Bill Abstein
From BR Bullpen
William Henry Abstein (Big Bill)
- Bats Right, Throws Right
- Height 6' 0", Weight 185 lb.
- Debut September 25, 1906
- Final Game June 2, 1910
- Born February 2, 1883 in St. Louis, MO USA
- Died April 8, 1940 in St.Louis, MO USA
[edit] Biographical Information
The 1904 class C South Texas League Houston Wanderers were the first stop for the 21-year-old Bill Abstein in his professional baseball career. "Big Bill" was a first baseman who put together a good season for the Houston club. He played in 125 games and had 168 base hits in 542 at bats for a .310 batting average. 1905 saw him in the Southern Association with the Shreveport Pirates, where he hit .280.
He hit .311 in 489 at-bats for Shreveport in 1906 and was acquired by the Pittsburgh Pirates, going 4 for 20 for them.
"Big Bill" spent the next two seasons (1907 and '08) with the Eastern League Providence Grays, hitting .279 in 1907 and .272 in 1908. This was enough to get him back to the major leagues with the 1909 Pittsburgh Pirates, where he batted .260 and helped the Pirates to the World Series. He played in all seven games of the series, getting six hits and contributed to the Pirates' 4 games to 3 win over Ty Cobb's Detroit Tigers.
On January 6, 1910 Abstein was selected off waivers by the St. Louis Browns from the Pirates and played in 25 games with them before winding up with the Eastern League Jersey City Skeeters, where he finished out the season, hitting .261.
"Big Bill" never got another shot at the major leagues and finished up his career with the next six years being spent in five different minor leagues with six different clubs. Altogether he played 13 seasons of professional baseball (1904-1916).
Abstein,s major league totals showed him appearing in 170 games with 619 at-bats and 150 hits for a .242 batting average.
His minor league stats had him in 1,501 games, with 5,509 at bats, getting 1,532 base hits for a .266 batting Average.
[edit] Sources
The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball: Third Edition
SABR Minor League Database
baseball-reference.com
