Solly Hemus

American baseball player and manager

Solomon Joseph Hemus (April 17, 1923 – October 2, 2017) was an American professional baseball infielder, manager, and coach, who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the St. Louis Cardinals and Philadelphia Phillies. Hemus is one of a select group of big league players to have held a dual role as a player manager. Hemus was born in Phoenix, Arizona, and raised in San Diego, where he graduated from Saint Augustine High School. He served in the United States Navy during World War II, and began his professional playing career in the Cardinals' farm system as a 23 year old in 1946.

Hemus batted left handed and threw right handed; he stood 5 feet (2 m) tall, weighing When he was traded to the Phillies in May , Hemus wrote a letter to Cardinals owner Gussie Busch, expressing his pride in being a Cardinal and his gratitude to the baseball club. Nearing the end of his playing career, he was reacquired by the Cardinals on September 29, 1958 — one day after the regular season ended — and named St. Louis' player manager by Busch, who admired Hemus' fiery personality and remembered his letter from 2 1/2 years before. Hemus took over the Cardinals in time to lead them on an October 1958 "good will" tour of Hawaii and Japan. As a player in , Hemus appeared in 24 games — mostly as a pinch hitter — before concentrating on his managerial responsibilities. His Cardinals were inconsistent. Hemus' first club lost 15 of its first 20 games and stumbled to a seventh place (71–83) finish in 1959. That was followed by a 15 game improvement (86–68) and a leap to third place in his second season His career managing record was 190–192 (.497). He managed the Mets' top farm club, the Jacksonville Suns of the Triple A International League, in , before leaving baseball and entering the oil business in his adopted home city of Houston, Texas. During his tenure in Philadelphia, Hemus made history when he was removed for pinch runner John Kennedy at Roosevelt Stadium in Jersey City, New Jersey, during a league game against the Brooklyn Dodgers on April 22, 1957. It marked the Major League debut of Kennedy, the first African American player in the Phillies' history. In 2011, Hall of Famer Bob Gibson indicated that racial prejudice on Hemus' part had intruded on his later role as the Cards' manager when Hemus disparaged both Gibson and teammate Curt Flood by telling them they were not good enough to make it as Major Leaguers and should try something else. Hemus' replacement, Keane, was a Gibson supporter who had managed the pitcher in the minor leagues.

Hemus died at 94 following a long illness in Houston, on October 3, 2017.