William Havon Bruton (November 9, 1925 – December 5, 1995) was a

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 (A ...

(MLB)

center fielder A center fielder, abbreviated CF, is the outfielder in baseball who plays defense in center field – the baseball and softball fielding position between left field and right field. In the numbering system used to record defensive plays, the ...

who played for the

Milwaukee Braves The Atlanta Braves are an American professional baseball team based in the Atlanta metropolitan area. The Braves compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) East division. The Braves were founded in Bos ...

(1953–1960) and

Detroit Tigers The Detroit Tigers are an American professional baseball team based in Detroit. The Tigers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the American League (AL) Central division. One of the AL's eight charter franchises, the club was f ...

(1961–1964). Bruton batted left-handed and threw right-handed.

Career

Bill Bruton, as a 27-year-old rookie, started his major league career in 1953 with the

. The team has just moved from

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

Milwaukee Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at the 2020 census, Milwaukee i ...

. Bruton had replaced former

National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team s ...

's 1950 Rookie of the Year winner and first

African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ensl ...

player on the Braves,

Sam Jethroe Samuel Jethroe, nicknamed "The Jet" (January 23, 1917 – June 16, 2001), was an American center fielder in Negro league and Major League Baseball. With the Cincinnati & Cleveland Buckeyes he won a pair of batting titles, hit .340 over seven seas ...

, on the roster. Jethroe, at the age of 35, had been demoted to the minor leagues. He had led the NL in stolen bases his first two seasons. On April 14, 1953, his 10th-inning home run gave the Braves a 3–2 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals in Milwaukee's first major league game. Bruton played in Milwaukee for eight seasons; he was a member of the 1957 Braves and 1958 Braves, who both played

World Series The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, contested since 1903 between the champion teams of the American League (AL) and the National League (NL). The winner of the Worl ...

against the

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. They are one ...

. Bruton did not play in the 1957 World Series, which the Braves won in seven games, due to a knee injury sustained earlier in the season. In the 1958 World Series, which the Braves lost in seven games, Bruton hit a game-winning single in the tenth inning of Game 1. He played in all seven games of the Series, batting 7-for-17 (.412) with a home run and two RBIs. On August 2, 1959, Bruton hit two bases-loaded triples in one game. The feat had only been accomplished once before ( Elmer Valo, 1949) and has only been accomplished once since ( Duane Kuiper, 1978). In December 1960, Bruton was traded to the

, along with Dick Brown,

Chuck Cottier Charles Keith Cottier (born January 8, 1936) is a former second baseman, manager, coach and scout in American Major League Baseball. Born in Delta, Colorado, Cottier graduated from Grand Junction High School, where he lettered in four sports ...

and

Terry Fox Terrance Stanley Fox (July 28, 1958 June 28, 1981) was a Canadian athlete, humanitarian, and cancer research activist. In 1980, with one leg having been amputated due to cancer, he embarked on an east-to-west cross-Canada run to raise money ...

for a player to be named later and

Frank Bolling Francis Elmore Bolling (November 16, 1931July 11, 2020) was an American baseball second baseman who played twelve seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB). He played for the Detroit Tigers and Milwaukee/Atlanta Braves from 1954 until 1966. He ...

. The Detroit Tigers sent Neil Chrisley (January 17, 1961) to the Milwaukee Braves to complete the trade. He spent four seasons with Detroit before retiring after the 1964 season. In his last game at Tiger Stadium, Bruton hit a drive off the facing of the third deck, near where the retired Tiger numbers were painted, that bounced back onto the field. The ball was still rising when it hit just below the base of the right field light tower.

Statistics

In his twelve-year major league career, Bruton posted an overall .273 batting average with 94

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run i ...

s and 545

run batted in A run batted in (RBI; plural RBIs ) is a statistic in baseball and softball that credits a batter for making a play that allows a run to be scored (except in certain situations such as when an error is made on the play). For example, if the bat ...

in 1,610

games A game is a structured form of play, usually undertaken for entertainment or fun, and sometimes used as an educational tool. Many games are also considered to be work (such as professional players of spectator sports or games) or art (suc ...

. He finished his career with a .981

fielding percentage In baseball statistics, fielding percentage, also known as fielding average, is a measure that reflects the percentage of times a defensive player properly handles a batted or thrown ball. It is calculated by the sum of putouts and assists, di ...

. A line-drive hitter and a fleet-footed runner, Bruton led the

in stolen bases for three consecutive seasons (1953 through 1955), twice in triples (1956 and 1960), and once in

runs scored In baseball, a run is scored when a player advances around first, second and third base and returns safely to home plate, touching the bases in that order, before three outs are recorded and all obligations to reach base safely on batted bal ...

(1960). He led off a game with a home run twelve times. Bruton's

minor league Minor leagues are professional sports leagues which are not regarded as the premier leagues in those sports. Minor league teams tend to play in smaller, less elaborate venues, often competing in smaller cities/markets. This term is used in No ...

milestones include; *tied for the

Northern League Northern League may refer to: Sport Baseball * Northern League (baseball, 1902–71), a name used by several minor leagues that operated in the upper midwestern U.S. and Manitoba from 1902 to 1971 * Northern League (baseball, 1993–2010), an indep ...

lead in games played (124), and led the league in at-bats (545), runs (126), and batting average (.325) while playing for the

Eau Claire Bears The Eau Claire Bears was the primary nickname of the minor league baseball teams from Eau Claire, Wisconsin. Eau Claire was a member of the Class C Northern League (1933-1942, 1946–62) and were affiliates of the Boston Red Sox (1936), Chicago C ...

in 1950 *led the Western League with 27 triples while playing for the Denver Bears in 1951 *tied for the

American Association American Association may refer to: Baseball * American Association (1882–1891), a major league active from 1882 to 1891 * American Association (1902–1997), a minor league active from 1902 to 1962 and 1969 to 1997 * American Association of Profe ...

lead in games played (154), at-bats (650), runs (130), hits (211), and outfield assists (22) while playing for the

Milwaukee Brewers The Milwaukee Brewers are an American professional baseball team based in Milwaukee. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League Central, Central division. The Brewers are named for t ...

in 1952

Personal life

Bruton was a graduate of Parker High School in

Birmingham, Alabama Birmingham ( ) is a city in the north central region of the U.S. state of Alabama. Birmingham is the seat of Jefferson County, Alabama's most populous county. As of the 2021 census estimates, Birmingham had a population of 197,575, down 1% f ...

, and served in the

Army An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...

from 1944 through 1947. He was a spokesman for Tareyton cigarettes in the 1960s. In 1991, Bruton was inducted into the Delaware Sports Museum and Hall of Fame. According to a

Delaware State Police The Delaware State Police (DSP) is a division of the Delaware Department of Public Safety and Homeland Security and is responsible for traffic regulation and law enforcement across the state of Delaware, especially in areas underserved by local ...

report, Bruton suffered a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which ma ...

while driving his car in Marshallton, Delaware, near his home in Wilmington on December 5, 1995. Apparently, Bruton's car veered off the road and hit a pole; after which he was pronounced dead at a local hospital. He was 70.

References

*1955 Baseball Register, published by

The Sporting News The ''Sporting News'' is a website and former magazine publication owned by Sporting News Holdings, which is a U.S.-based sports media company formed in December 2020 by a private investor consortium. It was originally established in 1886 as a pr ...

External links

Bill Bruton
at SABR (Baseball BioProject)

at The Deadball Era * : {{DEFAULTSORT:Bruton, Bill 1925 births 1995 deaths African-American baseball players Baseball players from Alabama People from Sumter County, Alabama Cangrejeros de Santurce (baseball) players Denver Bears players Detroit Tigers players Detroit Tigers scouts Eau Claire Bears players Liga de Béisbol Profesional Roberto Clemente outfielders Major League Baseball center fielders Milwaukee Braves players Milwaukee Brewers (minor league) players National League stolen base champions Road incident deaths in Delaware United States Army personnel of World War II 20th-century African-American sportspeople

Career

Statistics

Personal life

See also

References

Further reading

External links