1876
Born October 13, 1876
Lawrence, MA, USA
Bill Donovan Marquee
b. October 13, 1876 · Washington Senators 1898, Brooklyn Superbas 1899–1902, Detroit Tigers 1903–1912, 1918, New York Yankees 1915–1916
In 1907 he won 25 games and lost 4, a percentage of .862, for the Detroit club that won the pennant. He had won 25 for Brooklyn in 1901 as well, leading the National League. Eighteen seasons gave him 185 wins against 139 with a 2.69 earned run average, 289 complete games and 35 shutouts.
He was called Wild Bill for the walks — 1,552 strikeouts against a great many free passes — and he pitched in three straight World Series for Detroit from 1907 without winning a game in any of them.
He managed the Yankees from 1915 to 1917 and the Phillies in 1921. In December 1923 the train carrying him to the winter meetings derailed near Forsyth, New York, and he was killed. He was forty-seven. Five writers' ballots in the 1930s and 1940s gave him no more than three votes.
Honors
| Award | Times | Years |
|---|---|---|
| Baseball Magazine All-Star | 1 | 1908 |
Batting, season by season
| Year | Team | G | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | SO | SB | AVG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1898 | WHS | 39 | 103 | 11 | 17 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 8 | 4 | 28 | 2 | .165 |
| 1899 | BRO | 5 | 13 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | .231 |
| 1900 | BRO | 5 | 13 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 0 | .000 |
| 1901 | BRO | 46 | 135 | 16 | 23 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 13 | 8 | 27 | 1 | .170 |
| 1902 | BRO | 48 | 161 | 16 | 28 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 16 | 9 | 26 | 7 | .174 |
| 1903 | DET | 40 | 124 | 11 | 30 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 12 | 4 | 34 | 3 | .242 |
| 1904 | DET | 46 | 140 | 12 | 38 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 3 | 41 | 2 | .271 |
| 1905 | DET | 44 | 130 | 16 | 25 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 12 | 28 | 8 | .192 |
| 1906 | DET | 28 | 91 | 5 | 11 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 32 | 6 | .121 |
| 1907 | DET | 37 | 109 | 20 | 29 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 19 | 6 | 34 | 4 | .266 |
| 1908 | DET | 30 | 82 | 5 | 13 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 10 | 26 | 2 | .159 |
| 1909 | DET | 22 | 45 | 6 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 9 | 0 | .200 |
| 1910 | DET | 26 | 69 | 6 | 10 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 24 | 0 | .145 |
| 1911 | DET | 24 | 60 | 11 | 12 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 11 | 20 | 1 | .200 |
| 1912 | DET | 6 | 13 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | .077 |
| 1915 | NYY | 10 | 12 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 0 | .083 |
| 1916 | NYY | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — |
| 1918 | DET | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .500 |
| Career | — | 459 | 1302 | 142 | 251 | 30 | 11 | 7 | 95 | 77 | 342 | 36 | .193 |
Pitching, season by season
| Year | Team | W | L | G | GS | SV | IP | H | ER | BB | SO | ERA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1898 | WHS | 1 | 6 | 17 | 7 | 0 | 88.0 | 88 | 42 | 69 | 36 | 4.30 |
| 1899 | BRO | 1 | 2 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 25.0 | 35 | 12 | 13 | 11 | 4.32 |
| 1900 | BRO | 1 | 2 | 5 | 4 | 0 | 31.0 | 36 | 23 | 18 | 13 | 6.68 |
| 1901 | BRO | 25 | 15 | 45 | 38 | 3 | 351.0 | 324 | 108 | 152 | 226 | 2.77 |
| 1902 | BRO | 17 | 15 | 35 | 33 | 1 | 297.2 | 250 | 92 | 111 | 170 | 2.78 |
| 1903 | DET | 17 | 16 | 35 | 34 | 0 | 307.0 | 247 | 78 | 95 | 187 | 2.29 |
| 1904 | DET | 16 | 16 | 34 | 34 | 0 | 293.0 | 251 | 80 | 94 | 137 | 2.46 |
| 1905 | DET | 18 | 15 | 34 | 32 | 0 | 280.2 | 236 | 81 | 101 | 135 | 2.60 |
| 1906 | DET | 9 | 15 | 25 | 25 | 0 | 211.2 | 221 | 74 | 72 | 85 | 3.15 |
| 1907 | DET | 25 | 4 | 32 | 28 | 1 | 271.0 | 222 | 66 | 82 | 123 | 2.19 |
| 1908 | DET | 18 | 7 | 29 | 28 | 0 | 242.2 | 210 | 56 | 53 | 141 | 2.08 |
| 1909 | DET | 8 | 7 | 21 | 17 | 2 | 140.1 | 121 | 36 | 60 | 76 | 2.31 |
| 1910 | DET | 17 | 7 | 26 | 23 | 0 | 206.2 | 184 | 56 | 61 | 107 | 2.44 |
| 1911 | DET | 10 | 9 | 20 | 19 | 0 | 168.1 | 160 | 62 | 64 | 81 | 3.31 |
| 1912 | DET | 1 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 10.0 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 6 | 0.90 |
| 1915 | NYY | 0 | 3 | 9 | 1 | 0 | 33.2 | 35 | 18 | 10 | 17 | 4.81 |
| 1916 | NYY | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1.0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0.00 |
| 1918 | DET | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 6.0 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1.50 |
| Career | — | 185 | 139 | 378 | 327 | 8 | 2964.2 | 2631 | 886 | 1059 | 1552 | 2.69 |
On this day & linked events
1923
Died December 9, 1923
1898
Major-league debut: Bill Donovan
Bill Donovan made a major-league debut on April 22, 1898.
1918
Final major-league game: Bill Donovan
Bill Donovan played a final major-league game on September 2, 1918.
Image: Unknown author Unknown, public domain