Former Phillie of the Day - Von Hayes

Some ballplayers have great nicknames. Oil Can, Nails, the Secretary of Defense, the Big Unit, Cool Papa, Death to Flying Things, Three-Finger...the list goes on. Then there are guys like former Phillies outfielder Von Hayes, who get stuck with nicknames like 5-for-1.

Hayes was given that monicker because the Phillies, believing Hayes was a budding superstar, traded away five players to get him from the Cleveland Indians. Jay Baller, Julio Franco, Manny Trillo, George Vukovich, and Jerry Willard were the guys sent to Cleveland in December 1982. Trillo was a Philadelphia legend, playing second base for the first-ever World Series winning Phillies in 1980. Franco played for 23 years and 8 teams until he was 83 years old (OK, he was 49 in his last appearance). Franco was a three-time all star and runner-up for Rookie of the Year in 1983.

Hayes showed flashed of greatness. On June 11, 1985 against the Mets, Hayes led off the bottom half of the first with a home run. Later in the inning, he hit a grand slam, becoming the first player ever to homer twice in the first inning of a game. The Phillies scored 9 in the first inning, and 7 more in the second before winning 26-7. Hayes finished with 6 RBIs and 4 runs scored. His best year was 1986, when he hit .305 with 19 HR and 98 RBI and led the NL with 46 doubles and 107 runs scored.

He spent 9 years in Philadelphia before being traded to the Angels for Ruben Amaro Jr. and Kyle Abbott. A whole other blog could be devoted to Amaro, but Abbott stunk like feet in Philadelphia, with an ERA of nearly 5 and a WHIP approaching 1.5. Just the memory of Kyle Abbott makes my stomach churn.

I have a semi-personal connection to Von Hayes. I was a vendor at Veterans Stadium from 1979 to 1985. Back then, I was thin and tall. I'm still tall. Anyway, while I was waiting at the employee entrance with my fellow vendors, a guy approached me with his young son and insisted that I was Hayes and asked for an autograph. I told him I was a vendor but he didn't believe me. I gave him the autograph.

Hayes' last season in the majors was 1992, and he was a manager in the minor leagues and independent leagues from 2002 through 2011. His last job was managing the now-defunct Camden (NJ) Riversharks in 2011. He's on Twitter as @VonHayes9, but hasn't had anything to say since 2013.