William Frederick Krieg (January 29, 1859 – March 25. 1930) was a

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), ...

player from 1884 to 1887."Bill Krieg Statistics and History"
''baseball-reference.com''. Retrieved 2010-11-24. He won three batting titles in the minor leagues.

Career

Krieg was born in

Petersburg, Illinois Petersburg is a city in and the county seat of Menard County, Illinois, United States, on the bluffs and part of the floodplain overlooking the Sangamon River. It is part of the Springfield, Illinois Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population ...

. He played

college baseball College baseball is baseball that is played on the intercollegiate level at institutions of higher education. In comparison to football and basketball, college competition in the United States plays a smaller role in developing professional p ...

at the

University of Notre Dame The University of Notre Dame du Lac, known simply as Notre Dame ( ) or ND, is a private Catholic university, Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, outside the city of South Bend, Indiana, South Bend. French priest Edward Sorin fo ...

and then started his professional baseball career in 1883, in the

Northwestern League The Northwestern League was a sports league that operated in the Central United States during the early years of professional baseball for five seasons: 1879, 1883–1884, and 1886–1887. After the 1887 season, the league was replaced by the We ...

. In 1884, Krieg played in the Union Association, which is now considered a "major league." He batted .247. During the following season, he had short stints with four different ballclubs: two minor league teams based in Hartford and the major league Chicago White Stockings and Brooklyn Grays. In 1886, he split time with the

Washington Nationals The Washington Nationals are an American professional baseball team based in Washington, D.C.. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) East division. From 2005 to 2007, the team played in RFK Stadiu ...

and the Eastern League's Hartford Dark Blues."Bill Krieg Minor League Statistics & History"
''baseball-reference.com''. Retrieved 2010-11-24. Krieg started 1887 with Washington. On opening day, he hit a

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 ...

, and in the stands, "hats, umbrellas and canes were thrown into the air and the multitude shouted forth their joy in hilarious manner." However, Krieg batted just .253 in 25 games and was released in midseason. He played his final major league game on June 15. Afterwards, he joined the Northwestern League's

Minneapolis Millers The Minneapolis Millers were an American professional minor league baseball team that played in Minneapolis, Minnesota, through 1960. In the 19th century a different Minneapolis Millers were part of the Western League. The team played first in ...

and batted .402, which was the second-best total in the circuit. Krieg played 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 ...

in 1888 and would remain in that league for most of the following decade. In 1889, he batted .326 and then joined Milwaukee in 1890. In 1892, he won his first batting title while playing in Milwaukee. Krieg had a career season with Rockford in 1895. During that campaign, he batted a robust .452, with 237 hits, 14 triples, and 11 home runs to lead the Western Association in all four categories.Sullivan, Neil J.
The Minors
' (Macmillan, 1990), p. 31. He won another batting title the following year, at .350. In 1897, he hit .340. In 1898, he became the

player-manager A player-coach (also playing coach, captain-coach, or player-manager) is a member of a sports team who simultaneously holds both playing and coaching duties. A player-coach may be a head coach or an assistant coach. They may make changes to the s ...

for the Burlington Hawkeyes, but his batting average slipped to .297. In 1899, he was player-manager for the

Bloomington Blues Bloomington may refer to: Places U.S.A. (most commonly) * Bloomington, Illinois *Bloomington, Indiana * Bloomington, Minnesota U.S.A. (less commonly) * Bloomington, California * Bloomington, Idaho * Bloomington, Kansas * Bloomington, Maryland * ...

. Krieg's playing career ended in 1901, when he was 42 years old. The following season, he managed in the

Southern Association The Southern Association was a higher-level minor league in American organized baseball from 1901 through 1961. For most of its existence, the Southern Association was two steps below the Major Leagues; it was graded Class A (1902–1935), Cla ...

and then retired from the game. Early in his career, he had been a

catcher Catcher is a position in baseball and softball. When a batter takes their turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the ( home) umpire, and receives the ball from the pitcher. In addition to this primary duty, the ca ...

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 c ...

, and

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 ...

– he played the majority of his MLB games as a catcher – but he ended up being primarily a first baseman later in his career. Krieg's lifetime minor league

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 .335, and Bill James considered him to be the best minor league baseball player of the 1880s. By 1905 Krieg was living in

Chillicothe, Illinois Chillicothe is a city on the Illinois River in Peoria County, Illinois, United States. The population was 6,097 at the 2010 census. Chillicothe is just north of the city of Peoria and is part of the Peoria Metropolitan Statistical Area. Geograp ...

,Bill Krieg - BR Bullpen
Retrieved 2017-03-02. where he died in 1930, at the age of 71.

References

External links

Baseball-Almanac page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Krieg, Bill 1859 births 1930 deaths Major League Baseball catchers Major League Baseball outfielders Major League Baseball first basemen Chicago Browns/Pittsburgh Stogies players Chicago White Stockings players Brooklyn Grays players Washington Nationals (1886–1889) players Springfield, Illinois (minor league baseball) players Peoria Reds players Hartford Dark Blues (minor league) players Minneapolis Millers (baseball) players Kansas City Blues (baseball) players St. Joseph Clay Eaters players Milwaukee Brewers (minor league) players Milwaukee Creams players Nashville Tigers players Rock Island-Moline Islanders players Detroit Creams players Rockford Forest City players Rockford Reds players Brockton Shoemakers players Des Moines Prohibitionists players Burlington Hawkeyes players Bloomington Blues players Peoria Distillers players Terre Haute Hottentots players Notre Dame Fighting Irish baseball players 19th-century baseball players Baseball players from Illinois Chattanooga Lookouts managers People from Petersburg, Illinois People from Chillicothe, Illinois Rock Island Islanders players