William Brown Ford (October 14, 1915 – April 6, 1994) 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 professiona ...

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("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, who attempts to e ...

who appeared in one

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) ...

(MLB) game with the

Boston Bees The Atlanta Braves, a current Major League Baseball franchise, originated in Boston, Massachusetts. This article details the history of the Boston Braves, from 1871 to 1952, after which they moved to Milwaukee, and then to Atlanta. During it ...

in 1936. His major-league appearance was not listed in official baseball records until 2003, due to a record-keeping error that credited his lone appearance to a similarly named Bees pitcher,

Gene Ford Eugene Wyman Ford (April 16, 1881 – August 23, 1973) was a Canadian professional baseball player. He was a right-handed pitcher who appeared in Major League Baseball (MLB) during 1905 with the Detroit Tigers. With Detroit, he compiled a 0–1 ...

Biography

Ford was born October 14, 1915, in

Buena Vista, Pennsylvania Buena Vista () is an unincorporated community in Elizabeth Township, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, located just outside Pittsburgh on the Youghiogheny River. The Great Allegheny Passage rail trail runs through the community. Bue ...

. He attended Pennsylvania State College, and played on the Penn State baseball team. Listed at and , he threw and batted right-handed. On the last day of the season, September 27, Ford made his major-league debut, appearing as the starting pitcher for the

against the

Philadelphia Phillies The Philadelphia Phillies are an American professional baseball team based in Philadelphia. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) East division. Since 2004, the team's home stadium has been Citize ...

Baker Bowl National League Park, commonly referred to as the Baker Bowl after 1923, was a baseball stadium and home to the Philadelphia Phillies from 1887 until 1938, and first home field of the Philadelphia Eagles from 1933 to 1935. It opened in 1887 with a ...

Philadelphia 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 ...

. Still only 20 years old, he was the fifth-youngest MLB player that season. After the Braves batted and took a 1–0 lead in the top of the first inning, Ford failed to retire a single batter, walking all three batters he faced in the bottom of the inning. He was relieved by Guy Bush, who allowed two of the inherited runners to score—those two runs were charged to Ford. Bush wound up pitching nine innings of relief, and won the game for the Braves, 7–3. Ford never played in another major-league game, leaving him with an

earned run average In baseball statistics, earned run average (ERA) is the average of earned runs allowed by a pitcher per nine innings pitched (i.e. the traditional length of a game). It is determined by dividing the number of earned runs allowed by the numb ...

(ERA) of

infinity Infinity is that which is boundless, endless, or larger than any natural number. It is often denoted by the infinity symbol . Since the time of the ancient Greeks, the philosophical nature of infinity was the subject of many discussions am ...

for his lone appearance. From 1937 through 1941, Ford played for 10 different teams in Minor League Baseball, mostly at the Class C and Class B levels. After compiling a 3–6 record and 7.30 ERA as a pitcher in 1937, Ford played as an outfielder and first baseman for the remainder of his career. Records, which are incomplete for the era, show that he had a .300

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 i ...

in 110 games during 1939 while playing for the McKeesport Little Pirates, a

farm team In sports, a farm team, farm system, feeder team, feeder club, or nursery club is generally a team or club whose role is to provide experience and training for young players, with an agreement that any successful players can move on to a higher ...

of the

Pittsburgh Pirates The Pittsburgh Pirates are an American professional baseball team based in Pittsburgh. The Pirates compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League Central, Central division. Founded as part o ...

. Ford's draft registration card of October 1940 indicates he was again attending Penn State, and he was listed as a senior majoring in

physical education Physical education, often abbreviated to Phys Ed. or P.E., is a subject taught in schools around the world. It is usually taught during primary and secondary education, and encourages psychomotor learning by using a play and movement explora ...

in the college's 1941 yearbook. Ford later resided in Glassport, Pennsylvania; he owned a coal company in West Elizabeth and a golf course in Forward Township. He died on April 6, 1994, aged 78, and was survived by his wife and three children. He was buried in Mount Vernon Cemetery in

Elizabeth, Pennsylvania Elizabeth is a borough in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, on the east bank of the Monongahela River, where Pennsylvania Route 51 crosses, upstream (south) of Pittsburgh and close to the county line. The population was 1,493 at the 2010 census. ...

Statistical re-discovery

Ford's appearance with the Bees did not appear in any official MLB records during his lifetime. In 2003, research by Rick Benner of the

Society for American Baseball Research The Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) is a membership organization dedicated to fostering the research and dissemination of the history and record of baseball primarily through the use of statistics. Established in Cooperstown, New Y ...

(SABR) discovered that Bill Ford's September 27, 1936, appearance had been incorrectly attributed to fellow-pitcher

, who had appeared in one game for Boston earlier that year. The official records were corrected to show that Gene Ford pitched in one game for the 1936 Bees (on June 17), and Bill Ford also pitched in one game for the 1936 Bees (on September 27).

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ford, Bill 1915 births 1994 deaths People from Elizabeth Township, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania Baseball players from Pennsylvania Penn State Nittany Lions baseball players Major League Baseball pitchers Boston Bees players Zanesville Greys players Fort Smith Giants players Muskogee Reds players Columbia Reds players El Dorado Lions players Allentown Wings players Hazleton Mountaineers players Lancaster Red Roses players Hutchinson Pirates players