William Byrd (July 15, 1907 – January 4, 1991) was an American professional

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...

player in the

Negro leagues The Negro leagues were United States professional baseball leagues comprising teams of African Americans and, to a lesser extent, Latin Americans. The term may be used broadly to include professional black teams outside the leagues and it may be ...

. Born in

Canton, Georgia Canton is a city in and the county seat of Cherokee County, Georgia, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 22,958, up from 7,709 in 2000. Geography Canton is located near the center of Cherokee County at (34.22730 ...

, he was a right-handed

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 ...

. He was named in eight All-Star games for six seasons. Byrd also saw action with the Criollos de Caguas and Cangrejeros de Santurce clubs of the Puerto Rico Winter League, where he was considered one of the best hurlers. He died at age 83 in

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

Baseball career

Byrd started his major career in 1933 with the Columbus Blue Birds in the Negro National League. He went 3–8 that year, pitching a 4.26 ERA in thirteen games while recording one save in 95 innings pitched. He led the league in losses along with walks per nine innings with 1.1. He moved to the Cleveland Red Sox the following year and struggled with a 2–8 record to once again lead the league in losses. He pitched in eleven games in 58.2 innings of work. In 1936, he moved over to the Columbus Elite Giants. While he went 2–3 with a 5.66 ERA, he would find a home with a team that he pitched with for a majority of the rest of his career as the team played in two further cities (Washington and Baltimore). He went 9–4 in 1936 with sixteen games pitched, leading the league with two shutouts while being named to his first East–West All-Star Game. The following year, he went 4–3 with a 5.37 ERA in 53.2 innings pitched. He won seven games each in both 1938 and 1939, and he was named to both East–West games in the latter year. In that year, the Giants were invited to a four-team playoff to determine the pennant. Against the

Newark Eagles The Newark Eagles were a professional Negro league baseball team which played in the Negro National League from 1936 to 1948. They were owned by Abe and Effa Manley. History Formation The Newark Eagles were formed in 1936 when the Newark Do ...

, he appeared in two games (one start) and went 1–0 while allowing four runs in 11.2 innings of work as the Giants three games to one. Byrd (a career .262 batter) also helped his case by going 2-for-3 with a home run during the series. In the Championship Series against the

Homestead Grays The Homestead Grays (also known as Washington Grays or Washington Homestead Grays) were a professional baseball team that played in the Negro leagues in the United States. The team was formed in 1912 by Cumberland Posey, and remained in continuo ...

(led by Vic Harris as manager, who had won the previous two league pennants) he started two games and went 1–1 while allowing seven runs (six earned) in seventeen innings pitched as the Giants (who had

Jonas Gaines Jonas Donald Gaines (January 9, 1914 – August 6, 1998), nicknamed "Lefty", was an American baseball pitcher in the Negro leagues. He played professionally from 1937 to 1953 with several teams. A native of New Roads, Louisiana, Gaines served i ...

win two games to go with Byrd's win) pulled off the upset in five games and beat the Grays (the team would not lose another pennant until 1946). He took off 1940 but returned for the 1941 season and excelled. He led the league with a 2.02 ERA while going 8–3 in thirteen games pitched in 89 innings while making an East–West game. In 1942, he led the league in wins with ten while going 10–3 with a 2.91 ERA while collecting a save in 99 innings. In 1943 and 1944, he would play for both the Elite Giants and the Philadelphia Stars. He went 10–5 in 1943 while leading the league in strikeouts (94) and pitching a career high 135 innings. In 1944, he went 5–5 in 69 innings. He returned to pitch just for the Elite Giants for the remaining four seasons of his career. In 1945, he led the league in wins with eleven along with complete games (twelve), strikeouts (88) while going 11–4 with a 2.83 ERA. He went 5–8 in 1946 but made two East–West games. In 1947, he went 8–5 with a 2.61 ERA with 120.2 innings pitched. In his final major league season in 1948, he led the league in wins and innings with a 10–4 record in 123.1 innings while having a 1.68 ERA. His final game in the Negro leagues was in the postseason. The Giants were tasked against the Grays for the league pennant with the chance to go to the

1948 Negro World Series The 1948 Negro World Series was the championship tournament for the 1948 season of Negro league baseball. It was the seventh edition of the second incarnation of the Negro World Series and the eleventh overall played. It was a best-of-seven playof ...

. He pitched 14.1 innings and allowed four runs (three earned) in two appearances with one start, and he threw a complete game while going 1–0, although the Giants lost the Series. He continued to play with the Giants until 1950, although by that time the league had suffered in quality. Owing to his tenure in Baltimore, he ranks as the all-time leader in pitching categories, and he also ranks as having the most

Wins above replacement Wins Above Replacement or Wins Above Replacement Player, commonly abbreviated to WAR or WARP, is a non-standardized sabermetric baseball statistic developed to sum up "a player's total contributions to his team". A player's WAR value is claimed to ...

(28.7) among all Elite Giants.

Legacy

Byrd finished in the top three in the leaderboards for most wins on seven occasions, which is tied for seventh best all-time in major league history. He was among the top ten in win-loss percentage ten times (T-7th), walks per nine innings thirteen times (9th), games played eleven times (4th) along with hits twelve times (T-7th) and earned runs eleven times (tied for most ever). At age 45, Byrd received votes listing him on the 1952 ''

Pittsburgh Courier The ''Pittsburgh Courier'' was an African-American weekly newspaper published in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, from 1907 until October 22, 1966. By the 1930s, the ''Courier'' was one of the leading black newspapers in the United States. It was acqu ...

'' player-voted poll of the Negro leagues' best players ever."1952 Pittsburgh Courier Poll of Greatest Black Players"
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Personal life and death

After he retired, he dabbled in semi-pro ball while working at the General Electric Company in Philadelphia for twenty years. He died on January 4, 1991, and was interred at Ivy Hill Cemetery in

References

External links

an
Seamheads

{{DEFAULTSORT:Byrd, Bill 1907 births 1991 deaths African-American baseball players Baltimore Elite Giants players Baseball pitchers Baseball players from Georgia (U.S. state) Baseball players from Philadelphia Burials at Ivy Hill Cemetery (Philadelphia) Cangrejeros de Santurce (baseball) players Chicago American Giants players Cleveland Red Sox players Columbus Blue Birds players Columbus Elite Giants players Criollos de Caguas players Homestead Grays players Liga de Béisbol Profesional Roberto Clemente pitchers People from Canton, Georgia Philadelphia Stars players Sportspeople from the Atlanta metropolitan area Washington Elite Giants players 20th-century African-American sportspeople