William Ray Howerton (December 12, 1921 – December 18, 2001) 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. An

outfielder An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder. As an outfielder, their duty is to cat ...

, 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), ...

in 247

games played Games played (GP) is a statistic used in team sports to indicate the total number of games in which a player has participated (in any capacity); the statistic is generally applied irrespective of whatever portion of the game is contested. Basebal ...

during all or part of four seasons (–), for the

St. Louis Cardinals The St. Louis Cardinals are an American professional baseball team based in St. Louis. The Cardinals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Since the 2006 season, the Cardinals ha ...

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

New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. ...

. The native of

Lompoc, California Lompoc ( ; Chumash: ''Lum Poc'') is a city in Santa Barbara County, California. Located on the Central Coast, Lompoc has a population of 43,834 as of July 2021. Lompoc has been inhabited for thousands of years by the Chumash people, who called ...

, batted left-handed, threw right-handed; he stood tall and weighed . Howerton grew up on a ranch in

Santa Ynez, California Santa Ynez (; Spanish for "St. Agnes") is a census-designated place (CDP) in the Santa Ynez Valley of Santa Barbara County, California. The town of Santa Ynez is one of the communities of the Santa Ynez Valley. It features the Santa Ynez Airport ...

. After graduation, from Santa Ynez High School, he attended St. Mary's College of California.Obituary, from HowertonHeritage.com
He signed with 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 ...

in 1943 and played three seasons in their

farm system In sports, a farm team, farm system, feeder team, feeder club, or nursery club is generally a team or club whose role is to provide experience and training for young players, with an agreement that any successful players can move on to a higher ...

before being acquired by the Cardinals' organization. In September 1949, after Howerton batted .329 with 111

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 bat ...

for the Triple-A

Columbus Red Birds The Columbus Red Birds were a top-level minor league baseball team that played in Columbus, Ohio, in the American Association from 1931 through 1954. The Columbus club, a member of the Association continuously since 1902, was previously known as ...

, he was recalled by the Cardinals for a late-season trial. In , he made the Redbird roster out of spring training and had his most successful MLB season, appearing in 110 games and collecting 88 hits (38 for extra bases) and 59 runs batted in. He was traded to the Pirates on June 15, 1951, in a deal that included fellow Redbirds

Howie Pollet Howard Joseph Pollet (June 26, 1921 – August 8, 1974) was an American left-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball during the 1940s and 1950s. A three-time All-Star in 1943, 1946 and 1949, he twice led the National League in earned run averag ...

Ted Wilks Theodore Wilks (November 13, 1915 – August 21, 1989) was an American professional baseball player. Born in Fulton, New York, he was a right-handed pitcher who appeared in 385 games in Major League Baseball over ten seasons (1944–53) as a memb ...

and

Joe Garagiola Joseph Henry Garagiola Sr. (February 12, 1926 – March 23, 2016) was an American professional baseball catcher, later an announcer and television host, popular for his colorful personality. Garagiola played nine seasons in Major League Basebal ...

, and played in 80 games for Pittsburgh, batting .274 in his last full MLB season. After retiring, Howerton entered the trucking business in California. He died in

Blakely, Pennsylvania Blakely is a borough in Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania. It is part of Northeastern Pennsylvania. The population was 6,657 at the 2020 census. The Lackawanna River flows through Blakely, and within the borough is the village of Peckville. Hi ...

, at age 80. His son, also named Bill, was the head baseball coach of the

University of Scranton The University of Scranton is a private Jesuit university in Scranton, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1888 by William O'Hara, the first Bishop of Scranton, as St. Thomas College. In 1938, the college was elevated to university status and took t ...

from 1987 to 2002.University of Scranton official site

References

External links

Baseball Almanac
Major League Baseball outfielders St. Louis Cardinals players Pittsburgh Pirates players New York Giants (NL) players Scranton Red Sox players Louisville Colonels (minor league) players Saint Mary's Gaels baseball players Landis Millers players Richmond Colts players Scranton Miners players Columbus Red Birds players Hopewell Blue Sox players Minneapolis Millers (baseball) players Oakland Oaks (baseball) players Beaumont Exporters players People from Lompoc, California Baseball players from Santa Barbara County, California 1921 births 2001 deaths {{US-baseball-outfielder-stub