William Michael Joyce (September 22, 1867 – May 8, 1941) was an American professional

baseball player 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 ...

and

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities o ...

. He was a

third baseman A third baseman, abbreviated 3B, is the player in baseball or softball whose responsibility is to defend the area nearest to third base — the third of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. In the scoring system us ...

over parts of eight seasons with the

Brooklyn Ward's Wonders The Brooklyn Ward's Wonders were a baseball team who played in the Players' League in 1890. The team's nickname derived from its superstar shortstop, hall of famer John Montgomery Ward. The team finished with a 76–56 record, finishing in second ...

(of the

Players' League The Players' National League of Professional Base Ball Clubs, popularly known as the Players' League (PL), was a short-lived but star-studded professional American baseball league of the 19th century. The PL was formed by the Brotherhood of Prof ...

), Boston Reds (of the

American Association American Association may refer to: Baseball * American Association (1882–1891), a major league active from 1882 to 1891 * American Association (1902–1997), a minor league active from 1902 to 1962 and 1969 to 1997 * American Association of Profe ...

Brooklyn Grooms The Brooklyn Dodgers were a Major League Baseball team founded in 1884 as a member of the American Association before joining the National League in 1890. They remained in Brooklyn until 1957, after which the club moved to Los Angeles, Califo ...

, Washington Senators, 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. ...

. He also served as manager during his tenure with the Giants. Joyce was born on September 22, 1867 to Irish immigrants in

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the Greater St. Louis, ...

. He worked in a

rolling mill In metalworking, rolling is a metal forming process in which metal stock is passed through one or more pairs of rolls to reduce the thickness, to make the thickness uniform, and/or to impart a desired mechanical property. The concept is simil ...

before beginning his minor league career in the

Texas League The Texas League is a Minor League Baseball league which has operated in the South Central United States since 1902. It is classified as a Double-A league. Despite the league's name, only its five South Division teams are actually based in the ...

in 1887. He continued in the Texas League in 1888 and 1889. Joyce impressed

St. Louis Browns The St. Louis Browns were a Major League Baseball team that originated in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, as the Milwaukee Brewers. A charter member of the American League (AL), the Brewers moved to St. Louis, Missouri, after the 1901 season, where they p ...

player-manager

Charlie Comiskey Charles Albert Comiskey (August 15, 1859 – October 26, 1931), nicknamed "Commy" or "The Old Roman", was an American Major League Baseball player, manager and team owner. He was a key person in the formation of the American League, and was also ...

at a December 1889 exhibition game, leading Comiskey to recommend that

founder

John Montgomery Ward John Montgomery Ward (March 3, 1860 – March 4, 1925), known as Monte Ward, was an American Major League Baseball pitcher, shortstop, second baseman, third baseman, manager, executive, union organizer, owner and author. Ward, of English descent, ...

hire Joyce for his

club. In the Players' League's lone season, Joyce led the league in walks, with 123 in 133 games. In 1891, he reached base in 64 consecutive games, a major league record not bettered until 1941. After the Players' League folded, Joyce signed with the Boston Reds of the American Association for that league's final year, 1891. He then joined Monte Ward's

for the 1892 season. After an offseason trade, he held out against the Washington Senators for the entire 1893 season. He returned in 1894 and was named

team captain In team sport, captain is a title given to a member of the team. The title is frequently honorary, but in some cases the captain may have significant responsibility for strategy and teamwork while the game is in progress on the field. In eithe ...

. Joyce became a leading slugger for the next several seasons; between 1894 and 1898, he led the majors in

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run i ...

s (60), was fifth in

slugging percentage In baseball statistics, slugging percentage (SLG) is a measure of the batting productivity of a hitter. It is calculated as total bases divided by at bats, through the following formula, where ''AB'' is the number of at bats for a given player, ...

(.497), and seventh in

on-base percentage In baseball statistics, on-base percentage (OBP) measures how frequently a batter reaches base. An official Major League Baseball (MLB) statistic since 1984, it is sometimes referred to as on-base average (OBA), as it is rarely presented as a ...

(.444). He tied for the National League lead in home runs in 1896 (with

Ed Delahanty Edward James Delahanty (October 30, 1867 – July 2, 1903), nicknamed "Big Ed", was an American professional baseball player, who spent his Major League Baseball (MLB) playing career with the Philadelphia Quakers, Cleveland Infants, Philadelph ...

) while playing for Washington and New York, and finished second three other times. He holds the record with four triples in one game, which he accomplished in 1897 (tying George Strief's 1885 record). Joyce served as player-manager with New York. Despite generally being popular with other players, Joyce gradually lost favor with Giants owner

Andrew Freedman Andrew Freedman (September 1, 1860 – December 4, 1915) was an American businessman who is primarily remembered as the owner of the New York Giants professional baseball team of the National League from 1895 to 1902. He also briefly owned the ...

and was not brought back after the 1898 season. Joyce also developed a reputation as a frequent and vociferous critic of umpire calls, earning numerous fines for arguing. Pioneering baseball writer Henry Chadwick criticized his "pernicious habit of stupid kicking." In 906 games over eight seasons, Joyce posted a .293

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 ...

(971-for-3,310) with 822 runs, 153 doubles, 106 triples, 70 home runs, 609 RBI, 266

stolen bases In baseball, a stolen base occurs when a runner advances to a base to which they are not entitled and the official scorer rules that the advance should be credited to the action of the runner. The umpires determine whether the runner is safe or ...

, 721

bases on balls A base on balls (BB), also known as a walk, occurs in baseball when a batter receives four pitches that the umpire calls '' balls'', and is in turn awarded first base without the possibility of being called out. The base on balls is defined in Se ...

, .435 on-base percentage and .467 slugging percentage. His walk rate of 17.3% was the second-highest in major league history between 1871 and 1920, the advent of the

live-ball era The live-ball era, also referred to as the lively ball era, is the period in Major League Baseball beginning in (and continuing to the present day), contrasting with the pre-1920 period known as the "dead-ball era". The name "live-ball era" comes ...

. After retiring in December 1899, Joyce held many jobs, including saloonkeeper, minor league owner and manager, professional baseball scout, security guard, and municipal smoke inspector. He married in 1908. Joyce died on May 8, 1941, in St. Louis, at the age of 75. He is buried at

Bellefontaine Cemetery Bellefontaine Cemetery is a nonprofit, non-denominational cemetery and arboretum in St. Louis, Missouri. Founded in 1849 as a rural cemetery, Bellefontaine is home to a number of architecturally significant monuments and mausoleums such as the ...

References

External links

, o
Retrosheet
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Joyce, Bill 1867 births 1941 deaths National League home run champions Baseball players from St. Louis Major League Baseball third basemen 19th-century baseball players Major League Baseball player-managers Brooklyn Ward's Wonders players Boston Reds (AA) players Brooklyn Grooms players Washington Senators (1891–1899) players New York Giants (NL) players New York Giants (NL) managers Minor league baseball managers Leavenworth Soldiers players Kansas City Cowboys (minor league) players Fort Worth Panthers players New Orleans Pelicans (baseball) players Toledo Black Pirates players Houston Mud Cats players burials in Missouri

See also

References

External links