William Scott Sullivan (born March 13, 1971) is an American former professional

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

player. He played as a right-handed

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("Pitch (baseball), pitches") the Baseball (ball), baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of out (baseball), retiring a batter (baseball), batter, ...

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

between 1995 and 2004. Born in Alabama, he played high school baseball in

Pickens County, Alabama Pickens County is a County (United States), county located on the west central border of the U.S. state of Alabama. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 19,123. Its county seat is Carrollton, Alabama, Carrollton, ...

with Terry Pearson. He played

college baseball College baseball is baseball that is played by Student athlete, student-athletes at institutions of higher education. In the United States, college baseball is sanctioned mainly by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA); in Japan, ...

Auburn University Auburn University (AU or Auburn) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Auburn, Alabama, United States. With more than 26,800 undergraduate students, over 6,100 post-graduate students, and a tota ...

for the

Auburn Tigers The Auburn Tigers are the athletic teams representing Auburn University, a public four-year university located in Auburn, Alabama, United States. The Auburn Tigers compete in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) a ...

. From 1996–2003, Sullivan was one of the

Cincinnati Reds The Cincinnati Reds are an American professional baseball team based in Cincinnati. The Reds compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Central Divisi ...

's most durable relief pitchers, and was looked upon as a clubhouse leader. He set a club record by pitching at least 100 innings of relief every season from 1998-2001. His best season came in 1999, a year in which the Reds won 96 games but did not make the postseason after losing a one-game playoff to the

New York Mets The New York Mets are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of Queens. The Mets compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National ...

. That season, Sullivan set or tied career highs in saves (3), appearances (79), innings pitched (113.2) and ERA (3.01). Sullivan used a unique sidearm delivery when pitching. Like many "submarine pitchers" (as they're sometimes called), he developed back problems, which resulted in multiple trips to the disabled list toward the end of his career. He made one last comeback attempt in , pitching in two games for the

Omaha Royals Omaha ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nebraska. It is located in the Midwestern United States along the Missouri River, about north of the mouth of the Platte River. The nation's 41st-most-populous city, Omaha had a popu ...

before retiring. He currently has 3 children.

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1971 births Living people Major League Baseball pitchers Auburn Tigers baseball players Cincinnati Reds players Chicago White Sox players Kansas City Royals players Baseball players from Tuscaloosa, Alabama Billings Mustangs players Chattanooga Lookouts players Indianapolis Indians players Omaha Royals players 20th-century American sportsmen {{US-baseball-pitcher-1970s-stub