William Ronald Bryan (born December 4, 1938) is an American former

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), ...

catcher Catcher is a Baseball positions, position in baseball and softball. When a Batter (baseball), batter takes their at bat, turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the (home plate, home) Umpire (baseball), umpire, and recei ...

who appeared in 374 games over all or portions of eight seasons for the

Kansas City Athletics The history of the Athletics Major League Baseball franchise spans the period from 1901 to the present day, having begun as a charter member franchise in the new American League in Philadelphia before moving to Kansas City in 1955 for 13 seas ...

(–),

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Amer ...

(1966–) and Washington Senators (). Born in

Morgan, Georgia Morgan is a city in Calhoun County, Georgia, United States. The population was 1,741 at the 2020 census. The city is the county seat of Calhoun County. History Morgan was founded in 1854 as seat of the newly formed Calhoun County. It was incorpo ...

, Bryan stood tall, weighed , batted left-handed and threw right-handed. He was signed by the Athletics in 1960 and enjoyed early success at the

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 ...

level, making the All-Star team in the 1961 Class B

Northwest League The Northwest League is a Minor League Baseball league that operates in the Pacific Northwest, Northwestern United States and Western Canada. A Class A Short Season league for most of its history, the league was promoted to High-A as part of Maj ...

and hitting 25

home runs 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 ...

, knocking in 85 runs, and

batting Batting may refer to: *Batting (baseball), the act of attempting to hit a ball thrown by the pitcher with a baseball bat, in order to score runs *Batting (cricket), the act of defending one's wicket with the cricket bat while attempting to score ru ...

.295 in the Double-A

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 ...

in 1962.Baseball Reference
/ref> While Bryan hit for some power in the majors, especially when he was the regular or semi-regular catcher for the Athletics in 1964–1965, he compiled a batting mark of only .216, with 209 career

hits Hits or H.I.T.S. may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * ''H.I.T.S.'', 1991 album by New Kids on the Block * ''...Hits'' (Phil Collins album), 1998 * ''Hits'' (compilation series), 1984–2006; 2014 - a British compilation album se ...

(including 32 doubles, nine

triples TripleS (stylized as tripleS; Help:IPA/English, /ˈtɹɪpəl:ɛs/; ) is a South Korean girl group formed by MODHAUS. They aim to be the world's first decentralized K-pop idol group. The members will rotate between the group, sub-unit, and solo ac ...

and 41 homers), 968

at bats In baseball, an at bat (AB) or time at bat is a batter's turn batting against a pitcher. An at bat is different from a plate appearance. A batter is credited with a plate appearance regardless of what happens during their turn at bat, but a batt ...

, and 283

strikeout In baseball or softball, a strikeout (or strike-out) occurs when a batter accumulates three strikes during a time at bat. It usually means that the batter is out. A strikeout is a statistic recorded for both pitchers and batters, and is deno ...

s. He retired in 1970 after 11 pro seasons.

References

External links

Venezuelan Professional Baseball League
1938 births Living people Albuquerque Dukes players American expatriate baseball players in Venezuela Baseball players from Georgia (U.S. state) Buffalo Bisons (minor league) players Industriales de Valencia players Kansas City Athletics players Leones del Caracas players Lewiston Broncs players Major League Baseball catchers New York Yankees players People from Calhoun County, Georgia Portland Beavers players Sanford Greyhounds players Spartanburg Phillies players Syracuse Chiefs players Washington Senators (1961–1971) players {{US-baseball-catcher-1930s-stub