Henry Roy Hamey was an American front-office executive in Major League Baseball.
16 Facts About Roy Hamey
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Roy Hamey arrived as Weiss, then director of the Yankees' farm system, was building a minor league organization that would rival, and perhaps surpass, the St Louis Cardinals' pioneering system.
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At the close of the 1946 season, Hamey was rewarded with his first major league GM portfolio as front-office chief of the Pittsburgh Pirates, hired by the Pirates' new ownership group led by Frank E McKinney.
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Roy Hamey recruited Billy Meyer out of the Yankee minor league system as the Bucs' manager and acquired several players, such as pitchers Tiny Bonham and Bob Chesnes and future Hall of Famer Hank Greenberg, to surround slugging outfielder Ralph Kiner, who led the National League in home runs every year between 1946 and 1952.
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In December 1950, the Pirates replaced Roy Hamey with ousted Brooklyn president Branch Rickey.
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Roy Hamey then returned to the Yankees, where Weiss had finally been promoted to general manager in October 1947 after MacPhail's partners, Dan Topping and Del Webb, bought him out.
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However, Roy Hamey traded away Sanford, a future 24-game winner, after the 1958 season; meanwhile, the fire-balling Farrell became more noted for his after-hours, off-field exploits than his pitching.
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The club finished last in the National League, and Roy Hamey paid with his job.
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Roy Hamey was replaced, in January 1959, by John Quinn, recruited from the Milwaukee Braves.
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Roy Hamey then rejoined Weiss and the Yankees as assistant general manager for the full seasons of 1959 and 1960.
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Roy Hamey faced numerous challenges in keeping the Yankees at the top of the American League.
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Roy Hamey tweaked the Yankee roster again during the offseason, and promoted eventual Rookie of the Year Tom Tresh and freshman pitcher Jim Bouton to the 1962 club, which took the AL pennant by five games and outlasted the San Francisco Giants in the World Series.
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In 1963, Roy Hamey added more youth in left-handed pitcher Al Downing and first baseman Joe Pepitone.
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Roy Hamey made room for Pepitone through a controversial trade, sending longtime Yankee first baseman Bill Skowron to the Los Angeles Dodgers for pitcher Stan Williams.
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Roy Hamey relinquished that responsibility and returned to his scouting job with the Yankees when the Pilots were purchased by Bud Selig and moved to Milwaukee for the 1970 season.
16.
Roy Hamey died there of a heart attack at age 81 on December 14,1983, and is buried in Mattoon, Illinois, at Dodge Grove Cemetery.