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William Adolf Wambsganss (March 19, 1894 - December 8, 1985) was a second baseman in Major League Baseball. From 1914 through 1926, Wambsganss played for the Cleveland Indians (1914-23), Boston Red Sox (1924-25) and Philadelphia Athletics (1926). He batted and threw right-handed. He is best remembered for making one of the most spectacular defensive plays in World Series history, an unassisted triple play.
In a 13-season career, Wambsganss posted a .259 batting average with seven home runs and 519 RBI in 1492 games played. Due to the alphabet-soup nature of his surname, Wambsganss was often called "Wamby" by headline writers.
A native of Cleveland, Ohio, Wambsganss was the regular second baseman for the Cleveland Indians during 10 years. A fine fielder throughout his 13-year career overall, he amassed 4,269 assists with 3,420 putouts and turned 605 double plays. He committed only 375 errors in 8,064 chances for a significant .954 fielding percentage.
On October 10, 1920, Wambsganss made history when he turned the only unassisted triple play ever in World Series history, in Game Five against the Brooklyn Dodgers.
Batting from the second or eight spot, from 1919-23 Wambsganss averaged 74.2 runs per year, with a high 89 runs in 1922, as he also hit a career-high .295 in 1918 and .290 in 1923, his last season with Cleveland, when he was sent to the Boston Red Sox in the same trade that brought good-hitting first baseman George Burns to the Indians.
Bill Wambsganss died in Lakewood, Ohio, at age 91.
| 1914 |
Cleveland |
43 |
143 |
12 |
31 |
6 |
2 |
0 |
12 |
8 |
24 |
.217 |
| 1915 |
Cleveland |
121 |
375 |
30 |
73 |
4 |
4 |
0 |
21 |
36 |
50 |
.195 |
| 1916 |
Cleveland |
136 |
475 |
57 |
117 |
14 |
4 |
0 |
45 |
41 |
40 |
.246 |
| 1917 |
Cleveland |
141 |
499 |
52 |
129 |
17 |
6 |
0 |
43 |
37 |
42 |
.255 |
| 1918 |
Cleveland |
78 |
315 |
34 |
93 |
15 |
2 |
0 |
40 |
21 |
21 |
.295 |
| 1919 |
Cleveland |
139 |
526 |
60 |
146 |
17 |
6 |
2 |
60 |
32 |
24 |
.278 |
| 1920 |
Cleveland |
153 |
565 |
83 |
138 |
16 |
11 |
1 |
55 |
54 |
26 |
.244 |
| 1921 |
Cleveland |
107 |
410 |
80 |
117 |
28 |
5 |
2 |
47 |
44 |
27 |
.285 |
| 1922 |
Cleveland |
142 |
538 |
89 |
141 |
22 |
6 |
0 |
47 |
60 |
26 |
.262 |
| 1923 |
Cleveland |
101 |
345 |
59 |
100 |
20 |
4 |
1 |
59 |
43 |
15 |
.290 |
| 1924 |
Boston |
156 |
632 |
93 |
174 |
41 |
5 |
0 |
49 |
54 |
33 |
.275 |
| 1925 |
Boston |
111 |
360 |
50 |
83 |
12 |
4 |
1 |
41 |
52 |
21 |
.231 |
| 1926 |
Philadelphia |
54 |
54 |
11 |
19 |
3 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
8 |
8 |
.352 |
|