How often have you heard a Minnesota Twins fan ask another, who is that old guy with that huge mustache and the cowboy hat in the Twins dugout? Well, today you are going to find out all about Mr. Wayne Hattaway.
Baseball has always had its “characters”, that is one of the reasons that I love baseball. Some of baseball characters have been good players, some have been just mediocre players and some have not played the game at all but somehow they were drawn to the game that is known as the national pastime.
I was lucky enough to meet one of the Minnesota Twins great characters, a baseball lifer that has been involved in baseball since the age of 12 when he started out as a bat boy for the Mobile Bears in 1952, at that time the Bears were a AA farm team for the Brooklyn Dodgers. This baseball man has never thrown a pitch for the Twins (except on September 26, 2006 when Wayne was given the honor of throwing out the first pitch in the game between the Twins and the Kansas City Royals) nor had a single plate appearance, his work has always been behind the scenes but that doesn’t mean that he hasn’t had an impact on the history of the Minnesota Twins and many of the players that have played there.
I had spent about a week with Wayne Hattaway in Ft. Myers during a Twins Fantasy Camp early in January 2018 that he was helping out with and we spent a number of hours in the Minnesota Twins minor league complex club house talking about baseball. The “Big Fella” as he is known to his friends did most of the talking and I did the listening and recording as he talked about his career.
Wayne Hattaway was born on February 24, 1940 in Mobile, Alabama and if it wasn’t for baseball you would probably still find him there, as a matter of fact he still lives there during the off-season. Wayne’s parents Fred and Margaret Hattaway had five children, four of which were Wayne’s sisters. From 1956 to 1959 while he was still in school Wayne worked as the equipment manager for the Mobile Bears who by now were part of the Cleveland Indians organization. Wayne graduated from Murphy High School in Mobile in 1959. According to the school’s website it is the oldest school in the state of Alabama dating back to 1926. He was drafted but the Army wasn’t very interested in 95 pound soldiers and his Dad urged him to get a real job but Wayne stuck with the game he loved and he stayed in that job through 1961. While he was there he worked with players who later in their careers would become Minnesota Twins such as Dick Stigman, Hank Izquierdo, and Bill Dailey.
Prior to the 1962 season he was asked if he was interested in the equipment manager job with the AAA Dallas Rangers who were a co-op team for the Phillies and Angels and Wayne jumped on that but that turned out to be just a one year gig as the AAA Dallas Rangers became affiliated with the Minnesota Twins prior to the 1963 season and it was the beginning of his long association with the Minnesota Twins. After the 1963 season the Twins moved their AAA team to Atlanta and the Big Fella had a choice to make, go with the AAA Atlanta Crackers or the AA Charlotte Hornets and he choose Charlotte where he would remain through 1972.
As the years went by the Big Fella got married on a baseball field of course and had two daughters but the road life in baseball got to be more than the marriage could withstand and after about 18 years it came to and end.
Wayne like all the players that he worked with, wanted to move up the ladder to the big league Twins but was always told that anyone could be the equipment manager job in the big leagues and that he was far more valuable in the minor league system. Years would pass before Wayne would see the major leagues. Hattaway spent 1973-1974 with the class A Lynchburg Twins, in 1975 he had a choice between class A Wisconsin Rapids and Reno, what would you chose? After just the one season with the Reno Silver Sox which were made up of a co-op team of Twins and San Diego Padres farm hands, he took over as trainer/equipment manager for the AA Orlando Twins in 1976 where he worked through 1989. While in Orlando he worked with managers like Dick Phillips, John Goryl, Roy McMillan, Tom Kelly, Phil Roof, Charlie Manual, and George Mitterwald. In 1990 Hattaway was on the move again, this time to Ft. Myers where he worked with he GCL Twins and the Ft. Myers Miracle until Ron Gardenhire and Terry Ryan decided to bring him up to Minnesota in 2002 and he has been there ever since.
Gardenhire brought Hattaway to Minnesota because he could keep clubhouses loose, “He’s not here to make you feel good,” Gardenhire said. “He’s here to keep all of us honest, and laughing.” Some of the chats that Hattaway has with his players, particularly the rookies can sting a bit when he tells them things like “Don’t blame yourself, big fella, blame the scout who signed you.” Or: “It’s not your fault, big ‘un, it’s the Twins’ fault for drafting you.” Hattaway is all for kicking a man when he’s down but everyone knows that it is all in jest.
In September 2006 the Big Fella heard a word that he hates, cancer, it turns out that he had breast cancer and to top it off, he found out he was a diabetic. He has battled through surgery and watches what he eats, at least to some degree. Hattaway has some sight issues now days and like most of us, forgets things now and then but through it all he loves the game of baseball and the people who are associated with it.
Minnesota’s clubhouse comedian
Big Fella’s illness is weighing on the Twins
As I mentioned earlier I spent about a week with Wayne off and on recording his memories and thoughts about his life in baseball. It is important to Wayne to be able to share these memories with you baseball fans, he doesn’t want his baseball memories and stories to disappear when his time comes to visit the great ballpark in the sky. So sit back, listen and I hope you enjoy some of these baseball stories first-hand from someone who has lived them for over 60 years. You might disagree with some of the things Wayne says but you have to remember we are talking about things that happened over the last 60-70 years.
Each of the MP3 file segments is anywhere from 35 to 45 minutes in length and it might take a minute or two to download because of the large file size. These interviews were done in the Minnesota Twins minor league clubhouse over a period of about a week in early January 2018.
As time moves along and if the opportunities present themselves we will try to spend more time with Wayne and his friends and add-on to what we have here today. The man is a legend in Minnesota Twins history and there are very few if any Twins players that have passed through the Twins clubhouse that don’t remember Wayne Hattaway.
Wayne Hattaway talks baseball 042318
Jim Rantz talks about Wayne Hattaway 042518
Wayne Hattaway talks about former Managers 070418
Wayne Hattaway talks about Bo, Johan and AJ 072418
Wayne Hattaway talks baseball 072718
Take a listen to Mike Berardino as he spends some time with the Big Fella during summer of 2018
Wayne Hattaway talks about Gardy, TK and Molitor
Wayne Hattaway talks about Molitor, Openers and Sano
Wayne Hattaway talks about his early years and his family
Wayne Hattaway and and I talk baseball on 9/1/18
Wayne Hattaway talks about changes in BB this past January
Wayne Hattaway talks about life in the minors in 70’s & 80’s
Wayne Hattaway talks about the state of baseball this past February 2019
Wayne talks baseball and the players he knew
Remembering the 1970’s with Wayne
Wayne has seen a lot of baseball games
Wayne the trainer and the disabled list
Wayne goes on about being a trainer and how baseball has changed
Wayne reminisces about the players and the fun
Wayne talks Twins baseball in July
Wayne talks about his start in baseball – 08/16/19– Added 04/01/2020
Wayne talks about Melbourne & Mobile – 08/26/19– Added 04/03/2020
I am so grateful to have these links and to be able to listen to Wayne’s voice! I will miss visiting with him so much. He helped me learn about baseball, more than I ever really needed to know! Haha! Thank you for posting these interviews, the most recent ones are particularly precious.
Jill, thank you for your wonderful comments about Wayne. He will be missed by many and it is still hard for me to grasp he is really gone. We usually talked a couple of time a week and the last time I talked with him was this past week-end. It was important to him that people understood how long he was involved with baseball and how baseball was back in the 50’s, 60’s, 70, and 80’s in what he considered real baseball. That is the reason we were doing all those recordings over the last few years, he wanted people to be able to hear what baseball was in his own words. I still have some more recordings with Wayne that have not been prepped to be added to the site but I will add them as I get them ready. Thank you again.
Talked with Wayne today – a day before his 80th birthday. I worked at Tinker Field in Orlando from 1976 to 1988 and had the great pleasure to get to know him. He is a one of a kind and a Twins legend!!! I cherish the many memories of my time at Tinker and the many friendships that are still a part of my life. I hope the Twins induct him into their hall of fame sooner rather than later!!!
I couldn’t agree with you more Patti. A great guy with a wonderful history in baseball that the Twins organization seems to be ignoring because he was not an executive nor in the public eye. Hopefully if enough people complain to the Twins they will make this right. Wayne is one of baseball’s great old characters, something the Twins apparently can’t see.
I had the pleasure of spending seven years of the Big Fella’s many “primes” down in Orlando keeping GM Bob Willis under control as well as the dozens of players, managers and bus drivers who moved through the Tinker Field clubhouse, now demolished and replaced by a baseball memory garden. Wayne could always give as good as he got and there was plenty of trash talking going on in those days.
I have to say I am proud owner of a Wayne Hathaway baseball card from the 80s in Orlando and I use it as my avatar on my Yahoo Fantasy Baseball team, the Orlando Twins. Glad to hear he’s still going strong. I’m guessing he’s still hollerin’ “Roll Tide.”
You bet he is Dylan. Thank you for stopping by and leaving some comments. I am still working with the Big Fella and will be adding more of his thoughts and comments as time goes along.
I played with Reno in 1975 and Orlando in 1976 and 1978. Wayne shined shoes, washed clothes, and acted as the traveling secretary and trainer. Truly a servant for us all. Congrats, Wayne, for the recognition… and the memories. And thank you, sir.
Thank you for interviewing Wayne and sharif these wonderful stories. Wayne was so excited when you contacted him to do these and couldn’t contain his excitement today when he called to say they were posted online.
Thank you again. Big Fella has wonderful stories and I couldn’t be happier that they will be listened to for years to come
Thank you Kayla, it is my pleasure spending time with someone like Wayne and listening to his wonderful stories. I love Minnesota Twins history and he is a big part of it. When I was interviewing Wayne that week, former players from his past were stopping in to see Wayne and visit. Players like Jim Kaat, Scott Erickson, Torii Hunter, LaTroy Hawkins, Justin Morneau, and Kent Hrbek just to name a few. Hopefully we will be able to continue to add more stories over time so keep checking back.