William J. Geiss (July 15, 1858 – September 18, 1924) was an American professional

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

player from 1882 to 1894. He played two seasons 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), ...

, as a

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

for the 1882 Baltimore Orioles, and as a second baseman for the 1884 Detroit Wolverines. He appeared in 93 major league games, 73 as a second baseman and 13 as a

. He also played 11 seasons of minor league baseball for at least 17 different minor league clubs from 1883 to 1894.

Early years

Geiss was born in 1858 in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

. His parents, John Geis and Mary (Meyer) Geis, were both immigrants from Germany. Geiss's younger brother,

Emil Geiss Emil August Geiss (March 20, 1867 – October 4, 1911) was an American professional baseball player who was a pitcher and infielder for one season in Major League Baseball. He appeared in three games for the Chicago White Stockings (1870–8 ...

, also played professional baseball.

Professional baseball

Baltimore Orioles

Geiss made his debut in

with the

Baltimore Orioles The Baltimore Orioles are an American professional baseball team based in Baltimore. The Orioles compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League East, East division. As one of the American L ...

on July 19, 1882, at age 24. He appeared in 13 games as a pitcher for the Orioles and also appeared in four games as an outfielder. As a pitcher he compiled a 4-9 (.308) record with a 4.80

earned run average In baseball statistics, earned run average (ERA) is the average of earned runs allowed by a pitcher per nine innings pitched (i.e. the traditional length of a game). It is determined by dividing the number of earned runs allowed by the number ...

(ERA) in 95-2/3 innings pitched.

Detroit Wolverines

After spending the 1883 season with the Fort Wayne Hoosiers in the

Northwestern League The Northwestern League was a sports league that operated in the Central United States during the early years of professional baseball for five seasons: 1879, 1883–1884, and 1886–1887. After the 1887 season, the league was replaced by the We ...

, Geiss joined the

Detroit Wolverines The Detroit Wolverines were a 19th-century Major League Baseball team that played in the National League from 1881 to 1888 in the city of Detroit, Michigan. In total, they won 426 games and lost 437, taking their lone pennant (and winning the pre ...

in 1884. He appeared in 75 games for the Wolverines, including 73 games at second base and one games as a pitcher. He compiled a .177

batting average Batting average is a statistic in cricket, baseball, and softball that measures the performance of batters. The development of the baseball statistic was influenced by the cricket statistic. Cricket In cricket, a player's batting average is ...

and struck out 60 times in 284 at bats. In his one game as pitcher, he threw five relief innings and allowed 14 hits, two bases on balls, and 16 runs, eight of them earned, for an ERA of 14.40. His

Wins Above Replacement Wins Above Replacement or Wins Above Replacement Player, commonly abbreviated to WAR or WARP, is a non-standardized sabermetric baseball statistic developed to sum up "a player's total contributions to his team". A player's WAR value is claimed to ...

(WAR) rating for the 1884 season was -1.4. Geiss appeared in his last major league game on August 13, 1884.

Minor leagues

Although his major league career ended in 1884, Geiss continued to play in the minor leagues, principally as a second baseman, for another 10 years. A newspaper story in 1891 stated that he had "always been considered a good, reliable player on second." An account published in 1892 in ''Sporting Life'' stated that he "has always ranked very high among the second basemen in whatever league he played", and "is one of the most accurate men on ground balls that ever played second, and he can play equally well at third or short field." Giess appeared in at least 560 minor league games. Although records are incomplete, he stole at least 105 bases, including 36 with New Orleans in 1887. Geiss's minor league career saw him play for at least 17 different teams in 10 years, including stints with

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% fr ...

(1885),

Omaha, Nebraska Omaha ( ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Nebraska and the county seat of Douglas County. Omaha is in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about north of the mouth of the Platte River. The nation's 39th-largest cit ...

(1885),

Macon, Georgia Macon ( ), officially Macon–Bibb County, is a consolidated city-county in the U.S. state of Georgia. Situated near the fall line of the Ocmulgee River, it is located southeast of Atlanta and lies near the geographic center of the state of Geo ...

(1886), the

New Orleans Pelicans The New Orleans Pelicans are an American professional basketball team based in New Orleans. The Pelicans compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference Southwest Division and play their hom ...

(1887),

Charleston, South Carolina Charleston is the largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina, the county seat of Charleston County, and the principal city in the Charleston–North Charleston metropolitan area. The city lies just south of the geographical midpoint o ...

(1888),

Sioux City, Iowa Sioux City () is a city in Woodbury and Plymouth counties in the northwestern part of the U.S. state of Iowa. The population was 85,797 in the 2020 census, making it the fourth-largest city in Iowa. The bulk of the city is in Woodbury County, ...

(1888),

Kalamazoo Kalamazoo ( ) is a city in the southwest region of the U.S. state of Michigan. It is the county seat of Kalamazoo County. At the 2010 census, Kalamazoo had a population of 74,262. Kalamazoo is the major city of the Kalamazoo-Portage Metropolit ...

and

Flint, Michigan Flint is the largest city and seat of Genesee County, Michigan, United States. Located along the Flint River, northwest of Detroit, it is a principal city within the region known as Mid Michigan. At the 2020 census, Flint had a population of 8 ...

(1889),

Ottawa, Illinois Ottawa is a city located at the confluence of the navigable Illinois River and Fox River in LaSalle County, Illinois, United States. The Illinois River is a conduit for river barges and connects Lake Michigan at Chicago, to the Mississippi Riv ...

(1890–91),

Joliet, Illinois Joliet ( ) is a city in Will County, Illinois, Will and Kendall County, Illinois, Kendall counties in the U.S. state of Illinois, southwest of Chicago. It is the county seat of Will County. At the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the cit ...

(1891),

Montgomery, Alabama Montgomery is the capital city of the U.S. state of Alabama and the county seat of Montgomery County. Named for the Irish soldier Richard Montgomery, it stands beside the Alabama River, on the coastal Plain of the Gulf of Mexico. In the 202 ...

(1892),

Chattanooga, Tennessee Chattanooga ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Hamilton County, Tennessee, United States. Located along the Tennessee River bordering Georgia, it also extends into Marion County on its western end. With a population of 181,099 in 2020, ...

(1892),

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the List of muni ...

(1893),

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

(1894), and Savannah Modocs (1894).

Later years

Geiss was married to Anna Geiss and worked as a laborer in his later years. He died in 1924 at age 66 in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

. He was buried at St. Boniface Cemetery in that city.Death record for William Geiss, born Chicago, 18 Sep 1924, died Chicago, 22 Sep 1924. Ancestry.com. Illinois, Deaths and Stillbirths Index, 1916–1947 atabase on-line Provo, Utah, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Geiss, Bill 1858 births 1924 deaths Major League Baseball pitchers Major League Baseball second basemen 19th-century baseball players Baltimore Orioles (AA) players Detroit Wolverines players Fort Wayne Hoosiers players Birmingham (minor league baseball) players Nashville Americans players Omaha Omahogs players Keokuk Hawkeyes players Memphis Reds players Robert E. Lee's players Macon (minor league baseball) players New Orleans Pelicans (baseball) players Charleston Seagulls players Sioux City Corn Huskers players Flint Flyers players Kalamazoo Kazoos players Joliet Giants players Ottawa Modocs players Chattanooga Chatts players Montgomery Lambs players Nashville Tigers players Atlanta Atlantas players Savannah Modocs players Baseball players from Chicago