Primary Position: Relief pitcher
Birthplace: Wallace
First, Middle Names: Henry Tate
Date of Birth: Oct. 28, 1903 Date and Place of Death: June 12, 2002, Lake Worth, FL
Burial: Wauchula City Cemetery, Wauchula, FL
High School: Undetermined
College: University of Florida, Gainesville, FL
Bats: L Throws: R Height and Weight: 5-11, 176
Debut Year: 1927 Final Year: 1927 Years Played: 1
Team and Year: New York Giants, 1927
Career Summary
G W L Sv ERA IP SO WAR
3 0 0 0 2.25 4.0 0 0.1
Hank Boney was 23 years old and fresh out of college when he stepped onto a big-league pitching mound for the first time on June 28, 1927. Professional baseball was less structured then and its players little more than talented chattels. A manager, like the New York Giants’ John McGraw, could pluck a promising kid from college for a pittance to fill a roster hole, throw him into a game or two, and then discard him like yesterday’s newspaper if he didn’t work out. For the rest of his life, though, the kid would likely thank his manager for giving him a chance.
Down 7-3 to the Philadelphia Phillies in the eighth inning, McGraw figured it was a suitable time to see what the rookie could do. Boney didn’t disappoint by retiring the three batters he faced. He gave up a single in his next outing two days later, a 6-1 loss to the Boston Braves, and then one run in a couple of innings against the Cincinnati Reds two weeks after that. And then he was gone for good, though his professional resume of a sole run in four innings would seem to have warranted a longer stay.