William Crawford "Uncle Bill" Alvord (August 10, 1863 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, ...

– April 7, 1927 in St. Petersburg, Florida) was a

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 ...

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 ...

. He played all or part of five seasons in

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), ...

between 1885 and 1893. Alvord made his major league debut in 1885, his first professional season, appearing in two games for 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 s ...

St. Louis Maroons, which had played the previous year in the short-lived

Union Association The Union Association was a league in Major League Baseball which lasted for just the 1884 season. St. Louis won the pennant and joined the National League the following season. Seven of the twelve teams who were in the Association at some poi ...

. He was one of several players the Maroons tried in place of their regular third baseman, Ed Caskin, who was in the midst of a poor season in which he batted just .179. However, Alvord was unable to get a

hit Hit means to strike someone or something. Hit or HIT may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Fictional entities * Hit, a fictional character from '' Dragon Ball Super'' * Homicide International Trust, or HIT, a fictional organization ...

in his two games, and he returned to the

minor leagues 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 ...

for the next several seasons. Alvord's next chance in the majors came in 1889 with the

Kansas City Cowboys Several sports team in Kansas City, Missouri have used the name Cowboys: *Kansas City Cowboys (Union Association), a baseball team in the Union Association in 1884 *Kansas City Cowboys (National League), a baseball team in the National League in 18 ...

, a team in 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 ...

, who acquired him from the minor league Toledo Black Pirates for second baseman

Sam Barkley Samuel E. Barkley (May 24, 1858 – April 20, 1912) was an American Major League Baseball second baseman. Born in Wheeling, West Virginia, he played for four teams in six seasons from to . Career Barkley began his career with the Toledo Bl ...

in July. He soon took over as the team's starting third baseman for

Jumbo Davis James J. "Jumbo" Davis (September 5, 1861 – February 14, 1921) was a Major League Baseball third baseman. He played all or part of seven seasons in the majors, between 1884 and 1891, for the Brooklyn Gladiators, St. Louis Browns, Baltimore Or ...

, who was released a few weeks later. The Cowboys folded after the season, and Alvord was picked up by the AA's

Toledo Maumees The Toledo Maumees were a baseball team originally formed in 1888. The team was based in Toledo, Ohio, and formed part of the Tri-State League for one season. Their home games were played at Speranza Park in Toledo. In 1889, the Maumees moved to th ...

, a new team to the league -- but not a new team to Alvord, as they were actually the Black Pirates under a new name in a more prestigious league. 1890 would prove to be Alvord's best season statistically, setting career highs in most categories, including finishing third in the league in

triple Triple is used in several contexts to mean "threefold" or a " treble": Sports * Triple (baseball), a three-base hit * A basketball three-point field goal * A figure skating jump with three rotations * In bowling terms, three strikes in a row * ...

s with 16. The season would not be as good for the Maumees, who folded after a single season, and Alvord's contract was sold to the NL's

Cleveland Spiders The Cleveland Spiders were an American professional baseball team based in Cleveland, Ohio. The team competed at the major league level from 1887 to 1899, first for two seasons as a member of the now-defunct American Association (AA), followed ...

. However, after just thirteen games, Alvord was headed back to the AA, as he joined yet another newly-organized team, the

Washington Statesmen Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered on ...

, who had purchased his contract from Cleveland. He spent the rest of the season as the team's primary third baseman, but his statistics took a nosedive from the previous season. The entire American Association folded after the season, and while the Statesmen made the move to the NL and became the Senators, Alvord would not go with them, as he returned to the minors in 1892. He was given one more chance by the Spiders in 1893, but he lasted just three games in what would wind up as his last season in professional baseball.

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1863 births 1927 deaths 19th-century baseball players Baseball players from St. Louis Major League Baseball third basemen St. Louis Maroons players Kansas City Cowboys (American Association) players Toledo Maumees players Cleveland Spiders players Washington Statesmen players Minor league baseball managers Waterbury (minor league baseball) players Milwaukee Brewers (minor league) players Long Island A's players Bridgeport Giants players Des Moines Hawkeyes players Des Moines Prohibitionists players Toledo Black Pirates players St. Paul Saints (Western League) players Fort Wayne (minor league baseball) players Rochester Flour Cities players Providence Clamdiggers (baseball) players {{US-baseball-third-baseman-stub