Hank DeBerry
American baseball player (1894-1951)

John Herman DeBerry (December 29, 1894 – September 10, 1951), was an American professional baseball player, and scout. He played as a catcher in Major League Baseball, most notably for the Brooklyn Robins during the 1920s. DeBerry was known for his defensive skills and for being the catcher for Baseball Hall of Fame pitcher Dazzy Vance.
Baseball career
DeBerry was born in Savannah, Tennessee and attended the University of Tennessee. He began his professional baseball career in 1914 at the age of 19 with the Paducah Indians of the Kentucky–Illinois–Tennessee League. DeBerry made his major league debut with the Cleveland Indians on September 12, 1916, at the age of 21. DeBerry appeared in 25 games for the Indians in 1917, but spent most of the season playing for the Milwaukee Brewers of the American Association. He joined the United States Navy in 1918 during the First World War. DeBerry returned to professional baseball after the war, playing for the New Orleans Pelicans of the Southern Association from 1919 to 1921.
DeBerry returned to the major leagues in 1922 when the Brooklyn Robins purchased his contract from the Pelicans.
“Hank DeBerry” enters the record as american baseball player (1894-1951). Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Hank, DeBerry and American can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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“Hank DeBerry” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Hank, DeBerry and American provides the most credible route into that argument.
Chronology provides the most reliable spine for this subject; interpretation should follow only after identities and dates are secure. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 27, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q5648311. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1894, 1951, 1914 and 1916.
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This entry incorporates text from “Hank DeBerry” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.