the
league in pitching appearances in 1942 and in 1947 Haynes had a league
leading 2.42 ERA. In 1948 Haynes was selected to the AL All-Star team
although he did not make an appearance in the game. Haynes continued to
have off and on arm issues and was traded to the Cleveland Indians in
November 1948 who then flipped him a month later back to the Washington
Senators where he again pitched through the 1952 season before being
released.
Haynes pitched in the majors for 14 seasons putting up a 76-82 won/lost
record with a 4.01 ERA in 379 games with 147 of them being starts.
Haynes was a pitch to contact pitcher giving up more hits than innings
pitched but he had an HR/9 mark of 0.5 which was pretty darn impressive.
Haynes served as the Senators minor league pitching instructor in 1955
and moved into the front office in 1956 and kept his position when the
team moved to Minnesota in 1961. After Haynes passed away in 1967, his
widow, Thelma Griffith Haynes, continued to serve as an executive vice
president, assistant treasurer, and part owner of the Twins until they
were sold to Carl Pohlad in 1985.
Joe Haynes SABR bio link is at
http://sabr.org/bioproj/person/1da21863
