William Gordon Conroy (February 26, 1915 – November 13, 1997) was a backup

catcher Catcher is a position in baseball and softball. When a batter takes their turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the ( home) umpire, and receives the ball from the pitcher. In addition to this primary duty, the ca ...

who played in

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), ...

between and . Listed at 6' 0", 185 lb., Conroy batted and threw right-handed. He was born in Bloomington, Illinois. Conroy reached the majors in 1935 with the Philadelphia Athletics, playing for them three years before joining the US Army during World War II. After discharge, he played for the

Boston Red Sox The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Founded in as one of the American League's eigh ...

from 1942 through 1944. His most productive season came in 1942 with Boston, when he appeared in a career-high 83 games and hit four

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 with 20

runs 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 ba ...

. In a six-season career, Conroy was a .199 hitter (90-for-452) with five home runs and 33 RBI in 169 games, including 13 doubles, three triples, and a .322 on-base percentage. Conroy died in

Citrus Heights, California Citrus Heights is a city in Sacramento County, California. As of the 2020 U.S. Census, the city had a population of 87,583, up from 83,301 at the 2010 U.S. Census. History Citrus Heights voters approved the measure to incorporate the City on No ...

at age 82.

External links

Retrosheet
* 1915 births 1997 deaths Baseball players from Illinois Major League Baseball catchers Philadelphia Athletics players Boston Red Sox players United States Army personnel of World War II Sportspeople from Bloomington, Illinois People from Citrus Heights, California Military personnel from Illinois {{US-baseball-catcher-1910s-stub