William Franklin "Kid"
''attheplate.com''. Retrieved 2010-11-10. Hulen (March 12, 1870 – October 2, 1947) was a

shortstop Shortstop, abbreviated SS, is the baseball or softball fielding position between second and third base, which is considered to be among the most demanding defensive positions. Historically the position was assigned to defensive specialists wh ...

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), ...

. He played for the Philadelphia Phillies and the Washington Senators. He stood at 5'8" and weighed 148 lbs.

Career

Hulen was born in

Dixon, California Dixon is a city in northern Solano County, California, United States, located from the state capital, Sacramento. It has a hot-summer mediterranean climate on the Köppen climate classification scale. Its population was 18,988 at the 2020 cens ...

. He got his start in organized baseball in 1892, for the Los Angeles Seraphs of the California League. In 1895, at the age of 25, Hulen batted .369 for the Western 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 ...

."Billy Hulen Minor League Statistics & History"
''baseball-reference.com''. Retrieved 2010-11-10. He made his major league debut the following season with the Philadelphia Phillies. Billy Hulen 1892

Hulen batted .265 for Philadelphia. He went back to the Western League for the following two seasons and then returned to 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 ...

in 1899 with the Washington Senators. In 19 games, he batted just .147 and never played in the majors again. Hulen is probably best known for being the last regular left-handed shortstop in MLB history. He also holds the lefty record for the most games played (73 in 1896) at the position. Hulen played for and managed various minor league teams from 1900 to 1913. He managed future Hall of Famer

Joe Tinker Joseph Bert Tinker (July 27, 1880 – July 27, 1948) was an American professional baseball player and manager. He played from 1902 through 1916 for the Chicago Cubs and Cincinnati Reds of Major League Baseball (MLB) and the Chicago Whales of th ...

in 1900 and later recommended Tinker to the Western League. In 1904, he managed Everett to a league championship. Hulen was reported missing in February 1906; he had apparently failed to visit his wife in

Oregon Oregon () is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of its eastern boundary with Idaho. T ...

and could not be located. Foul play was suspected. A year later, he was discovered playing baseball under an assumed name in

Medicine Hat Medicine Hat is a city in southeast Alberta, Canada. It is located along the South Saskatchewan River. It is approximately east of Lethbridge and southeast of Calgary. This city and the adjacent Town of Redcliff to the northwest are with ...

, Canada, and his wife then filed for

divorce Divorce (also known as dissolution of marriage) is the process of terminating a marriage or marital union. Divorce usually entails the canceling or reorganizing of the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage, thus dissolving the ...

, citing desertion. Hulen began using his real name again in 1908. He managed in

Spokane, Washington Spokane ( ) is the largest city and county seat of Spokane County, Washington, United States. It is in eastern Washington, along the Spokane River, adjacent to the Selkirk Mountains, and west of the Rocky Mountain foothills, south of the Cana ...

; Medicine Hat; and

Regina, Saskatchewan Regina () is the capital city of the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. The city is the second-largest in the province, after Saskatoon, and is a commercial centre for southern Saskatchewan. As of the 2021 census, Regina had a city populatio ...

over the next several years. Hulen died in

Santa Rosa, California Santa Rosa ( Spanish for " Saint Rose") is a city and the county seat of Sonoma County, in the North Bay region of the Bay Area in California. Its estimated 2019 population was 178,127. It is the largest city in California's Wine Country and ...

, in 1947. He was buried in Cypress Hill Memorial Park."Billy Hulen Statistics and History"
''baseball-reference.com''. Retrieved 2010-11-10.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hulen, Billy 1870 births 1947 deaths 19th-century baseball players Major League Baseball shortstops Philadelphia Phillies players Washington Senators (1891–1899) players Minneapolis Millers (baseball) players Santa Clara Broncos baseball coaches Columbus Senators players Pueblo Indians players Colorado Springs Millionaires players Spokane Indians players Minor league baseball managers People from Dixon, California Baseball players from California Seattle Chinooks players