William Clayton Drescher (May 23, 1921 – May 15, 1968) was an American

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in baseball league, leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Mod ...

catcher Catcher is a Baseball positions, position in baseball and softball. When a Batter (baseball), batter takes their at bat, turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the (home plate, home) Umpire (baseball), umpire, and recei ...

who appeared in 57 games 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), ...

for the

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

between in and . Born in

Congers, New York Congers is a suburban hamlet and census-designated place in the town of Clarkstown, Rockland County, New York, United States. It is located north of Valley Cottage, east of New City, across Lake DeForest, south of Haverstraw, and west of the Huds ...

, he batted left-handed, threw right-handed, and was listed as tall and . Nicknamed "Dutch", Drescher had a 12-year professional career that began in 1942 and ended in 1954; he did not play during the 1951 season. Most of his MLB action occurred during , the last wartime season, when Drescher caught 266

innings An innings is one of the divisions of a cricket match during which one team takes its turn to bat. Innings also means the period in which an individual player bats (acts as either striker or nonstriker). Innings, in cricket, and rounders, is bot ...

, second only to

Mike Garbark Nathaniel Michael Garbark (February 3, 1916 – August 31, 1994) was a Major League Baseball player. Garbark played for the New York Yankees in and . He batted and threw right-handed. He was born in Houston, Texas and died in Charlotte, North Ca ...

among backstops on the Yankee roster. In 1946, with war veterans returning to baseball, Drescher got into only six May games and caught 12 innings before returning to the

minor leagues 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 Nor ...

. He played at Triple-A for the rest of his pro career. With the Yankees, Drescher had 37 career

hits Hits or H.I.T.S. may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * ''H.I.T.S.'', 1991 album by New Kids on the Block * ''...Hits'' (Phil Collins album), 1998 * ''Hits'' (compilation series), 1984–2006; 2014 - a British compilation album se ...

, including four doubles, one

triple Triple is used in several contexts to mean "threefold" or a " treble": Sports * Triple (baseball), a three-base hit * A basketball three-point field goal * A figure skating jump with three rotations * In bowling terms, three strikes in a row * ...

and 16 RBIs,

batting Batting may refer to: *Batting (baseball), the act of attempting to hit a ball thrown by the pitcher with a baseball bat, in order to score runs *Batting (cricket), the act of defending one's wicket with the cricket bat while attempting to score ru ...

.266 in 57 games. He died at age 46 on May 15, 1968, in

Haverstraw, New York Haverstraw is a town in Rockland County, New York, United States, located north of the Town of Clarkstown and the Town of Ramapo; east of Orange County; south of the Town of Stony Point; and west of the Hudson River. The town runs from the w ...

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baseball reference
1921 births 1968 deaths Amsterdam Rugmakers players Baseball players from New York (state) Binghamton Triplets players Kansas City Blues (baseball) players Major League Baseball catchers Newark Bears (International League) players New York Yankees players People from Congers, New York People from Haverstraw, New York Sportspeople from Rockland County, New York Syracuse Chiefs players {{US-baseball-catcher-1920s-stub