Billy Earle
Encyclopedia
William Moffat "Billy" Earle (November 10, 1867 – May 30, 1946), nicknamed "The Little Globetrotter", was an American
Major League Baseball
player who mainly played as a catcher
for five teams from 1889 to 1894.
Known as one of the best catchers of his time, but shifted from team to team by contract jumping, threatening to contract jump if he was not happy, but most noted was his "creepy" nature. He thought of himself as a hypnotist
, and was interested in spiritual healing
. His teammates reported feeling uncomfortable around him, his eyes making them feel helpless and was known as somewhat of "Weirdo".
, Earle began his Major League career with the Cincinnati Red Stockings
in 1889, and split his playing time between catcher and right field
. In 53 total games played
that season, his career high, he hit
.269, scored 37 runs
, stole
26 bases, and hit four home run
s in 169 at bat
s.
Earle was sold by the Red Stockings to the St. Louis Browns
before the 1890 season began, and played in just 22 games, batted .233, and scored 16 runs. During the season, he was released by the Browns, but was soon playing with Tacoma
of the Pacific Northwest League, where he finished the season. He played sparingly for the Pittsburgh Pirates
during the 1892 and 1893 seasons. For 1894 season, he began playing with the Louisville Colonels
, and batted .354 in 21 games. Although he hit well, and had a .954 fielding percentage
, he was released in July. He sign with the Brooklyn Groom
shortly thereafter, and did equally as well. In 14 games, for them he batted .340, and had a .930 fielding percentage. In total that season, he batted .348 in 35 games between the two teams, but he never played another Major League season.
, reportedly to mesmerize a lady who had previously showed no interest in him. The Reach Guide published in 1893, also claimed that Earle possessed hypnotic
powers, and was a practicing spiritualist
who also dabbled in spiritual healing
and magnetism
as well as hypnotism. According to Bill Stern
in his book Bill Stern's Favorite Baseball Stories, players recalled that Earle had a pair of piercing eyes, and gave anyone who he looked at a creepy, helpless feeling. Other teammates reported that they thought he had an "evil eye
".
Bill Barnes
, a former teammate with Earle when they played for a Duluth, Minnesota
club in 1887, noted an incident that happened on May 11 on the Mississippi River
near LaCrosse, Wisconsin. He, Earle, and another teammate, John Ake
, were in a boat when a wave created by a passing-by steamer
capsized the boat. Barnes and Earle was able to swim to shore, but Ake drowned when he attempted to swim ashore himself. Barnes relates that he would never forget the look in Earles' eyes when he was watching Ake. Earle was good enough as a player, that no matter much he travelled around, he was able to catch on with some team, even you consider his nature. Superstition
more than anything else, finally kept Earle from continuing his professional playing career.
an independent team in Clarksville, Tennessee
. On his 1895 team was future Major League player and manager, Kid Elberfeld
, with whom he joined the Dallas Navigators of the Texas Southern League for the 1896 season. Before the season began, he and Elberfeld had a lengthy salary dispute with the team, and it was not settled in their favor, so after Elberfeld was injured in May, both men jumped their contracts with Dallas. Earle, shortly thereafter, joined the Princeton University
as a coach.
In 1902, he became manager of the Cuba
n Fe Club on a cooperative basis, meaning that it was not a paid position. He was barred from playing for any of the clubs in the Cuban league due to their rule of not allowing any professional United States players from joining the league. It was noted that during this period that he was nearly penniless from losing at poker
games.
Earle died at the age of 78 in Omaha, Nebraska
, and is interred at Forest Lawn Memorial Cemetery.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...
player who mainly played as a catcher
Catcher
Catcher is a position for a baseball or softball player. When a batter takes his turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the umpire, and receives the ball from the pitcher. This is a catcher's primary duty, but he is also called upon to master many other skills in order to...
for five teams from 1889 to 1894.
Known as one of the best catchers of his time, but shifted from team to team by contract jumping, threatening to contract jump if he was not happy, but most noted was his "creepy" nature. He thought of himself as a hypnotist
Hypnosis
Hypnosis is "a trance state characterized by extreme suggestibility, relaxation and heightened imagination."It is a mental state or imaginative role-enactment . It is usually induced by a procedure known as a hypnotic induction, which is commonly composed of a long series of preliminary...
, and was interested in spiritual healing
Faith healing
Faith healing is healing through spiritual means. The healing of a person is brought about by religious faith through prayer and/or rituals that, according to adherents, stimulate a divine presence and power toward correcting disease and disability. Belief in divine intervention in illness or...
. His teammates reported feeling uncomfortable around him, his eyes making them feel helpless and was known as somewhat of "Weirdo".
Career
Born in Philadelphia, PennsylvaniaPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Philadelphia County, with which it is coterminous. The city is located in the Northeastern United States along the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. It is the fifth-most-populous city in the United States,...
, Earle began his Major League career with the Cincinnati Red Stockings
Cincinnati Reds
The Cincinnati Reds are a Major League Baseball team based in Cincinnati, Ohio. They are members of the National League Central Division. The club was established in 1882 as a charter member of the American Association and joined the National League in 1890....
in 1889, and split his playing time between catcher and right field
Right fielder
A right fielder, abbreviated RF, is the outfielder in baseball or softball who plays defense in right field. Right field is the area of the outfield to the right of a person standing at home plate and facing towards the pitcher's mound...
. In 53 total games played
Games played
Games played is a statistic used in team sports to indicate the total number of games in which a player has participated ; the statistic is generally applied irrespective of whatever portion of the game is contested.-Baseball:In baseball, the statistic applies also to players who, prior to a game,...
that season, his career high, he hit
Batting average
Batting average is a statistic in both cricket and baseball that measures the performance of cricket batsmen and baseball hitters. The two statistics are related in that baseball averages are directly descended from the concept of cricket averages.- Cricket :...
.269, scored 37 runs
Run (baseball)
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 balls are met or assured...
, stole
Stolen base
In baseball, a stolen base occurs when a baserunner successfully advances to the next base while the pitcher is delivering the ball to home plate...
26 bases, and hit four home run
Home run
In baseball, a home run is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to reach home safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team in the process...
s in 169 at bat
At bat
In baseball, an at bat or time at bat is used to calculate certain statistics, including batting average, on base percentage, and slugging percentage. It is a more restricted definition of a plate appearance...
s.
Earle was sold by the Red Stockings to the St. Louis Browns
St. Louis Cardinals
The St. Louis Cardinals are a professional baseball team based in St. Louis, Missouri. They are members of the Central Division in the National League of Major League Baseball. The Cardinals have won eleven World Series championships, the most of any National League team, and second overall only to...
before the 1890 season began, and played in just 22 games, batted .233, and scored 16 runs. During the season, he was released by the Browns, but was soon playing with Tacoma
Tacoma, Washington
Tacoma is a mid-sized urban port city and the county seat of Pierce County, Washington, United States. The city is on Washington's Puget Sound, southwest of Seattle, northeast of the state capital, Olympia, and northwest of Mount Rainier National Park. The population was 198,397, according to...
of the Pacific Northwest League, where he finished the season. He played sparingly for the Pittsburgh Pirates
Pittsburgh Pirates
The Pittsburgh Pirates are a Major League Baseball club based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. They play in the Central Division of the National League, and are five-time World Series Champions...
during the 1892 and 1893 seasons. For 1894 season, he began playing with the Louisville Colonels
Louisville Colonels
The Louisville Colonels were a Major League Baseball team that played in the American Association throughout that league's ten-year existence from 1882 until 1891, first as the Louisville Eclipse and later as the Louisville Colonels , the latter name derived from the historic Kentucky colonels...
, and batted .354 in 21 games. Although he hit well, and had a .954 fielding percentage
Fielding percentage
In baseball statistics, fielding percentage, also known as fielding average, is a measure that reflects the percentage of times a defensive player properly handles a batted or thrown ball...
, he was released in July. He sign with the Brooklyn Groom
Los Angeles Dodgers
The Los Angeles Dodgers are a professional baseball team based in Los Angeles, California. The Dodgers are members of Major League Baseball's National League West Division. Established in 1883, the team originated in Brooklyn, New York, where it was known by a number of nicknames before becoming...
shortly thereafter, and did equally as well. In 14 games, for them he batted .340, and had a .930 fielding percentage. In total that season, he batted .348 in 35 games between the two teams, but he never played another Major League season.
Personality
In December 1890, Earle had studied hypnosisHypnosis
Hypnosis is "a trance state characterized by extreme suggestibility, relaxation and heightened imagination."It is a mental state or imaginative role-enactment . It is usually induced by a procedure known as a hypnotic induction, which is commonly composed of a long series of preliminary...
, reportedly to mesmerize a lady who had previously showed no interest in him. The Reach Guide published in 1893, also claimed that Earle possessed hypnotic
Hypnosis
Hypnosis is "a trance state characterized by extreme suggestibility, relaxation and heightened imagination."It is a mental state or imaginative role-enactment . It is usually induced by a procedure known as a hypnotic induction, which is commonly composed of a long series of preliminary...
powers, and was a practicing spiritualist
Spiritualism
Spiritualism is a belief system or religion, postulating the belief that spirits of the dead residing in the spirit world have both the ability and the inclination to communicate with the living...
who also dabbled in spiritual healing
Faith healing
Faith healing is healing through spiritual means. The healing of a person is brought about by religious faith through prayer and/or rituals that, according to adherents, stimulate a divine presence and power toward correcting disease and disability. Belief in divine intervention in illness or...
and magnetism
Magnetism
Magnetism is a property of materials that respond at an atomic or subatomic level to an applied magnetic field. Ferromagnetism is the strongest and most familiar type of magnetism. It is responsible for the behavior of permanent magnets, which produce their own persistent magnetic fields, as well...
as well as hypnotism. According to Bill Stern
Bill Stern
Bill Stern was a U.S. actor and sportscaster who announced the nation's first remote sports broadcast and the first telecast of a Major League Baseball game. In 1984, Stern was part of the American Sportscasters Association Hall of Fame’s inaugural class which included sportscasting legends Red...
in his book Bill Stern's Favorite Baseball Stories, players recalled that Earle had a pair of piercing eyes, and gave anyone who he looked at a creepy, helpless feeling. Other teammates reported that they thought he had an "evil eye
Evil eye
The evil eye is a look that is believed by many cultures to be able to cause injury or bad luck for the person at whom it is directed for reasons of envy or dislike...
".
Bill Barnes
Bill Barnes
William H. Barnes was a baseball player, playing as a center fielder in the 19th century. He played for the St. Paul Saints of the Union Association, a replacement team which began play near the end of the 1884 season. He was a native of Indianapolis, Indiana.In 8 games as the Saints' starting...
, a former teammate with Earle when they played for a Duluth, Minnesota
Duluth, Minnesota
Duluth is a port city in the U.S. state of Minnesota and is the county seat of Saint Louis County. The fourth largest city in Minnesota, Duluth had a total population of 86,265 in the 2010 census. Duluth is also the second largest city that is located on Lake Superior after Thunder Bay, Ontario,...
club in 1887, noted an incident that happened on May 11 on the Mississippi River
Mississippi River
The Mississippi River is the largest river system in North America. Flowing entirely in the United States, this river rises in western Minnesota and meanders slowly southwards for to the Mississippi River Delta at the Gulf of Mexico. With its many tributaries, the Mississippi's watershed drains...
near LaCrosse, Wisconsin. He, Earle, and another teammate, John Ake
John Ake
John Leckie Ake was an American Major League Baseball player who played mainly as a third baseman for the 1884 Baltimore Orioles of the American Association . Before and after his Major league career, he played for many professional minor league baseball teams from 1881 until his death in 1887...
, were in a boat when a wave created by a passing-by steamer
Steamboat
A steamboat or steamship, sometimes called a steamer, is a ship in which the primary method of propulsion is steam power, typically driving propellers or paddlewheels...
capsized the boat. Barnes and Earle was able to swim to shore, but Ake drowned when he attempted to swim ashore himself. Barnes relates that he would never forget the look in Earles' eyes when he was watching Ake. Earle was good enough as a player, that no matter much he travelled around, he was able to catch on with some team, even you consider his nature. Superstition
Superstition
Superstition is a belief in supernatural causality: that one event leads to the cause of another without any process in the physical world linking the two events....
more than anything else, finally kept Earle from continuing his professional playing career.
Post-career
After his playing days ended, he became a part-owner, and managedManager (baseball)
In baseball, the field manager is an individual who is responsible for matters of team strategy on the field and team leadership. Managers are typically assisted by between one and six assistant coaches, whose responsibilities are specialized...
an independent team in Clarksville, Tennessee
Clarksville, Tennessee
Clarksville is a city in and the county seat of Montgomery County, Tennessee, United States, and the fifth largest city in the state. The population was 132,929 in 2010 United States Census...
. On his 1895 team was future Major League player and manager, Kid Elberfeld
Kid Elberfeld
Norman Arthur "Kid" Elberfeld , nicknamed "The Tabasco Kid," was a shortstop in Major League Baseball for the Philadelphia Phillies , Cincinnati Reds , Detroit Tigers , New York Highlanders , Washington Senators , and Brooklyn Robins...
, with whom he joined the Dallas Navigators of the Texas Southern League for the 1896 season. Before the season began, he and Elberfeld had a lengthy salary dispute with the team, and it was not settled in their favor, so after Elberfeld was injured in May, both men jumped their contracts with Dallas. Earle, shortly thereafter, joined the Princeton University
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....
as a coach.
In 1902, he became manager of the Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
n Fe Club on a cooperative basis, meaning that it was not a paid position. He was barred from playing for any of the clubs in the Cuban league due to their rule of not allowing any professional United States players from joining the league. It was noted that during this period that he was nearly penniless from losing at poker
Poker
Poker is a family of card games that share betting rules and usually hand rankings. Poker games differ in how the cards are dealt, how hands may be formed, whether the high or low hand wins the pot in a showdown , limits on bet sizes, and how many rounds of betting are allowed.In most modern poker...
games.
Earle died at the age of 78 in Omaha, Nebraska
Omaha, Nebraska
Omaha is the largest city in the state of Nebraska, United States, and is the county seat of Douglas County. It is located in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about 20 miles north of the mouth of the Platte River...
, and is interred at Forest Lawn Memorial Cemetery.