Harry Budson "Bud" Weiser (January 8, 1891 – July 31, 1961) was a professional baseball

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 cat ...

. He played two 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), ...

for the

Philadelphia Phillies The Philadelphia Phillies are an American professional baseball team based in Philadelphia. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) National League East, East division. Since 2004, the team's home sta ...

. Weiser was 5 feet, 11 inches tall and weighed 165 pounds."Bud Weiser Statistics and History"
baseball-reference.com. Retrieved October 29, 2011.

Career

Weiser was born in

Shamokin, Pennsylvania Shamokin (; Saponi Algonquian languages, Algonquian ''Schahamokink'', meaning "place of eels") (Unami language, Lenape Indian language: Shahëmokink) is a city in Northumberland County, Pennsylvania, Northumberland County, Pennsylvania, United Sta ...

, in 1891. He started his professional baseball career in 1911 with the Carolina Association's

Charlotte Hornets The Charlotte Hornets are an American professional basketball team based in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Hornets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Southeast Division, and pla ...

. That season, he had a

batting average Batting average is a statistic in cricket, baseball, and softball that measures the performance of batters. The development of the baseball statistic was influenced by the cricket statistic. Cricket In cricket, a player's batting average is ...

of .269 in 75 games. Weiser then batted .318 in 1912 and .241 in 1913."Bud Weiser Minor League Statistics & History"
baseball-reference.com. Retrieved October 29, 2011. In 1914, while playing for the Hornets in the

North Carolina State League The North Carolina State League was a "Class D" league in Minor League Baseball. The original version of the league existed from 1913–1917 as the successor to the Carolina Association. The second version of the league was established in 1937 i ...

, he raised his average to .333 and led the league in

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(148),

slugging percentage In baseball statistics, slugging percentage (SLG) is a measure of the batting productivity of a hitter. It is calculated as total bases divided by at bats, through the following formula, where ''AB'' is the number of at bats for a given player, ...

(.560), and total bases (249). He was also the league's best all-around player, according to '' Sporting Life''. That fall, he was signed by 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 ...

's Philadelphia Phillies. Weiser appeared in 37 games for the Phillies in 1915. He went 9 for 64 at the plate (.141) with 8

runs batted in A run batted in (RBI; plural RBIs ) is a statistic in baseball and softball that credits a batter for making a play that allows a run to be scored (except in certain situations such as when an error is made on the play). For example, if the bat ...

. In 1916, he played four MLB games but spent most of the season with the Eastern League's

New London Planters The New London Planters were a minor league baseball team based in New London, Connecticut, that entered the now defunct Connecticut League in 1913, which had recently renamed itself the Eastern Association with the arrival of teams outside of th ...

. Weiser did not get along with the Planters' manager and jumped the team at one point, but he was still the league's leading batter and base stealer as late as August. New London won the league championship. In March 1917, Weiser was traded to the

Southern Association The Southern Association was a higher-level minor league in American organized baseball from 1901 through 1961. For most of its existence, the Southern Association was two steps below the Major Leagues; it was graded Class A (1902–1935), Cl ...

Little Rock Travelers The Little Rock Travelers were an American minor league baseball team located in Little Rock, Arkansas, and members (1902–1910, 1915–1958, 1960–1961) of the Southern Association, which as a Class A, A1 or Double-A (baseball), Double-A circuit ...

. He batted .251 in 44 games for Little Rock, and that year he also played 87 games for the

New York State League The New York State League was an independent baseball league that played six seasons between 2007 and 2012 in New York State and the New York City metro area. Over 500 NYSL players have been signed by professional teams. Players from forty-eight ...

Wilkes-Barre Barons The Wilkes-Barre Barons were a basketball team from Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. The Barons played between 1933 and 1980 in different American leagues. The team won 11 titles during this time, including while playing in the American Basketball ...

and led the league with an average of .375. Playing with a

Steelton, Pennsylvania Steelton is a borough in Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, United States, southeast of Harrisburg. The population was 6,263 at the 2020 census. The borough is part of the Harrisburg–Carlisle Metropolitan Statistical Area. History After initi ...

amateur team in 1918, Weiser went five for five at the plate,

hitting for the cycle In baseball, hitting for the cycle is the accomplishment of one batter who hits a single, a double, a triple, and a home run in the same game. Collecting the hits in that order is known as a "natural cycle". Cycles are rare in Major League Ba ...

with two singles, one double, one triple and a home run. A newspaper article from the period also suggests his nickname (Bud Weiser) was due to the famous beer of the same name. Weiser was sent to the

International League The International League (IL) is a Minor League Baseball league that operates in the United States. Along with the Pacific Coast League, it is one of two leagues playing at the Triple-A level, which is one grade below Major League Baseball ...

Reading Coal Barons The Reading Fightin Phils (also called the Reading Fightins) are a Minor League Baseball team based in Reading, Pennsylvania, playing in the Northeast Division of the Eastern League. The team plays their home games at FirstEnergy Stadium. The Rea ...

in 1919. He batted .302 that season. In early 1920, however, he deserted the team to play in the Bethlehem Steel League. Weiser applied for reinstatement in 1921 but was denied."Hughes Goes to Hamilton"
''Reading Eagle''. April 17, 1921. He eventually returned to organized baseball in 1923 and played in the

New York–Pennsylvania League New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created. New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz Albums and EPs * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, ...

for the next three years. He finished his professional baseball career in 1928, when he batted .311 in the

Middle Atlantic League The Middle Atlantic League (or Mid-Atlantic League) was a lower-level circuit in American minor league baseball that played during the second quarter of the 20th century. History The Middle Atlantic League played from 1925 through 1951, with t ...

. Weiser died in Shamokin, Pennsylvania, in 1961 and was buried in Odd Fellows Cemetery.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Weiser, Bud 1891 births 1961 deaths Major League Baseball outfielders Philadelphia Phillies players Charlotte Hornets (baseball) players Dallas Giants players New London Planters players Little Rock Travelers players Wilkes-Barre Barons (baseball) players Reading Coal Barons players Binghamton Triplets managers Binghamton Triplets players Harrisburg Senators players Jeannette Jays players Scottdale Scotties players Minor league baseball managers Baseball players from Pennsylvania People from Shamokin, Pennsylvania