William Robert Wight (April 12, 1922 – May 17, 2007) was an American

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 ...

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), ...

(

MLB 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), ...

) who played from through for the

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

(1946–47),

Chicago White Sox The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team is owned by Jerry Reinsdorf, and ...

(1948–50),

Boston Red Sox The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Founded in as one of the American League's eigh ...

(1951–52), Detroit Tigers (1952–53),

Cleveland Indians The Cleveland Guardians are an American professional baseball team based in Cleveland. The Guardians compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. Since , they have played at Progressive Fi ...

(1953, 1955),

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 ...

(1955–57), Cincinnati Reds (1958) and

St. Louis Cardinals The St. Louis Cardinals are an American professional baseball team based in St. Louis. The Cardinals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Since the 2006 season, the Cardinals ha ...

(1958). Listed at tall and , Wight batted and threw left-handed. He was born in

Rio Vista, California Rio Vista (Spanish: ''Río Vista'', meaning "River View") is a city located in the eastern end of Solano County, California, in the Sacramento River Delta region of Northern California. The population was 7,360 at the 2010 census. Geography Rio ...

. Wight graduated from Oakland's

McClymonds High School McClymonds High School is a public high school in the West Oakland neighborhood of Oakland, California, United States. In addition to being the third oldest high school in Oakland, it is the only comprehensive high school in West Oakland, opera ...

and entered

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 leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Modern professional ...

in the Yankees' organization in 1941. He served in the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

and missed three full seasons (1943–45).Information
at

Baseball in Wartime Gary Bedingfield (born 20 January 1963) is a British historian of baseball. He is a native of England and developed an interest in baseball as a youth. As a catcher, he played in competitive league baseball for over twenty years with the Enfield ...

His best MLB season was , when he set or equaled career bests in games won (15), complete games (14),

shutouts In team sports, a shutout ( US) or clean sheet ( UK) is a game in which one team prevents the other from scoring any points. While possible in most major sports, they are highly improbable in some sports, such as basketball. Shutouts are usuall ...

(three), and innings pitched (245), hurling for a sixth-place White Sox team that lost 91 of its 154 games. In a big-league career that lasted all or parts of 12 seasons, Wight posted a 77–99 won–lost record with 574 strikeouts and a 3.95

ERA An era is a span of time defined for the purposes of chronology or historiography, as in the regnal eras in the history of a given monarchy, a calendar era used for a given calendar, or the geological eras defined for the history of Earth. Comp ...

in 347 appearances, including 198 starts, 66 complete games, 15 shutouts and eight saves in 1,563 innings of work. Wight scouted for the Houston Colt .45s/Astros and

Atlanta Braves The Atlanta Braves are an American professional baseball team based in the Atlanta metropolitan area. The Braves compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) East division. The Braves were founded in Bos ...

for 37 years after his active career ended — signing Baseball Hall of Fame second baseman

Joe Morgan Joe Leonard Morgan (September 19, 1943 – October 11, 2020) was an American professional baseball second baseman who played 22 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Houston Colt .45s / Astros, Cincinnati Reds, San Francisco Giants, ...

for Houston in 1962. He died in

Mount Shasta, California Mount Shasta (also known as Mount Shasta City) is a city in Siskiyou County, California, at about above sea level on the flanks of Mount Shasta, a prominent northern California landmark. The city is less than southwest of the summit of its na ...

, at the age of 85.

References

External links

1922 births 2007 deaths Atlanta Braves scouts Baltimore Orioles players Baseball players from California Binghamton Triplets players Boston Red Sox players Chicago White Sox players Detroit Tigers players Cincinnati Redlegs players Cleveland Indians players Houston Astros scouts Idaho Falls Russets players Kansas City Blues (baseball) players Major League Baseball pitchers New York Yankees players Norfolk Tars players People from Solano County, California St. Louis Cardinals players San Diego Padres (minor league) players Seattle Rainiers players United States Navy personnel of World War II {{US-baseball-pitcher-1920s-stub