Billy Werber
Encyclopedia
William Murray Werber was a third baseman
in Major League Baseball
who played for the New York Yankees
(1930, 1933), Boston Red Sox
(1933–1936), Philadelphia Athletics
(1937–1938), Cincinnati Reds
(1939–1941) and New York Giants
(1942). He led American League
third basemen in putout
s and assists
once each, and also led National League
third basemen in assists, double play
s and fielding percentage
once each. A strong baserunner, he led the AL in stolen base
s three times and led the NL in runs
in as the Reds won the pennant. He was born in Berwyn Heights, Maryland
and batted and threw right-handed.
and toured for several weeks in July with the Yankees in 1927. He returned to North Carolina
to attend school at Duke University
, where he was the first Duke basketball
player to earn All-America
honors. He was a member of the Sigma Chi
fraternity, and a recipient of the Significant Sig Award. He played with Duke in spring and semi-pro ball in summers until 1930 when he officially becoming a Yankee rookie in 1930. He appeared in only four games that season, and was sent to the minors
. In his first game he reached base five times including his first at bat
where, according to Ford Frick
(then a sportswriter, later commissioner of baseball): "Werber, in his first time at bat in big league competition, with two strikes on him watched the next four balls with the coolness of a veteran." Decades later, Werber enjoyed admitting that he was so frozen by fear that he was unable to move his arms to make a swing at the ball. In 1933, Frankie Crosetti was the obvious choice as the Yankees' shortstop
, and with Tony Lazzeri
at second base
and Joe Sewell
on third
, Werber was expendable. Then, after playing only three games he was sold to the Boston Red Sox. The rest of the year he appeared in 108 games with Boston as a utility infielder
at shortstop, second and third bases.
In 1934, Werber became the starting third baseman of the Red Sox. He responded with a career-high .321 batting average
, including 200 hits
; led the American League with 40 stolen bases, and posted double digits in doubles
(41), triples
(10) and home run
s (11). He led the league in stolen bases in 1935 (29) and 1937 (35). Boston traded him to the Philadelphia Athletics for the 1937 season, and he joined the Cincinnati Reds in 1939.
In his first National League season, Werber became the first player ever to bat on television
during a game between Cincinnati and the Brooklyn Dodgers
at Ebbets Field
(August 26, 1939). He ended with a .289 average in 147 games and led the league with 115 runs as Cincinnati faced the Yankees in the 1939 World Series
, losing in four games. The next season belonged to Werber and the Reds, though, and although his batting numbers were generally down from 1939, he led the league with a .962 fielding average and finished 10th in voting for the NL's MVP Award
. The 1940 World Series
was the only Series in a six-year span that the Yankees did not win. Cincinnati beat the Detroit Tigers
in seven games as Werber led his team with a .370 average (10-for-27). Werber still holds one Major League record, as he is the only player to hit four consecutive doubles in both leagues (with Boston in the A.L. and with the Reds in the N.L.) After that, he played with the New York Giants in 1942, his last major league season.
In an 11-season career, Werber was a .271 hitter with 78 home runs and 539 RBI in 1,295 games. One of the most aggressive baserunners of the 1930s, probably the most aggressive next to Ben Chapman
, he stole 215 bases. He was inducted into the Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame in .
Werber had a very successful business career following his retirement from baseball. He began selling pension plans, and his work ethic and good communication skills yielded outstanding results. He ultimately oversaw the operations of the Werber Insurance Agency, started by his father in 1904. He was a top producer until his retirement in the early 1970s. He retired to Naples, Florida
, but lived in a retirement home in Charlotte, North Carolina
until the time of his passing. Werber authored three books over the years; "Circling the Bases", "Hunting is for the Birds" and at age 96 saw his last book published, "Memories of a Ballplayer". Before he died he said that he no longer watched baseball; one of his stated reasons was that he was dismayed to see Johnny Damon
's long hair and beard.
In 2008, Werber said, "I don't like the appearance of a lot of the players. The hair's too long. Their beards are too evident. They're a grubby-looking bunch of caterwaulers."
At the time of his death, Werber was recognized as the oldest living player in Major League Baseball. Werber was also both the final surviving teammate of Babe Ruth
as well as the last living opponent of Ruth (while Ruth was with the Yankees).
Third baseman
A third baseman, abbreviated 3B, is the player in baseball 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 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...
who played for the New York Yankees
New York Yankees
The New York Yankees are a professional baseball team based in the The Bronx, New York. They compete in Major League Baseball in the American League's East Division...
(1930, 1933), Boston Red Sox
Boston Red Sox
The Boston Red Sox are a professional baseball team based in Boston, Massachusetts, and a member of Major League Baseball’s American League Eastern Division. Founded in as one of the American League's eight charter franchises, the Red Sox's home ballpark has been Fenway Park since . The "Red Sox"...
(1933–1936), Philadelphia Athletics
Oakland Athletics
The Oakland Athletics are a Major League Baseball team based in Oakland, California. The Athletics are a member of the Western Division of Major League Baseball's American League. From to the present, the Athletics have played in the O.co Coliseum....
(1937–1938), Cincinnati Reds
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....
(1939–1941) and New York Giants
San Francisco Giants
The San Francisco Giants are a Major League Baseball team based in San Francisco, California, playing in the National League West Division....
(1942). He led American League
American League
The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, or simply the American League , is one of two leagues that make up Major League Baseball in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western League, a minor league based in the Great Lakes states, which eventually aspired to major...
third basemen in putout
Putout
In baseball statistics, a putout is given to a defensive player who records an out by one of the following methods:* Tagging a runner with the ball when he is not touching a base...
s and assists
Assist (baseball)
In baseball, an assist is a defensive statistic, baseball being one of the few sports in which the defensive team controls the ball. An assist is awarded to every defensive player who fields or touches the ball prior to the recording of a putout, even if the contact was unintentional...
once each, and also led National League
National League
The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League , is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball, and the world's oldest extant professional team sports league. Founded on February 2, 1876, to replace the National Association of Professional...
third basemen in assists, double play
Double play
In baseball, a double play for a team or a fielder is the act of making two outs during the same continuous playing action. In baseball slang, making a double play is referred to as "turning two"....
s and 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...
once each. A strong baserunner, he led the AL in stolen base
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...
s three times and led the NL in 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...
in as the Reds won the pennant. He was born in Berwyn Heights, Maryland
Berwyn Heights, Maryland
Berwyn Heights is a town in Prince George's County, Maryland, United States. The population was 2,942 at the 2000 census. It is bordered by College Park to the west, Greenbelt to the northeast, East Riverdale to the southwest, and Riverdale Park to the south....
and batted and threw right-handed.
Biography
A 5'10", 170-pound infielder, Werber was at spring trainingSpring training
In Major League Baseball, spring training is a series of practices and exhibition games preceding the start of the regular season. Spring training allows new players to try out for roster and position spots, and gives existing team players practice time prior to competitive play...
and toured for several weeks in July with the Yankees in 1927. He returned to North Carolina
North Carolina
North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...
to attend school at Duke University
Duke University
Duke University is a private research university located in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present day town of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco industrialist James B...
, where he was the first Duke basketball
Duke Blue Devils men's basketball
The Duke Blue Devils men's basketball team is the college basketball program representing Duke University in the Atlantic Coast Conference of NCAA Division I...
player to earn All-America
All-America
An All-America team is an honorary sports team composed of outstanding amateur players—those considered the best players of a specific season for each team position—who in turn are given the honorific "All-America" and typically referred to as "All-American athletes", or simply...
honors. He was a member of the Sigma Chi
Sigma Chi
Sigma Chi is the largest and one of the oldest college Greek-letter secret and social fraternities in North America with 244 active chapters and more than . Sigma Chi was founded on June 28, 1855 at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio when members split from Delta Kappa Epsilon...
fraternity, and a recipient of the Significant Sig Award. He played with Duke in spring and semi-pro ball in summers until 1930 when he officially becoming a Yankee rookie in 1930. He appeared in only four games that season, and was sent to the minors
Minor league baseball
Minor league baseball is a hierarchy of professional baseball leagues in the Americas that compete at levels below Major League Baseball and provide opportunities for player development. All of the minor leagues are operated as independent businesses...
. In his first game he reached base five times including his first 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...
where, according to Ford Frick
Ford Frick
Ford Christopher Frick was an American sportswriter and executive who served as president of the National League from to and as the third Commissioner of Major League Baseball from 1951 to . He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1970...
(then a sportswriter, later commissioner of baseball): "Werber, in his first time at bat in big league competition, with two strikes on him watched the next four balls with the coolness of a veteran." Decades later, Werber enjoyed admitting that he was so frozen by fear that he was unable to move his arms to make a swing at the ball. In 1933, Frankie Crosetti was the obvious choice as the Yankees' shortstop
Shortstop
Shortstop, abbreviated SS, is the baseball fielding position between second and third base. Shortstop is often regarded as the most dynamic defensive position in baseball, because there are more right-handed hitters in baseball than left-handed hitters, and most hitters have a tendency to pull the...
, and with Tony Lazzeri
Tony Lazzeri
Anthony Michael "Tony" Lazzeri was an American Major League Baseball player during the 1920s and 1930s, predominantly with the New York Yankees. He was part of the famed "Murderers' Row" Yankee batting lineup of the late 1920s , along with Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, and Bob Meusel...
at second base
Second baseman
Second base, or 2B, is the second of four stations on a baseball diamond which must be touched in succession by a base runner in order to score a run for that player's team. A second baseman is the baseball player guarding second base...
and Joe Sewell
Joe Sewell
Joseph Wheeler Sewell was a Major League Baseball infielder for the Cleveland Indians and New York Yankees...
on third
Third baseman
A third baseman, abbreviated 3B, is the player in baseball 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...
, Werber was expendable. Then, after playing only three games he was sold to the Boston Red Sox. The rest of the year he appeared in 108 games with Boston as a utility infielder
Utility infielder
A utility infielder is a baseball player, usually one who does not have a regular starting role on the team and who is capable of playing more than one of the four defensive infield positions: second base, third base, shortstop, and less typically first base...
at shortstop, second and third bases.
In 1934, Werber became the starting third baseman of the Red Sox. He responded with a career-high .321 batting average
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 :...
, including 200 hits
Hit (baseball)
In baseball statistics, a hit , also called a base hit, is credited to a batter when the batter safely reaches first base after hitting the ball into fair territory, without the benefit of an error or a fielder's choice....
; led the American League with 40 stolen bases, and posted double digits in doubles
Double (baseball)
In baseball, a double is the act of a batter striking the pitched ball and safely reaching second base without being called out by the umpire, without the benefit of a fielder's misplay or another runner being put out on a fielder's choice....
(41), triples
Triple (baseball)
In baseball, a triple is the act of a batter safely reaching third base after hitting the ball, with neither the benefit of a fielder's misplay nor another runner being put out on a fielder's choice....
(10) and 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 (11). He led the league in stolen bases in 1935 (29) and 1937 (35). Boston traded him to the Philadelphia Athletics for the 1937 season, and he joined the Cincinnati Reds in 1939.
In his first National League season, Werber became the first player ever to bat on television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
during a game between Cincinnati and the Brooklyn Dodgers
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...
at Ebbets Field
Ebbets Field
Ebbets Field was a Major League Baseball park located in the Flatbush section of Brooklyn, New York, USA, on a city block which is now considered to be part of the Crown Heights neighborhood. It was the home of the Brooklyn Dodgers of the National League. It was also a venue for professional football...
(August 26, 1939). He ended with a .289 average in 147 games and led the league with 115 runs as Cincinnati faced the Yankees in the 1939 World Series
1939 World Series
The 1939 World Series featured the three-time defending champion New York Yankees against the Cincinnati Reds, who were making their first Series appearance since the scandal-tainted 1919 World Series. The Yankees swept the Series in four games for the second time in a row, winning their record...
, losing in four games. The next season belonged to Werber and the Reds, though, and although his batting numbers were generally down from 1939, he led the league with a .962 fielding average and finished 10th in voting for the NL's MVP Award
MLB Most Valuable Player Award
The Major League Baseball Most Valuable Player Award is an annual Major League Baseball award, given to one outstanding player in the American League and one in the National League. Since 1931, it has been awarded by the Baseball Writers Association of America...
. The 1940 World Series
1940 World Series
The 1940 World Series matched the Cincinnati Reds against the Detroit Tigers, with the Reds winning the Series in seven games for their second championship, their first since the scandal-tainted victory in...
was the only Series in a six-year span that the Yankees did not win. Cincinnati beat the Detroit Tigers
Detroit Tigers
The Detroit Tigers are a Major League Baseball team located in Detroit, Michigan. One of the American League's eight charter franchises, the club was founded in Detroit in as part of the Western League. The Tigers have won four World Series championships and have won the American League pennant...
in seven games as Werber led his team with a .370 average (10-for-27). Werber still holds one Major League record, as he is the only player to hit four consecutive doubles in both leagues (with Boston in the A.L. and with the Reds in the N.L.) After that, he played with the New York Giants in 1942, his last major league season.
In an 11-season career, Werber was a .271 hitter with 78 home runs and 539 RBI in 1,295 games. One of the most aggressive baserunners of the 1930s, probably the most aggressive next to Ben Chapman
Ben Chapman (baseball player)
William Benjamin "Ben" Chapman was an American outfielder and manager in Major League Baseball who played for several teams, most notably the New York Yankees. During the period from 1926 to 1943, he had more stolen bases than any other player, leading the American League four times...
, he stole 215 bases. He was inducted into the Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame in .
Werber had a very successful business career following his retirement from baseball. He began selling pension plans, and his work ethic and good communication skills yielded outstanding results. He ultimately oversaw the operations of the Werber Insurance Agency, started by his father in 1904. He was a top producer until his retirement in the early 1970s. He retired to Naples, Florida
Naples, Florida
Naples is a city in Collier County, Florida, United States. As of July 1, 2007, the U.S. Census Bureau estimated the city's population at 21,653. Naples is a principal city of the Naples–Marco Island Metropolitan Statistical Area, which had an estimated total population of 315,839 on July 1, 2007...
, but lived in a retirement home in Charlotte, North Carolina
Charlotte, North Carolina
Charlotte is the largest city in the U.S. state of North Carolina and the seat of Mecklenburg County. In 2010, Charlotte's population according to the US Census Bureau was 731,424, making it the 17th largest city in the United States based on population. The Charlotte metropolitan area had a 2009...
until the time of his passing. Werber authored three books over the years; "Circling the Bases", "Hunting is for the Birds" and at age 96 saw his last book published, "Memories of a Ballplayer". Before he died he said that he no longer watched baseball; one of his stated reasons was that he was dismayed to see Johnny Damon
Johnny Damon
Johnny David Damon is an American professional baseball outfielder and designated hitter. From 2000–2008, he was third among active players in runs and seventh in hits and stolen bases . He is currently second among active leaders in triples , five behind Carl Crawford...
's long hair and beard.
In 2008, Werber said, "I don't like the appearance of a lot of the players. The hair's too long. Their beards are too evident. They're a grubby-looking bunch of caterwaulers."
Death
Werber died on January 22, 2009, in Charlotte, North Carolina, at age 100.At the time of his death, Werber was recognized as the oldest living player in Major League Baseball. Werber was also both the final surviving teammate of Babe Ruth
Babe Ruth
George Herman Ruth, Jr. , best known as "Babe" Ruth and nicknamed "the Bambino" and "the Sultan of Swat", was an American Major League baseball player from 1914–1935...
as well as the last living opponent of Ruth (while Ruth was with the Yankees).
See also
- List of Major League Baseball runs scored champions
- List of Major League Baseball stolen base champions
- List of Major League Baseball leaders in career stolen bases
Sources
- BaseballLibrary - profile and career highlights
- Baseball Almanac
- Retrosheet
- The Baseball Cube
- The Melrose Mirror
- MLB - The Fall Classic's elder statesman
- 2008 Boston Globe interview
- Ex-Big Leaguer Werber Has Many Stories to Choose From - June 2008 Washington Post interview
- USAToday article on June 20, 2008
- NYTimes obituary