William Henry "Bollicky Bill" Taylor (1855 – May 14, 1900) was a

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 ...

outfielder An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder. As an outfielder, their duty is to c ...

, and

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 ...

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

Worcester Ruby Legs The Worcester Worcesters were a 19th-century Major League Baseball team from 1880 to 1882 in the National League. The team is referred to, at times, as the Brown Stockings or the Ruby Legs; however, no contemporary sources from the time exist tha ...

Detroit Wolverines The Detroit Wolverines were a 19th-century Major League Baseball team that played in the National League from 1881 to 1888 in the city of Detroit, Michigan. In total, they won 426 games and lost 437, taking their lone pennant (and winning the pre ...

, Cleveland Blues,

Pittsburgh Alleghenys The following is a history of the Pittsburgh Pirates of Major League Baseball. Franchise beginnings (1870s-1899) Early baseball in Pittsburgh and the American Association The earliest mention of "base ball" in the region was found in the journal ...

, St. Louis Maroons, Philadelphia Athletics, and

Baltimore Orioles The Baltimore Orioles are an American professional baseball team based in Baltimore. The Orioles compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. As one of the American League's eight charter ...

during the 1880s. Taylor was 5' 11" and weighed 204 lb."Billy Taylor Statistics and History"
baseball-reference.com. Retrieved August 28, 2011.

Career

Taylor was born in 1855 in Washington, D.C. He started his professional baseball career in 1879 with the

Northwestern League The Northwestern League was a sports league that operated in the Central United States during the early years of professional baseball for five seasons: 1879, 1883–1884, and 1886–1887. After the 1887 season, the league was replaced by the We ...

's Dubuque Red Stockings. The following year, he played for San Francisco of the California League."Billy Taylor Minor League Statistics & History"
baseball-reference.com. Retrieved August 28, 2011. In 1881, Taylor had stints with three teams 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 ...

. He made his major league debut on May 21 with the Worcester Ruby Legs, played six games for them, then appeared in one game for the Detroit Wolverines, and then appeared in 24 games for the Cleveland Blues. Mostly playing in the outfield, he batted .222 that year. Taylor spent 1882 and 1883 with 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 ...

's Pittsburgh Alleghenys. He had arguably his best hitting season in 1882 when – splitting his time between five positions – he batted .281 and ranked third in the league with a .452 slugging percentage. In 1883, Taylor batted .260 and also appeared in 19 games as a pitcher. He led the league with nine games finished and went 4-7 with a 5.39

earned run average In baseball statistics, earned run average (ERA) is the average of earned runs allowed by a pitcher per nine innings pitched (i.e. the traditional length of a game). It is determined by dividing the number of earned runs allowed by the number ...

. Taylor joined the new Union Association in 1884 as a member of the St. Louis Maroons. He was primarily a pitcher for St. Louis and went 25-4 on the mound with a 1.68 ERA in 263 innings. He ranked third in the league in wins, third in

winning percentage In sports, a winning percentage is the fraction of games or matches a team or individual has won. The statistic is commonly used in standings or rankings to compare teams or individuals. It is defined as wins divided by the total number of match ...

, second in ERA, and first in saves (4). He also batted a career-high .366. In July, however, Taylor jumped to the American Association's Philadelphia Athletics.Cash, Jon David (2002).
Before They Were Cardinals
'. University of Missouri Press. p. 82. He pitched 260 more innings for Philadelphia, compiling an 18-12 record there with a 2.53 ERA. Taylor's 523 innings pitched in 1884 ended up being more than half of his major league career total of 799.2, and he never pitched more than 127 innings in any other season. Taylor pitched six games for the Athletics in 1885, going 1-5. Joining the Baltimore Orioles in 1886, his record was even worse, at 1-6. Taylor also played in the Southern Association that year and went 3-7 while batting .100. In 1887, he went 7-3 and batted .269 for the Eastern League's New Haven Blues. He also pitched (and won) one game for the Athletics on August 16, which was his final major league appearance. Taylor then ended his career with two seasons in the minors. Taylor died in

Jacksonville, Florida Jacksonville is a city located on the Atlantic coast of northeast Florida, the most populous city proper in the state and is the List of United States cities by area, largest city by area in the contiguous United States as of 2020. It is the co ...

, in 1900. He was 45 years old.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Taylor, Billy 1855 births 1900 deaths Major League Baseball pitchers Worcester Ruby Legs players Detroit Wolverines players Cleveland Blues (NL) players Pittsburgh Alleghenys players St. Louis Maroons players Philadelphia Athletics (AA) players Baltimore Orioles (AA) players 19th-century baseball players Baseball players from Washington, D.C. Dubuque Red Stockings players San Francisco Bay City players San Francisco Californias players New York Metropolitans (minor league) players Brooklyn Atlantics (minor league) players Nashville Americans players Kansas City Cowboys (minor league) players Macon (minor league baseball) players Charleston Quakers players New Haven Blues players Mobile Swamp Angels players Minersville (minor league baseball) players Sunbury (minor league baseball) players Mt. Carmel (minor league baseball) players Scranton Miners players Birmingham (minor league baseball) players Quincy Black Birds players

Career

See also

References

External links