Bill Wambsganss

From SoSH

William Adolph "Bill" Wambsganss (born March 19, 1894 in Cleveland, Ohio) was 20 years old when he broke into the big leagues on August 4, 1914 with the Cleveland Naps. Wambsganss played ten years with Cleveland, two with the Red Sox and one with the Athletics with a .259 career average.

Contents 1 Overall Career 2 Wambsganss's Moment in the Sun 3 Trivia 4 Transactions 5 External Links

Overall Career

Wambsganss had a 13-year career as an infielder. In 1491 games he batted .259 with 7 HR and 520 RBI. He spent the majority of his career with the Indians as their regular second baseman. Batting from the second or eight spot, from 1919-23 Wambsganss averaged 74.2 runs per year, with a high 89 runs in 1922, as he also hit a career-high .295 in 1918 and .290 in 1923, his last season with Cleveland, when he was sent to the Boston Red Sox in the same trade that brought good-hitting first baseman George Burns to the Indians.

In 1924 with Boston, Wambsganss hit .275 and collected career-highs in hits (174) and runs (93). After a sub-par season in 1925 he was sold to the Philadelphia Athletics. He finished his major league career with the A's in 1926, batting .352 in 54 games. A year later, he played for Triple-A Kansas City of the American Association.

Wambsganss's Moment in the Sun

• Won a World Series ring with the Cleveland Indians in 1920.

Trivia

• Turned the only post-season unassisted triple play during game 5 of the 1920 World Series while playing second for Cleveland. In the fifth inning, Wambsganss stabbed a line drive off the bat of Brooklyn pitcher Clarence Mitchell, stepped on second to double up Pete Kilduff, and tagged Otto Miller, the runner from first, who thought the ball had gone through for a hit.
• Once suspended indefinitely for arguing balls and strikes in 1918.
• Nicknamed Wamby on account of his name, which was too long to fit into boxscores, much to his dislike of the abbreviated form.
• Led the AL in sacrifice hits in 1921 (43) and 1922 (42).
• In the 1920s Wamsganss was a star in the early days of professional basketball with the Philadelphia Quakers and New York Whirlwinds.

Transactions

• January 7, 1924: Traded by the Cleveland Indians with Dan Boone, Joe Connolly, and Steve O'Neill to the Boston Red Sox for George Burns, Roxy Walters, and Chick Fewster.
• December 12, 1925: Purchased by the Philadelphia Athletics from the Boston Red Sox for $4,000.
• November 27, 1926: Traded by the Philadelphia Athletics with $50,000 to the Kansas City Blues (American Association) for Dud Branom.

External Links

• Baseball-Reference.com - Career Statistics and Analysis