Batting average .292 Role Baseball athlete Name Mule Haas | Runs batted in 496 Home runs 43 | |
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Died June 30, 1974, New Orleans, Louisiana, United States | ||
George William (Mule) Haas (October 15, 1903 – June 30, 1974) was a center fielder in Major League Baseball. From 1925 through 1938, Haas played for the Pittsburgh Pirates (1925), Philadelphia Athletics (1928–32, 1938) and Chicago White Sox (1933–37). He batted left-handed and threw right-handed.
In a 12-season career, Haas posted a .292 batting average with 43 home runs and 496 RBI in 1168 games.
A native of Montclair, New Jersey, Haas broke into the majors in 1925, appearing in four games with the Pittsburgh Pirates. In 1928 he joined the Philadelphia Athletics and was part of two World Championship teams in 1929 and 1930, and one American League champion team in 1931.
Haas enjoyed his finest moment in the 1929 World Series against the Chicago Cubs. In Game Four at Philadelphia, as the Athletics trailed 8–0 in the seventh inning, Haas hit a three-run inside-the-park home run as the Athletics rallied by scoring 10 runs in the inning to win, 10–8. This was the last inside-the-park home run in World Series history until Alcides Escobar did so in Game 1 of the 2015 World Series. Two days later, in what was to be the final game of the Series, Haas hit a two-run home run in the bottom of the ninth inning to tie the score, 2–2, as the Athletics later won the game on Bing Miller's RBI-double.
Philadelphia owner-manager Connie Mack began to dismantle the team in 1932 because of financial problems, and Haas was sent to the Chicago White Sox along with Al Simmons and Jimmy Dykes for an estimated $100,000. After five seasons in Chicago, Haas ended his career back in Philaldelphia in 1938.
Haas died in New Orleans, Louisiana on June 30, 1974, at the age of 70. He was buried in the Roman Catholic Immaculate Conception Cemetery in his native Montclair, New Jersey.