DRUNGO HAZEWOOD A one-of-a-kind name with the raw talent to match

BIRTH NAME: Drungo LaRue Hazewood PRONUNCIATION OF DIFFICULT PARTS: None NICKNAME: None HEIGHT/WEIGHT: 6’3” 210 lbs. BORN: Sep. 2, 1959, in Mobile, Alabama DIED: July 28, 2013, in Sacramento, California POSITIONS: Pinch-runner, Rightfielder YEARS ACTIVE IN THE MAJORS: 1980 NAME ETYMOLOGY/DEFINITIONS: With regard to “Drungo,” the story is that just prior to his being born (he would end up being the second-youngest of ten children), his mother told his eight older siblings that whichever of them won a footrace to the hospital would name the new baby. Her son Aubrey was the victor and named his new brother after the surname of a friend. However, surname reference books come up empty when trying to describe the etymology of “Drungo,” as they also do with “Hazewood.” “LaRue” is a French topographic name for someone who lived beside a road, track, or pathway, from the Old French rue (Latin “ruga,” meaning “crease” or “fold”), with the definite article la. It means “the street” in French.

A two-sport star at Sacramento H.S., he was offered a full scholarship to USC as a tailback and was a 1977 first-round selection by the Orioles. Cal Ripken Jr., who played with Hazewood for two seasons in the minors in Charlotte, marveled at his abilities: “He was big and fast and something to watch scoring from first on a double.” Tremendously strong, he bopped his way through the minors and jumped from AA to the big leagues in 1980. Unfortunately, he never mastered hitting the curveball and only stuck around for the briefest of cups of coffee with the Orioles. Five hitless at-bats over six games, with four strikeouts ... and he was done in the big leagues. In 1981, Hazewood was back in the minor leagues. He struggled in 18 games with AAA Rochester, going an abysmal 6-for-64 before getting sent to AA Charlotte. Hazewood hit .226 with 11 home runs and 28 stolen bases in 1982. In 1983, his last baseball season, Hazewood hit a combined .247 for two minor league teams. BEST DAY (BY WPA OR OTHER MEASURE): Given his .000/.000/.000 career slash line in six games, let’s assume his major league debut, on Sep. 19, 1980 was his best day in The Show. He was called upon to pinch-run for Rich Dauer, who had walked to lead off the bottom of the ninth in a 5-5 game. A walk moved Hazewood to second. A double play got him to third, but he was stranded there, and then replaced in the next half- inning. He DID score one run in his career, but it came in the ninth inning of a losing effort one week later. THE WONDER OF HIS NAME: What we call a “double unique” in the name business. There have been approximately 19,000 individuals to have played major league baseball since 1871, and roughly 425 of them have “double unique” names, including Hall of Famers Harmon Killebrew, Tris Speaker and Branch Rickey. NOT TO BE CONFUSED WITH: Fungo bat (specially designed bat used by baseball and softball coaches for practice), Van Lingle Mungo (see page 121), Mungo Jerry (1970s British rock group with the hit “In the Summertime”), Spencer Haywood (Basketball Hall of Fame member). FUN ANAGRAMS: “Drungo LaRue Hazewood” becomes “Doze unaware ... drool. (Ugh!)” EPHEMERA: 1) More from Ripken on Hazewood: After a brawl resulted in Hazewood being ejected, Ripken recalled how Drungo broke a bat using his hands and nothing else. “He threw on some street clothes – no shower – and then stopped in front of a display of two bats mounted on hooks on the wall. He grabbed one and snapped it like a toothpick. … Drungo didn’t snap this bat across anything, and he didn’t hit it against anything. He just twisted and snapped it like a toothpick.” 2) He had more strikeouts than hits in every major league and minor league season he played. 3) He was a participant in the record 33-inning minor league game that took place in 1981 (Pawtucket outlasted Rochester by a score of 3-2). Hazewood went 0-4 with three strikeouts during the game, which was played in increasingly frigid temperatures. Years later, when asked about the weather during the game, he said “When you opened your eyes, the insides of your eyes got cold.” 4) He abruptly stopped playing in 1983, leaving baseball to take care of his mother who was suffering from breast cancer. 5) He later became a truck driver and raised seven children.