The Talented Misters Hoy and Taylor

They couldn’t hear the roar of the crowd—but the baseball world heard them loud and clear. Meet the deaf baseball stars who rewrote the rules.Billy Hoy and Luther Taylor endure as two of the most fascinating—and unknown—players in 150-plus years of major-league baseball. At the turn of the twentieth century, both men were marque stars, with their names often in headlines and their exploits admired by fans and teammates alike. And yet about the most anyone knew of Hoy or Taylor was they were deaf; in fact, both men were nicknamed “Dummy,” a shortened version of the term “deaf and dumb,” which hearing people in the era used when referring to the deaf. Beyond that, their stories and everything they had to do to succeed—all the extra work, the improvisation, and the innovation—were blank slates.This book finally tells their full and colorful stories. It tells the improbable tale of how each carved out a significant career at the top of the big leagues. As deaf men, both faced low expectations and prejudice by those who considered them stupid. Sportswriters in the era, with a couple of exceptions, considered sign language little more than gibberish and largely chose to ignore them. Still, Hoy and Taylor got their teams to incorporate elements of sign language and finger-spelling for in-game signals that took opponents years to decipher.Despite the incomplete canvass about the lives of Hoy and Taylor, interest about these two remarkable players has exploded in the last several decades. Gallaudet University named its baseball field for Hoy, and he is the subject of two recent films, a documentary, at least three children’s books, and a movement to induct him into the National Baseball Hall of Fame. With Hoy next due to be considered in 2027, The Talented Misters Hoy and Taylor will be a timely addition to his candidacy—and an entertaining read for anyone interested in baseball and history about what it takes to triumph against the odds.