William Franklin Salkeld (March 8, 1917 – April 22, 1967) 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 leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Modern professional ...

player Player may refer to: Role or adjective * Player (game), a participant in a game or sport ** Gamer, a player in video and tabletop games ** Athlete, a player in sports ** Player character, a character in a video game or role playing game who ...

, 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 ...

in the Major Leagues from – 50 for the Pittsburgh Pirates, Boston Braves and

Chicago White Sox The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team is owned by Jerry Reinsdorf, and ...

. A native of Pocatello, Idaho, who grew up in

Sacramento, California ) , image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg , mapsize = 250x200px , map_caption = Location within Sacramento ...

, Salkeld batted

left-handed In human biology, handedness is an individual's preferential use of one hand, known as the dominant hand, due to it being stronger, faster or more dextrous. The other hand, comparatively often the weaker, less dextrous or simply less subject ...

, threw

right-handed In human biology, handedness is an individual's preferential use of one hand, known as the dominant hand, due to it being stronger, faster or more dextrous. The other hand, comparatively often the weaker, less dextrous or simply less subjecti ...

, stood tall and weighed .

Early years

Salkeld's professional career was almost ended at the age of 19 by a serious knee injury that caused him to miss seasons. He was able to return to baseball as the 22-year-old

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 ...

of the 1939 Tucson Cowboys of the Class D

Arizona–Texas League The Arizona–Texas League was a Class D level American minor league baseball league that existed for nine seasons, from 1931–32, 1937–41, 1947–50 and 1952-54. In 1951, the Arizona-Texas loop merged with the Sunset League (based primarily ...

. He then spent 1940–44 in the top-level Pacific Coast League.

Major league career

Salkeld made his Major League debut at age 28 with the 1945 Pirates during the final year of the World War II manpower shortage. As a

rookie A rookie is a person new to an occupation, profession, or hobby. In sports, a ''rookie'' is a professional athlete in their first season (or year). In contrast with a veteran who has experience and expertise, a rookie is usually inexperienced ...

, Salkeld batted .311 with 15 home runs in only 317

plate appearances In baseball statistics, a player is credited with a plate appearance (denoted by PA) each time he completes a turn batting. Under Rule 5.04(c) of the Official Baseball Rules, a player completes a turn batting when he is put out or becomes a runner ...

and finished 24th in the

National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team ...

Most Valuable Player voting. Although his productivity declined during the postwar period as ex-Major Leaguers returned to the game from military service, Salkeld kept his Major League foothold for most of the next four seasons. Traded to the Boston Braves after the campaign, Salkeld platooned with

hitter

Phil Masi Philip Samuel Masi (January 6, 1916March 29, 1990) was an American professional baseball player. From though , he played in Major League Baseball as a catcher for the Boston Braves (1939–1949), Pittsburgh Pirates (1949) and Chicago White Sox (1 ...

in 1948 as the Braves stormed to their first National League championship in 34 years. Salkeld then appeared in five games of the

1948 World Series The 1948 World Series was the championship series in Major League Baseball for the 1948 season. The 45th edition of the World Series, it matched the American League (AL) champion Cleveland Indians and the National League (NL) champion Boston Br ...

against the

Cleveland Indians The Cleveland Guardians are an American professional baseball team based in Cleveland. The Guardians compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. Since , they have played at Progressive Fi ...

. In 15 plate appearances, he collected two hits and five walks plus one

sacrifice hit In baseball, a sacrifice bunt (also called a sacrifice hit) is a batter's act of deliberately bunting the ball, before there are two outs, in a manner that allows a baserunner to advance to another base. The batter is almost always put out, an ...

for an on-base percentage of .500. Salkeld's solo home run off future

Hall of Famer A hall, wall, or walk of fame is a list of individuals, achievements, or other entities, usually chosen by a group of electors, to mark their excellence or fame in their field. In some cases, these halls of fame consist of actual halls or muse ...

Bob Feller in the sixth inning of Game 5 tied the contest at five; the following inning, Boston scored six runs to salt away an 11–5 victory (although Cleveland prevailed in the Series, four games to two). In 1949, he batted .255 in 66 games for Boston, with five home runs and 25 RBIs. Salkeld played a single game for the

in April 1950, then spent the remainder of the season with the

Seattle Rainiers The Seattle Rainiers, originally named the Seattle Indians and also known as the Seattle Angels, were a Minor League Baseball team in Seattle, Washington, that played in the Pacific Coast League from 1903 to 1906 and 1919 to 1968. They were initi ...

of the Pacific Coast League. In six seasons, Salkeld batted .273 (232-for-850) with 111 runs, 31 home runs and 132 RBI. On August 4, 1945 he

hit for the cycle In baseball, hitting for the cycle is the accomplishment of one batter who hits a single, a double, a triple, and a home run in the same game. Collecting the hits in that order is known as a "natural cycle". Cycles are rare in Major League B ...

Later years

After leaving baseball after the 1953 minor league season, Salkeld settled in the San Fernando Valley area of

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

, where he had worked in the motion picture industry during off-seasons. He died from

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...

at the age of 50 in 1967 and was buried at the Forest Lawn Cemetery in the Hollywood Hills area of Los Angeles. Four years later, his grandson

Roger Roger is a given name, usually masculine, and a surname. The given name is derived from the Old French personal names ' and '. These names are of Germanic origin, derived from the elements ', ''χrōþi'' ("fame", "renown", "honour") and ', ' ( ...

was born in Burbank, California. Roger Salkeld would be chosen by the

Seattle Mariners The Seattle Mariners are an American professional baseball team based in Seattle. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. The team joined the American League as an expansion team ...

in the first round of the

1989 Major League Baseball Draft First-round selections The following are the first round picks in the 1989 Major League Baseball draft on June 5. Supplemental first round selections Other notable players * Brian Hunter, 2nd round, 35th overall by the Houston Astros * Ti ...

, and appear in 45 MLB games as 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 ...

for the Mariners and Cincinnati Reds during the mid-1990s.

References

External links

, o
Retrosheet
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Salkeld, Bill 1917 births 1967 deaths Baseball players from California Baseball players from Idaho Boston Braves players Burials at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Hollywood Hills) Chicago White Sox players Deaths from cancer in California Indianapolis Indians players Major League Baseball catchers Pittsburgh Pirates players Portland Beavers players Sacramento Solons players San Diego Padres (minor league) players San Francisco Seals (baseball) players Seattle Rainiers players Sportspeople from Pocatello, Idaho Stockton Ports players Tucson Cowboys players

Early years

Major league career

Later years

See also

References

Further reading

External links