William Edward Friel (April 1, 1876 – December 24, 1959) was an American 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 three seasons in

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 ...

, as a

second baseman In baseball and softball, second baseman, abbreviated 2B, is a fielding position in the Infielder, infield, between Baseball field#Second base, second and Baseball field#First base, first base. The second baseman often possesses quick hands and f ...

third baseman A third baseman, abbreviated 3B, is the player in baseball or softball whose responsibility is to defend the area nearest to third base — the third of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. In the Baseball scorekeep ...

and

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 ...

. Friel began his career in the

minor leagues Minor leagues are professional sports leagues which are not regarded as the premier leagues in those sports. Minor league teams tend to play in smaller, less elaborate venues, often competing in smaller cities/markets. This term is used in Nort ...

in 1895. In 1901, he played for the

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

, and remained with the franchise in 1902-03 after it moved to St. Louis and became the Browns."Bill Friel Statistics and History"
''baseball-reference.com''. Retrieved 2010-12-05. He continued playing in the minor leagues until 1912, becoming the player-manager of the Columbus Senators of the American Association in 1910. He managed in the minor leagues for several more years afterwards. From 1923-1932 he served as the Business Manager for the St. Louis Browns. His last job in baseball was as the manager for the 1940 St. Augustine Saints of the

Florida State League The Florida State League (FSL) is a Minor League Baseball league based in the state of Florida. Having been classified at various levels throughout its existence, it operated at Class A-Advanced from 1990 until its demotion to Single-A following ...

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Friel, Bill Major League Baseball infielders Milwaukee Brewers (1901) players St. Louis Browns players 20th-century American sportsmen Atlanta Crackers players Niagara Purple Eagles baseball players Providence Grays (minor league) players Providence Clamdiggers (baseball) players Cortland Hirelings players Springfield Ponies players Springfield Maroons players Pawtucket Tigers players New Haven Blues players Columbus Senators players Indianapolis Indians players Minneapolis Millers (baseball) players Springfield Babes (baseball) players Milwaukee Brewers (minor league) managers St. Paul Saints (AA) managers Baseball players from Clinton County, Pennsylvania 1876 births 1959 deaths