1914-1918

Tom Hughes was from Colorado and was working in a railroad repair shop as a blacksmith in Missouri when he started to play pro baseball. In 1905, while with the Topeka White Sox, the New York Highlanders drafted him and sent him to Atlanta of the Southern Association for seasoning.

In 1906 Tom had a breakout season with the Atlanta Crackers, finishing with a 25-5 record. His performance earned a call-up to New York in September.

Tom spent most of the next two seasons back in the minor leagues, initially with Montreal and then with Newark in the Eastern League, Significantly, as it would turn out later, his manager at Newark was George Stallings. Called up to the Highlanders again at the end of 1907, he appeared in four games.

In 1909 Tom became a member of the Highlanders’ starting rotation with a 2.65 ERA. But his performance in 1910 was mediocre and he was the least effective of the regular starters.

The Highlanders vaulted from fifth to second place in 1910. Despite their improvement, not all was well within the organization. Manager Stallings resigned during the closing weeks of the season and went on to manage the Buffalo Bisons.

In January 1911 the Highlanders sold Tom's contract to the Rochester Bronchos of the Eastern League and for the next four seasons, 1911-1914, he pitched for Rochester who were the rivals of Buffalo.

Tom pitched well and the Bronchos regularly finished in the first division, winning the league championship in 1912. In 1914 he led the league with 182 strikeouts and that led to his purchase by the Braves in September, 1914.

George Stallings, now manager of the Braves, had witnessed his performance with the Highlanders and with Rochester. Fred Mitchell, who served as the pitching coach on the Braves, also coached with Stallings on the Highlanders, then played with Tom at Rochester in 1911.

The day Tom was purchased, the Braves were in a first-place tie with the Giants. Tom would contribute two victories to their late-season run. His first would be a complete-game 3-2 effort against Chicago that would clinch the pennant.

He would win again against Brooklyn, because Bill James, Dick Rudolph, and Lefty Tyler would be rested for the World Series against the Philadelphia A’s. Tom would not appear in the World Series because the Braves would sweep the A’s in four straight games.

His late-season performance, however, would gain him a place with the Braves for the next season. Although overshadowed by Rudolph, James, and Tyler in 1914, Tom would become a mainstay of the Braves staff over the next two seasons.