William Leopold Hoffer (November 8, 1870 – July 21, 1959) was a 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. He was a right-handed

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 ...

over parts of six seasons (1895–1899, 1901) 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 ...

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 Cleveland Blues. For his career, he compiled a 92–46 record in 161 appearances, with a 3.75

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 ...

and 314

strikeout In baseball or softball, a strikeout (or strike-out) occurs when a batter accumulates three strikes during a time at bat. It usually means that the batter is out. A strikeout is a statistic recorded for both pitchers and batters, and is deno ...

s. In 1901 he archived the dubious honor of being the losing pitcher in the American League's first game.''Glory Fades Away'', by Jerry Lansche, 1991, Taylor Publishing, In his rookie year, 1895, he compiled 31 wins (including a league-leading four shutouts) for the League-winning Orioles. He led the National League in Winning Percentage in 1895 and 1896. He was born and later died in

Cedar Rapids, Iowa Cedar Rapids () is the second-largest city in Iowa, United States and is the county seat of Linn County, Iowa, Linn County. The city lies on both banks of the Cedar River (Iowa River), Cedar River, north of Iowa City, Iowa, Iowa City and north ...

, at the age of 88.

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1870 births 1959 deaths Major League Baseball pitchers Baseball players from Iowa Baltimore Orioles (NL) players Cleveland Blues (1901) players Pittsburgh Pirates players Minor league baseball managers Cedar Rapids Canaries players Joliet Convicts players Toledo Black Pirates players Marinette Badgers players Nashville Tigers players Buffalo Bisons (minor league) players Sacramento Senators players Cleveland Lake Shores players Des Moines Midgets players Des Moines Prohibitionists players Des Moines Undertakers players Oklahoma City Mets players Cedar Rapids Rabbits players 19th-century baseball players {{US-baseball-pitcher-1870s-stub

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