William Baird Allington (October 26, 1903 – August 17, 1966) was an American

minor league baseball Minor League Baseball (MiLB) is a professional baseball organization below Major League Baseball (MLB), constituted of teams affiliated with MLB clubs. It was founded on September 5, 1901, in response to the growing dominance of the National Le ...

player and manager. Listed at 5' 9" and 160 pounds, Allington batted and threw right-handed. He was born in St. Clair County, Michigan.

Playing career

Allington spent 31 years in baseball as a player (15), coach (4) and manager (12). He started his professional career as an

outfielder An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder. As an outfielder, their duty is to catch ...

, playing from 1926 through 1940 with ten teams of four different leagues. Between 1926 and 1934, he played in the

Blue Ridge League The Blue Ridge League was the name of two minor league baseball organizations that operated in the first half of the twentieth century in the United States. History The first league operated for the better part of sixteen years, from 1915 throu ...

(1926–27), Western League (1926–28, 1930–32),

Southern Association The Southern Association (SA) was a higher-level minor league in American organized baseball from 1901 through 1961. For most of its existence, the Southern Association was two steps below the Major Leagues; it was graded Class B (1902-19 ...

(1929, 1933–34) and

Pacific Coast League The Pacific Coast League (PCL) is a Minor League Baseball league that operates in the Western United States. Along with the International League, it is one of two leagues playing at the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A level, which is one grade bel ...

(1929–30). He also played nine years in the

California Winter League California Winter League is a former baseball winter league. It was the first integrated league in the 20th century as players from Major League Baseball and Negro league baseball played each other in training games. The league was in existence ...

circuit (1932–40). Allington hit .300 or more in eight of his nine minor league years career. His most productive season came in 1931, when he led the Western League hitters with a .374

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 ...

, even though he was left off of the All-Star Team after leading the league in several offensive statistics, including

stolen base In baseball, a stolen base occurs when a runner advances to a base unaided by other actions and the official scorer rules that the advance should be credited to the action of the runner. The umpires determine whether the runner is safe or out ...

s (36),

triples TripleS (; ; stylized as tripleS) is a South Korean 24-member multinational girl group formed by Modhaus. They aim to be the world's first decentralized idol group, where the members will rotate between the full group, sub-units, and solo activi ...

(23),

total bases In baseball statistics, total bases is the number of bases a player gains with hit (baseball), hits. It is a weighted sum with values of 1 for a single (baseball), single, 2 for a double (baseball), double, 3 for a triple (baseball), triple and 4 ...

(335) and

runs scored In baseball, a run is scored when a player advances around first, second and third base and returns safely to home plate, touching the bases in that order, before three outs are recorded and all obligations to reach base safely on batted bal ...

(167), while adding nine

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the Baseball (ball), ball is hit in such a way that the batting (baseball), batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safe (baseball), safely in one play without any error ( ...

s and 92

runs batted in A run batted in or runs batted in (RBI) is a statistic in baseball and softball that credits a batter for making a play that allows a run to be scored (except in certain situations such as when an error is made on the play). For example, if th ...

. In addition, he ended fifth in doubles (49), and his .984 fielding percentage was the second-best of any starting outfielder in the Western League that season. Allington posted a career-average of .327 in 1145 games, including a .508

slugging percentage In baseball statistics, slugging percentage (SLG) is a measure of the batting productivity of a hitter. It is calculated as total bases divided by at-bats, through the following formula, where ''AB'' is the number of at-bats for a given player, an ...

, and hit .273 with a .494 slugging in the California Winter League.

Coaching and managing career

Following his playing career, Allington coached in the minors from 1941 to 1944, before landing in the

All-American Girls Professional Baseball League The All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL) was a professional women's baseball league founded by Philip K. Wrigley, which existed from 1943 to 1954. The AAGPBL is the forerunner of women's professional league sports in the Uni ...

, to become the most successful manager in the league's history. With Allington at the helm, the

Rockford Peaches The Rockford Peaches were a women's professional baseball team who played from 1943 to 1954 in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. A founding member, the team represented Rockford, Illinois. The Peaches were one of 2 teams to p ...

reached the playoff six times, winning the AAGPBL Championship Title in 1945 and in consecutive years from 1948 to 1950. Allington later managed the

Fort Wayne Daisies The Fort Wayne Daisies were a women's professional baseball team based in Fort Wayne, Indiana that played from through as members of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. History The Daisies represented Fort Wayne, Indiana, and ...

in 1953 and 1954, leading them to the playoffs in both seasons. From 1945 to 1954, Allington posted a 583–398 record for a .594

winning percentage In sports, a winning percentage or Copeland score is the fraction of games or matches a team or individual has won. The statistic is commonly used in standings or rankings to compare teams or individuals. It is defined as wins divided by the to ...

, never had a losing season and is the all-time leader in victories in the AAGPBL. He also was an active

scout Scout may refer to: Youth movement *Scout (Scouting), a child, usually 10–18 years of age, participating in the worldwide Scouting movement ** Scouts (The Scout Association), section for 10-14 year olds in the United Kingdom ** Scouts BSA, sect ...

talent for the league. The AAGPBL folded in 1954, but the following year Allington formed two women's touring teams called Allington's All-Stars, a barnstorming remnant of the league. The Allington All-Stars played 100 games between 1955 and 1958, each booked in a different town, against male teams, while traveling over 10,000 miles in the manager's

station wagon A station wagon (American English, US, also wagon) or estate car (British English, UK, also estate) is an automotive Car body style, body-style variant of a Sedan (automobile), sedan with its roof extended rearward over a shared passenger/cargo ...

and a

Ford Country Sedan The Ford Country Sedan is a full-size station wagon that was built by Ford in the United States from 1952 until 1974. It was part of the U.S. Ford full-size car line available in each year.Odin, L.C. ''A concise guide to the Ford and Mercury full ...

. The Allington All-Stars included players as Joan Berger, Gloria Cordes, Jeanie Descombes, Gertrude Dunn, Betty Foss, Mary Froning, Jean Geissinger, Katie Horstman, Maxine Kline, Dolores Lee,

Magdalen Redman Magdalen "Mamie" Redman (July 2, 1930 – August 22, 2020) was a catcher and utility infielder who played from through in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. Listed at , 150 lb., she batted and threw right-handed. Early ...

, Ruth Richard, Dorothy Schroeder, Jean Smith, Dolly Vanderlip and Joanne Weaver, among others.

Sources

*''The All-American Girls Professional Baseball League Record Book: Comprehensive Hitting, Fielding and Pitching Statistics''. – W. C. Madden. Publisher: McFarland & Company, 2000. Format: Hardcover, 250 pp. Language: English. *''Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball'' – Lloyd Johnson, Miles Wolf. Publisher: Baseball America, 2007. Format: Paperback, 767pp. Language: English. ISBN *''The Pacific Coast League: A Statistical History, 1903-1957'' – Dennis Snelling. Publisher: McFarland & Company, 1995. Format: Paperback, 392pp. Language: English. *''Women in Baseball'' – Gai Ingham Berlage. Publisher: Praeger Trade, 1994. Format: Hardcover, 224 pp. Language: English.

External links

AAGPBL HistoryBaseball Reference
{{DEFAULTSORT:Allington, Bill 1903 births 1966 deaths All-American Girls Professional Baseball League managers Baseball coaches from Michigan Baseball players from St. Clair County, Michigan Hagerstown Hubs players Knoxville Smokies players Memphis Chickasaws players Omaha Packers players Pueblo Braves players Seattle Indians players Seattle Rainiers players Waynesboro Villagers players Wichita Izzies players Wichita Larks players Rockford Peaches 20th-century American sportsmen