William J. Weiss (June 2, 1925,
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
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– August 16, 2011,
San Mateo, California
San Mateo ( ; ) is a city in San Mateo County, California, on the San Francisco Peninsula. About 20 miles (32 km) south of San Francisco, the city borders Burlingame to the north, Hillsborough to the west, San Francisco Bay and Foster C ...
), was an American baseball historian and statistician. He served as the official
statistician
A statistician is a person who works with theoretical or applied statistics. The profession exists in both the private and public sectors.
It is common to combine statistical knowledge with expertise in other subjects, and statisticians may wor ...
for the
Pacific Coast League
The Pacific Coast League (PCL) is a Minor League Baseball league that operates in the Western United States. Along with the International League, it is one of two leagues playing at the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A level, which is one grade bel ...
, and edited a weekly newsletter for the
California League
The California League is a Minor League Baseball league that operates in California. Having been classified at various levels throughout its existence, it operated at Class A-Advanced from 1990 until its demotion to Single-A following Major Leag ...
for over thirty years. For over forty years, he created sketchbooks which eventually covered over 200 books about all of the players in several
minor league
Minor leagues are professional sports leagues which are not regarded as the premier leagues in those sports. Minor league teams tend to play in smaller, less elaborate venues, often competing in smaller cities/markets. This term is used in Nor ...
and
Major League organizations. Those sketches are the only records existent of many minor league organizations' and players' statistics.
Weiss began his association with
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 ...
in 1948 as the official statistician for the
Longhorn League
The Longhorn League was the name of a Minor league baseball circuit that operated from through in the Southwestern United States. In , it was renamed the Southwestern League and operated through before changing its name to the Sophomore Leag ...
and
box office
A box office or ticket office is a place where ticket (admission), tickets are sold to the public for admission to an event. Patrons may perform the transaction at a countertop, through a hole in a wall or window, or at a Wicket gate, wicke ...
manager for the
Abilene Blue Sox
The Abilene Blue Sox were a minor league baseball team that operated in the West Texas–New Mexico League from 1946 to 1955 and the Big State League from 1956 to 1957. They were an affiliate of the Brooklyn Dodgers (1946–48) and the Kansas City ...
of the
West Texas–New Mexico League
The West Texas–New Mexico League was a minor league baseball league that operated from 1937 through 1955, with a hiatus from 1943 to 1945 during World War II. The league started as a Class D level league, upgraded to Class C in 1946 and then ...
.
:''That was a summer I’ll never forget'', Weiss was once quoted as saying. ''Blue Sox Stadium is a great name but slightly grandiose for the facility, which had a big sign on the press box on the top of the roof that said; Dangerous for occupancy by more than six persons. The offices of the Longhorn League and the Abilene Blue Sox were on the second floor of an old house, which was also where Howard ''(Green, the league's and team's president) ''and his wife lived. I had the spare bedroom, which also served as my office. It was also where the team stored surplus bats and tickets. Since there were twin beds in the room, I got to share the room with stray ballplayers that came and went, usually for their first night in town before they got started. I don’t think I’d trade that experience for anything.''
He moved to San Francisco the following year and began his work as the statistician of the California and
Far West Leagues. He was associated with the California League for many years.
In 1950, Weiss began his association with the Pacific Coast League. In 1954, he married Faye Nelson, who was his "number one assistant" for more than fifty years. From 1959 to 1984, he was president of a
San Francisco Bay Area
The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Go ...
amateur league, the
Peninsula Winter League, which helped local players, such as
Baseball Hall of Fame
The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is a history museum and hall of fame in Cooperstown, New York, operated by private interests. It serves as the central point of the history of baseball in the United States and displays baseball-r ...
rs
Willie Stargell
Wilver Dornell Stargell (March 6, 1940 – April 9, 2001), nicknamed "Pops" later in his career, was an American professional baseball left fielder and first baseman who spent all of his 21 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) ( 1962– 1982 ...
and
Joe Morgan
Joe Leonard Morgan (September 19, 1943 – October 11, 2020) was an American professional baseball second baseman who played 22 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Houston Colt .45s / Astros, Cincinnati Reds, San Francisco Giants, ...
, to develop their skills. In 1988 he became an executive with Howe Sportsdata. He also wrote a column for ''
Baseball America
''Baseball America'' is a sports enterprise that covers baseball at every level, including MLB, with a particular focus on up-and-coming players in the MiLB, college, high school, and international leagues. It is currently published in the form o ...
'' for several years. Weiss joined the
Society for American Baseball Research
The Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) is a membership organization dedicated to fostering the research and dissemination of the history and record of baseball primarily through the use of statistics. Established in Cooperstown, New ...
(SABR) on September 3, 1971, as member No. 34, less than one month after the organization's founding. In 1977, he was named "
King of Baseball
King of Baseball was a ceremonial title awarded annually from 1951 to 2019 by Minor League Baseball to recognize an individual for their longtime dedication and service to professional baseball. It was awarded during baseball's Winter Meetings a ...
" by Minor League Baseball.
In 1998, Weiss and fellow historian
Marshall Wright were chosen to select
.
In 2004, he received th
Tony Salin Memorial Award which is awarded annually by The
Baseball Reliquary
The Baseball Reliquary is a nonprofit educational organization "dedicated to fostering an appreciation of American art and culture through the context of baseball history and to exploring the national pastime’s unparalleled creative possibilities ...
to a person who dedicates his or her life to baseball history.
In 2005, he became the official League Historian and Secretary of the newly formed
Golden Baseball League
The Golden Baseball League was an independent baseball league based in San Ramon, California, with teams located in the western United States, western Canada and northwest Mexico.
The GBL was not affiliated with Major League Baseball or the orga ...
.
In 2014, the
San Diego Central Library
The San Diego Central Library is the main branch of the San Diego Public Library, which is a public library system serving the city of San Diego, California.
Description and history
In 1952, the Carnegie library was demolished and a new ...
announced it had acquired the "Bill Weiss Collection of baseball artifacts and information", which would be a part of the Library's Sullivan Family Baseball Research Center. The collection includes "... a compilation of thousands of individual questionnaires that were filled out by high school ballplayers of past generations who would go on to play Major League Baseball."
Legendary Bill Weiss collection of baseball research donated to SABR San Diego chapter, San Diego Public Library
retrieved 2014-07-19
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Weiss, Bill
American sportswriters
Baseball mass media
1925 births
2011 deaths