William McKinley Batsch (May 18, 1892 – December 31, 1963) was an American

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

player who

pinch hit In baseball, a pinch hitter is a substitute batter. Batters can be substituted at any time while the ball is dead (not in active play); the manager may use any player who has not yet entered the game as a substitute. Unlike basketball, America ...

in one game for the

Pittsburgh Pirates The Pittsburgh Pirates are an American professional baseball team based in Pittsburgh. The Pirates compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Founded as part of the American Associati ...

in 1916. Batsch is one of only five players to walk in his only major league plate appearance and never play the field, the most famous of which is

Eddie Gaedel Edward Carl Gaedel (June 8, 1925 – June 18, 1961) was the smallest player to appear in a Major League Baseball game. Gaedel gained recognition in the second game of a St. Louis Browns doubleheader on August 19, 1951. Weighing and standing t ...

Career

The pride of

Mingo Junction, Ohio Mingo Junction is a village in eastern Jefferson County, Ohio, United States, along the Ohio River. The population was 3,347 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Weirton–Steubenville metropolitan area. Geography Mingo Junction is located at ...

, Batsch attended Bethany College in

Bethany, West Virginia Bethany is a town in southern Brooke County, West Virginia, United States. The population was 756 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Weirton–Steubenville metropolitan area. It is best known as the home of Bethany College, a private liberal ...

. By 1916, Batsch, a right-handed outfielder, was with the "Pittsburgh Collegians" (presumably the

University of Pittsburgh The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a public state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The university is composed of 17 undergraduate and graduate schools and colleges at its urban Pittsburgh campus, home to the universit ...

team) when the Pirates took a flyer on him. On September 9, 1916, the hometown Pirates were down 3–0 in the bottom of the eighth to the

Chicago Cubs The Chicago Cubs are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The Cubs compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as part of the National League (NL) Central division. The club plays its home games at Wrigley Field, which is located ...

when Batsch came on to bat for pitcher

Erv Kantlehner Erving Leslie Kantlehner (July 31, 1892 – February 3, 1990), nicknamed "Peanuts", was a professional baseball player who played pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound towa ...

. Drawing a

base on balls A base on balls (BB), also known as a walk, occurs in baseball when a batter receives four pitches that the umpire calls '' balls'', and is in turn awarded first base without the possibility of being called out. The base on balls is defined in Se ...

on a 3-2 pitch from Chicago hurler

Hippo Vaughn James Leslie "Hippo" Vaughn (April 9, 1888 – May 29, 1966) was an American left-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball. In a career that spanned thirteen seasons, he played for the New York Highlanders (1908, 1910–1912), the Washington Senat ...

, Batsch went to second on a ground out by Hooks Warner. When the next batter,

Max Carey Maximillian George Carnarius (January 11, 1890 – May 30, 1976), known as Max George Carey, was an American professional baseball center fielder and manager. Carey played in Major League Baseball for the Pittsburgh Pirates from 1910 through 1 ...

bounced one down to third baseman

Rollie Zeider Rollie Hubert Zeider (November 16, 1883 – September 12, 1967) was a professional baseball player. An infielder (playing over 100 games at all four infield positions in his career), he played nine seasons in the major leagues for the Chi ...

, Batsch rounded third when Zeider bobbled the ball and made a low throw to first.

Fritz Mollwitz Frederick August "Fritz" Mollwitz (June 16, 1890 – October 3, 1967) was a German–American first baseman who played in Major League Baseball. Mollwitz was drafted in 1913 by the Chicago Cubs from the minor leagues, where he had been playing i ...

then rifled the ball to catcher

Jimmy Archer James Patrick Archer (May 13, 1883 – March 29, 1958) was an Irish-born catcher in Major League Baseball (MLB) who spent nearly his entire career with four National League teams, primarily the Chicago Cubs, for whom he played from 1909 to 191 ...

, who tagged Batsch out at the plate, ending the 24-year-old's lone MLB appearance.Doyle, Charles J
"Chicago Blanks Pirates Twice; Doyle Breaks Ankle"

Pittsburgh Gazette The ''Pittsburgh Post-Gazette'', also known simply as the PG, is the largest newspaper serving metropolitan Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Descended from the ''Pittsburgh Gazette'', established in 1786 as the first newspaper published west of the All ...

, September 10, 1916, third section, page two. (And presumably Batsch's ''only'' appearance in a pro baseball game, as he is not listed as having played in the minors.) Bill Batsch died on

New Year's Eve In the Gregorian calendar, New Year's Eve, also known as Old Year's Day or Saint Sylvester's Day in many countries, is the evening or the entire day of the last day of the year, on 31 December. The last day of the year is commonly referred to ...

, 1963, in

Canton, Ohio Canton () is a city in and the county seat of Stark County, Ohio. It is located approximately south of Cleveland and south of Akron in Northeast Ohio. The city lies on the edge of Ohio's extensive Amish country, particularly in Holmes and ...

References

External links

Baseball Reference.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Batsch, Bill 1892 births 1963 deaths Pittsburgh Pirates players Baseball players from Ohio People from Mingo Junction, Ohio