Bill Sharman
From BR Bullpen
William Walton Sharman
- Bats Right, Throws Right
- Height 6' 1", Weight 175 lb.
- School University of Southern California
- Born May 25, 1926 in Abilene, TX USA
[edit] Biographical Information
Bill Sharman was an All-American basketball player at USC in 1949-1950, and a star guard in the NBA from 1950-1961. He was elected to the National Basketball Hall of Fame in 1975. He was honored again as a coach in 2004.
Before he played a game in the NBA, he was a professional baseball player. He started his career with the 1950 Pueblo Dodgers and hit .288/~.353/.454 as an outfielder and was promoted to the Eastern League; he drove in 11 runs in 10 games for the Elmira Pioneers, hitting .289/~.289/.553.
In 1951, Sharman spent the season with the AA Fort Worth Cats, hitting .286/~.351/.377, scoring 84 runs and stealing 23 bases while splitting his time between center field and left field. Late in the year he was promoted to the Brooklyn Dodgers but never played in a game. He became the only player to be ejected from a Major League Baseball game without playing in one when umpire Frank Dascoli ejected the Dodgers bench for arguing with a call at home plate on September 27.
The next season Bill was with the AAA St. Paul Saints of the American Association. He hit .294/~.342/.470 with 16 homers, third on the team in homers behind Danny Ozark and Sandy Amoros. He slipped badly in 1953, hitting just .211/~.310/.320 in 90 games for the Mobile Bears and not stealing any bases. He only scored 21 runs and drove in 17 in 228 AB. He did not play baseball professionally in '54 but came back for the '55 season, which he spent with St. Paul as well. He hit .292/?/.406 that year with 11 homers. It was his last season as a baseball pro; he would devote the rest of his athletic career to basketball. Overall, he had hit .281/?/.411 in 638 games in professional baseball.
