: Portrait of William Ellsworth Hoy from "Historical and Biographical Souvenir of the Ohio School for the Deaf," published in Columbus, Ohio, in 1898. In addition to a history of the school's operation, the book includes "portraits and biographical sketches of representative alumni" such as Hoy.
Hoy was born in rural Hancock County near the village of Houcktown in 1862. After losing his hearing at age 6, he was enrolled in the Ohio School for the Deaf in 1872. He graduated as valedictorian in 1879, and worked as a shoemaker back in Hancock County before entering the field of professional baseball in 1886. His career, recognized as the most accomplished for a deaf player in major league baseball history, included seasons as a center fielder with the Northwestern League in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, the Washington National League, the Buffalo Players' National League, the St. Louis American Association, and the Cincinnati National League, among others. He left baseball in 1903, and operated a dairy farm outside of Cincinnati with his family, but was active in support of the deaf community and the field of baseball. He died following a stroke in 1961, at the age of 99. View on Ohio Memory.
: 362_4H629_Hoy Subjects
: Deafness; Ohio School for the Deaf; Baseball--History; Baseball players; Athletes; Sports--Ohio--History; Places
: Hancock County (Ohio); Mount Healthy (Ohio); Hamilton County (Ohio)