William Alfred Hands, Jr. (May 6, 1940 – March 9, 2017) 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 who pitched in the major leagues from 1965 to 1975. His best season came in

1969 1969 ( MCMLXIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1969th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 969th year of the 2nd millennium, the 69th year of the 20th century, and the ...

with the

Chicago Cubs The Chicago Cubs are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The Cubs compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Central Division. Th ...

, when he won 20 games.

Early life

A native of

Rutherford, New Jersey Rutherford is a borough in Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the borough's population was 18,834, an increase of 773 (+4.3%) from the 2010 census count of 18,061, which in turn reflected a de ...

, Bill Hands played baseball at Rutherford High School. Hands pitched at

Fairleigh Dickinson University Fairleigh Dickinson University () is a private university with its main campuses in New Jersey, located in Madison / Florham Park and in Teaneck / Hackensack. Founded in 1942, Fairleigh Dickinson University offers more than 100 degree prog ...

and

Ohio Wesleyan University Ohio Wesleyan University (abbrevriated OWU) is a private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Delaware, Ohio, United States. It was founded in 1842 by Methodist leaders and Ohio Valley, Centra ...

before signing with the

San Francisco Giants The San Francisco Giants are an American professional baseball team based in San Francisco. The Giants compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League West, West Div ...

. He was later inducted into the Rutherford Hall of Fame.

Major Leagues

Hands, whose nickname was "Froggy," signed as an amateur free agent with the San Francisco Giants in 1959, made his major league debut with them in 1965, pitching in four games that season. After the 1965 season, Hands was traded to the Chicago Cubs with catcher

Randy Hundley Cecil Randolph Hundley Jr. (born June 1, 1942) is an American former professional baseball player and coach. He played in Major League Baseball as a catcher for the San Francisco Giants, Chicago Cubs, Minnesota Twins, and the San Diego Padres. ...

for outfielder Don Landrum and reliever

Lindy McDaniel Lyndall Dale McDaniel (December 13, 1935 – November 14, 2020), known as Lindy McDaniel, was an American professional baseball pitcher who had a 21-year career in Major League Baseball from 1955 to 1975. During his career, he witnessed approxim ...

, a trade regarded at the time as a success for the Giants, and which went on to be viewed as one of the best in Cubs history. In 1966 with the Chicago Cubs, he started 26 games and relieved 15, going 8-13 with a 4.58 ERA. By 1968, at age 28, he went 16-10 with a 2.89 ERA, followed up in 1969 by his best season, as he went 20-14 with a 2.49 ERA. He threw 18 complete games and pitched 300 innings, while pitching in a rotation along with Hall of Famer

Ferguson Jenkins Ferguson Arthur "Fergie" Jenkins Order of Canada, CM (born December 13, 1942) is a Canadian former professional baseball pitcher and Coach (baseball), coach. He played Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1965 to 1983 for the Philadelphia Phillies, C ...

. The right-hander spent seven seasons with the Cubs, two with the

Minnesota Twins The Minnesota Twins are an American professional baseball team based in Minneapolis. The Twins compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. The team is named afte ...

and two with the Texas Rangers. Of Hands, Ferguson Jenkins said, "Hands was an 'even-tempered guy' with a good sinking fastball and sharp slider who did his job and never complained about being underappreciated on a team full of stars." He finished his career with a record of 111-110 and an ERA of 3.35.

Personal life

During his professional career, he had been a resident of Parsippany-Troy Hills, New Jersey. After retiring from baseball, Hands was a salesman for an oil company on Long Island. He later opened up a service station, the Orient Service Center, in

Orient, New York Orient is a hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) in Suffolk County, Long Island, New York, United States. The CDP's population was 743 at the 2010 census. ''Orient'' and ''Orient Point'' are used almost interchangeably. However, Orient Poin ...

, where he lived for many years with his wife Sandy; his children (Heather, Billy, and Heidi) and grandchildren also lived in Orient. Hands died in Florida on March 9, 2017.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hands, Bill 1940 births 2017 deaths Major League Baseball pitchers San Francisco Giants players Minnesota Twins players Chicago Cubs players Texas Rangers players Baseball players from Hackensack, New Jersey Sportspeople from Parsippany-Troy Hills, New Jersey Baseball players from Morris County, New Jersey Sportspeople from Rutherford, New Jersey Fresno Giants players Hastings Giants players Eugene Emeralds players Springfield Giants players Ohio Wesleyan Battling Bishops baseball players Fairleigh Dickinson Knights baseball players Rutherford High School (New Jersey) alumni Baseball players from Suffolk County, New York 20th-century American sportsmen