William Joseph Kelly (May 1, 1886 – June 3, 1940) was an American

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 ...

player. He played in parts of four 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

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 ...

and Pittsburgh Pirates from through . He also managed the minor league

Port Huron Saints The Port Huron Saints was the final moniker of the minor league baseball teams based in Port Huron, Michigan between 1883 and 1926. Port Huron minor league teams played as members of the Michigan State League in 1890, 1895 and 1897, the Intern ...

in 1922. Kelly was born in

Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

and died of lung cancer in

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at t ...

Michigan Michigan () is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the List of U.S. states and ...

at the age of 54. In a brief 4 year, 104 game major league career, Kelly compiled a .290

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 ...

with 32 runs, 1

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run i ...

and 21 RBI.

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Major League Baseball catchers St. Louis Cardinals players Pittsburgh Pirates players Minor league baseball managers Baseball players from Baltimore 1886 births 1940 deaths Sioux City Soos players Evansville River Rats players Springfield Babes (baseball) players Fort Wayne Billikens players Dayton Veterans players Cedar Rapids Rabbits players St. Paul Saints (AA) players Toronto Maple Leafs (International League) players Freeport Pretzels players {{US-baseball-catcher-1880s-stub