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Ghosts of DC: A Tragic Game at 14th and A: The 1912 Death of George S. Hiett
Ghosts of DC - A Tragic Game at 14th and A: The 1912 Death of George S. Hiett
A fatal pitch during a 1912 church baseball game at 14th and A Streets NE claimed the life of George S. Hiett. This forgotten tragedy unfolded against a backdrop of neighborhood games, citywide injuries, and the shadow of the Titanic.
Published April 21, 2025
In early May 1912, as Washington, D.C. slowly emerged from a cool spring, tragedy struck during a baseball game in the city’s northeast quadrant. The players were not professionals, not even minor leaguers. They were members of a local church baseball team, enjoying a Saturday game. One of them, George S. Hiett, would not survive the day.
The Game That Turned Deadly
On the afternoon of Saturday, May 4, the Church of the Nativity team took the field against Sherwood Presbyterian Church as part of the city’s Sunday School League. The game was held at 14th and A Streets NE, an area that, according to the 1909 Baist real estate atlas, still featured several undeveloped lots north of East Capitol Street and across from the Metropolitan Railway Company’s expansive grounds.
George S. Hiett, a 27-year-old member of the Nativity team, stepped up to bat.
Pitcher Charles Kelly, also from the Church of the Nativity, was on the mound. The Washington Times printed on May 5th that Kelly “threw the sphere with as much speed as possible.” Hiett never reacted. The ball hit him squarely on the side of the head. “He did not move,” the article stated, adding that he collapsed immediately and never regained consciousness.
Hiett was taken to Casualty Hospital. By 10 o’clock that night, he was dead.
/snip
A fatal pitch during a 1912 church baseball game at 14th and A Streets NE claimed the life of George S. Hiett. This forgotten tragedy unfolded against a backdrop of neighborhood games, citywide injuries, and the shadow of the Titanic.
Published April 21, 2025
In early May 1912, as Washington, D.C. slowly emerged from a cool spring, tragedy struck during a baseball game in the city’s northeast quadrant. The players were not professionals, not even minor leaguers. They were members of a local church baseball team, enjoying a Saturday game. One of them, George S. Hiett, would not survive the day.
The Game That Turned Deadly
On the afternoon of Saturday, May 4, the Church of the Nativity team took the field against Sherwood Presbyterian Church as part of the city’s Sunday School League. The game was held at 14th and A Streets NE, an area that, according to the 1909 Baist real estate atlas, still featured several undeveloped lots north of East Capitol Street and across from the Metropolitan Railway Company’s expansive grounds.
George S. Hiett, a 27-year-old member of the Nativity team, stepped up to bat.
Pitcher Charles Kelly, also from the Church of the Nativity, was on the mound. The Washington Times printed on May 5th that Kelly “threw the sphere with as much speed as possible.” Hiett never reacted. The ball hit him squarely on the side of the head. “He did not move,” the article stated, adding that he collapsed immediately and never regained consciousness.
Hiett was taken to Casualty Hospital. By 10 o’clock that night, he was dead.
/snip