William Rodman Henry (October 15, 1927 – April 11, 2014) 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 ...

player. A

left-handed In human biology, handedness is an individual's preferential use of one hand, known as the dominant hand, due to it being stronger, faster or more dextrous. The other hand, comparatively often the weaker, less dextrous or simply less subjecti ...

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 ...

, he appeared 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 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 eight ...

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 ...

Cincinnati Reds The Cincinnati Reds are an American professional baseball team based in Cincinnati. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League Central, Central division and were a charter member of ...

San Francisco Giants The San Francisco Giants are an American professional baseball team based in San Francisco, California. The Giants compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Founded in 1883 as the New Yor ...

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 ...

, and

Houston Astros The Houston Astros are an American professional baseball team based in Houston, Texas. The Astros compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division, having moved to the division in 2013 after ...

. He was nicknamed "Gabby" by teammates for his quiet nature. After playing college baseball for the Houston Cougars, he began his career for the Red Sox in 1952, and was primarily a starter for the team. Henry was the first from the University of Houston's baseball history to make it to the Major League. After a two-year absence from the Major Leagues, he returned to MLB as a

relief pitcher In baseball and softball, a relief pitcher or reliever is a pitcher who enters the game after the starting pitcher is removed because of fatigue (medical), fatigue, ineffectiveness, injury, or ejection (sports), ejection, or for other strategic ...

for the Cubs in 1958. He would only make 2 starts the rest of his career. As a reliever, Henry amassed 90 saves. He appeared in the 1960 All-Star Game, and pitched in the

1961 World Series The 1961 World Series was the championship series of Major League Baseball's (MLB) 1961 season. The 58th edition of the World Series, it was a best-of-seven playoff that matched the American League (AL) champion New York Yankees (109–53) ag ...

while on the

. Henry was released by the

on June 28, 1969, ending his Major League career. Henry was a victim of

identity theft Identity theft occurs when someone uses another person's personal identifying information, like their name, identifying number, or credit card number, without their permission, to commit fraud or other crimes. The term ''identity theft'' was co ...

and his death was erroneously reported in August 2007 in a news story that was widely circulated. He was contacted by baseball historian David Allen Lambert who first reported his false death report to him. He resided in

Deer Park, Texas Deer Park is a city in the U.S. state of Texas within the Greater Houston, Houston–Sugar Land–Baytown metropolitan area. The city is located in Harris County, Texas, Harris County and is situated in Southeast Texas. At the 2020 Unite ...

, near

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...

. Bill Henry's story appeared in ''

Sports Illustrated ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellence twic ...

'' in

Rick Reilly Richard Paul Reilly (born February 3, 1958) is an American sportswriter. Long known for being the "back page" columnist for ''Sports Illustrated'', Reilly moved to ESPN on June 1, 2008, where he was a featured columnist for ESPN.com and wrote t ...

's "Life of Reilly" column entitled "The Passing of a Counterfeit Bill" (September 24, 2007, p. 76). He died as a result of heart problems at the age of 86 on April 11, 2014 in

Round Rock, Texas Round Rock is a city in the U.S. state of Texas, in Williamson County (with a small part in Travis County), which is a part of the Greater Austin metropolitan area. Its population is 119,468 as of the 2020 census. The city straddles the Bal ...

.The Pasadena Citizen
Pasadena community loses a sports legend: Bill Henry dead at 86
2014-04-16, retrieved 2014-04-22

References

External links

''Lakeland Ledger'' - September 5, 2007Bill Henry at Baseball Almanac''Pasadena Independent School District'' - April 16, 2014
{{DEFAULTSORT:Henry, Bill 1927 births 2014 deaths Baseball players from Texas Boston Red Sox players Charleston Senators players Chicago Cubs players Cincinnati Reds players Clarksdale Planters players Greenville Majors players Houston Astros players Houston Cougars baseball players Louisville Colonels (minor league) players Major League Baseball pitchers Memphis Chickasaws players National League All-Stars Ohio State League players People from Alice, Texas People from Deer Park, Texas Pittsburgh Pirates players Portland Beavers players San Diego Padres (minor league) players San Francisco Giants players San Francisco Seals (baseball) players Shreveport Sports players Sportspeople from Harris County, Texas

See also

References

External links