William Loes (December 13, 1929 – July 15, 2010) was an American 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 ...

who spent eleven seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) with the Brooklyn Dodgers (1950, 1952–56),

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 ...

(1956–59) and

San Francisco Giants The San Francisco Giants are an American professional baseball team based in San Francisco, California. The Giants compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Founded in 1883 as the New Y ...

(1960–61). He appeared in three

World Series The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, contested since 1903 between the champion teams of the American League (AL) and the National League (NL). The winner of the World ...

with the Dodgers, including the only one won by the

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when it was based in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

in 1955. In an 11-season career, Loes posted an 80–63 record with 645 strikeouts and a 3.89

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 1190.1 innings pitched. He made the American League All-Star team in 1957. Among Major League Baseball's video archives is a television broadcast of the sixth game of the 1952 World Series, of which Loes was one of the starting pitchers. During the game, announcer

Red Barber Walter Lanier "Red" Barber (February 17, 1908 – October 22, 1992) was an American sports announcer and author. Nicknamed "The Ol' Redhead", he was primarily identified with broadcasts of Major League Baseball, calling play-by-play across four d ...

states that Loes was the son of Greek immigrants who had changed his last name. Further, says Barber, Loes would not tell Barber what his original last name was because, according to Loes, Barber would be unable to pronounce, spell or remember that name. Loes distinguished himself in several ways in the 1952 World Series. When asked how the Dodgers would fare, he predicted the Yankees would win in seven, but was misquoted as saying the Yankees would win in six. During the sixth game, he committed a balk. In the seventh inning, he was starting his windup when the ball dropped from his hand. "Too much spit on it", he said later. Then a grounder hit by Yankee pitcher

Vic Raschi Victor John Angelo Raschi (March 28, 1919 – October 14, 1988) was a Major League Baseball pitcher. Nicknamed "The Springfield Rifle," he was one of the top pitchers for the New York Yankees in the late 1940s and early 1950s, forming (w ...

bounced off his leg for a single, allowing a run to score. Afterward, he said he lost the ground ball in the sun. Loes said that he did not want to be a 20-game winner, "because then I'd be expected to do it every year." His career high in wins came in 1953, when he went 14–8 for the pennant-winning Dodgers.

References

External links

Baseball Almanac
– Player page

''The New York Times'', Wednesday, July 28, 2010

''Daily News'' (New York), Sunday, August 1, 2010 {{DEFAULTSORT:Loes, Billy 1929 births 2010 deaths American League All-Stars Baltimore Orioles players Brooklyn Dodgers players Fort Worth Cats players Major League Baseball pitchers Nashua Dodgers players San Francisco Giants players Sportspeople from Queens, New York Baseball players from New York City People from Long Island City, Queens