William Edward Kemmer (November 15, 1873 – June 8, 1945), nicknamed "Big Bill", 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 ...

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), ...

. He played for the

Louisville Colonels The Louisville Colonels were a Major League Baseball team that also played in the American Association (AA) throughout that league's ten-year existence from 1882 until 1891. They were known as the Louisville Eclipse from 1882 to 1884, and as th ...

in 1895 and also had a 17-year minor league career. Kenner stood at and weighed 195 lbs."Bill Kemmer Statistics and History"
''baseball-reference.com''. Retrieved 2010-12-23.

Career

Kemmer was born in

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

. He started his professional baseball career in 1893 in the

Western Association The Western Association was the name of five different leagues formed in American minor league baseball during the 19th and 20th centuries. The oldest league, originally established as the Northwestern League in 1883, was refounded as the Weste ...

, where he batted .328 in 15 games."Bill Kemmer Minor League Statistics & History"
''baseball-reference.com''. Retrieved 2010-12-23. Two years later, he was with Shreveport before being acquired by the Louisville Colonels to play third base. Kemmer, however, did not "fill the bill" and was eventually replaced with future Hall of Famer

Jimmy Collins James Joseph Collins (January 16, 1870 – March 6, 1943) was an American professional baseball player. He played 14 seasons in Major League Baseball. Collins was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1945. Collins was especially regarded fo ...

. In Kemmer's 11 Major League games in 1895, he went 7 for 38 (.184) at the plate. Kemmer spent 1897 to 1899 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 ...

. On April 18, 1898, he set a league record with 12

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 ba ...

during a single game. That mark was topped four years later, but it remains the second-highest total in Texas League history and the third-highest in all the minors leagues. Kemmer continued his hot-hitting in 1899, batting .331 with a league-leading 28 doubles. His 108 hits ranked second behind Lefty Houtz. That was the last season in which he would bat over .300. Kemmer then played in Virginia for two years before moving to the Western League. He played for two Western League teams, the

Kansas City Blue Stockings The Kansas City Blue Stockings were a minor league baseball team based in Kansas City, Missouri. In 1902 and 1903, the Kansas City Blue Stockings played exclusively as members of the Class A level Western League, capturing the 1902 league champ ...

and St. Joseph Saints. In 1905, he played 43 games in the Pacific Coast League. His

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 ...

was only .200, but he set another single-game league record when he had six assists as a

first baseman A first baseman, abbreviated 1B, is the player on a baseball or softball team who fields the area nearest first base, the first of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. The first baseman is responsible for the majori ...

on May 26. That PCL mark has never been surpassed as of 2010."Individual Fielding Records"
''minorleaguebaseball.com''. Retrieved 2010-12-23. Kemmer played in a different minor league every year from 1906 to 1910. After batting .200 in 1910, he retired from professional baseball. Bill Kemmer died in 1945 in

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kemmer, Bill 1873 births 1945 deaths Major League Baseball third basemen Louisville Colonels players Lawrence Jayhawks players Waco Tigers players Houston Buffaloes players Galveston Sand Crabs players Norfolk Skippers players Portsmouth Browns players Kansas City Blue Stockings players St. Joseph Saints players Toledo Mud Hens players Seattle Siwashes players St. Joseph Packers players Hutchinson Salt Packers players Mobile Sea Gulls players McKeesport Tubers players Newton Railroaders players Oklahoma City Indians players Baseball players from Pennsylvania 19th-century baseball players