boys of summer Bill Wambsganss

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.

Batting Statistics
Year Team G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO AVG
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

Career statistics
Batting average  .259
Hits  1359
Home Runs  7
Runs batted in  520