Billy Geer

From BR Bullpen

William Henry Harrison Geer born George Harrison Geer

Bats Unknown, Throws Right
Height 5' 8", Weight 160 lb.

Debut October 15, 1874
Final Game May 10, 1885
Born August 13, 1859 in New York, NY USA

[edit] Biographical Information

Billy Geer, although he debuted in the National Association at age 14, is not considered the youngest player to ever play major league baseball. That honor goes to Fred Chapman, who, although also 14, was a bit younger.

Chapman, however, only appeared in one season, while Geer went on to play in six different seasons, and has the distinction of playing in four different leagues - the National Association in 1874 and 1875 (he was the youngest player both years), the National League in 1878 and 1880, the Union Association for 9 games in 1884, and the American Association in 1884 and 1885.

He played for seven different ballclubs in those six years in those four different leagues.

He broke in with a good team in 1874, the New York Mutuals, which finished second. Geer got 2 hits in 8 at-bats, doing better than 22-year-old Orator Shaffer, who went only 1 for 5, but continued to have a successful major league career.

He became an everyday player in 1875 at the age of 15, hitting .244 on a team whose average was .219. It was a poor team, though - the New Haven Elm Citys won only 7 of their 47 games. Billy, at age 15, was second on the team in runs scored.

Playing for a losing team may have hurt Billy's career, because he didn't pop up in the majors until 1878. He was 18 at the time, and played poorly for the Cincinnati Reds, hitting only .219 on a team that hit .276. However, it is not completely clear if it was the same Billy Geer. Still the youngest player on the team, he was a year younger than Buttercup Dickerson, who broke in hitting .309.

He is apparently in 2 games with Worcester in 1880 (again it is not 100% clear it was the same Billy Geer), a team that also features Dickerson. At age 20, he is still the youngest player on the team.

In 1884, Geer apparently comes back for 9 games with the Philadelphia Keystones (again it is not 100% certain if it is the same Billy), and then becomes a regular for the 1884 Brooklyn Atlantics of the American Association, where he hits .210 for a team whose average is .225. The Keystones have several players who are 18 or 19 years old, so he is no longer the youngest there. On the Atlantics, while there are a few younger players (one is Adonis Terry at age 19), he is still the youngest regular. In addition to playing shortstop for Brooklyn, he also pitched 5 innings, so it is a good guess that he had a strong arm. His range was excellent in 1884, although he made 81 errors in 107 games. (In Cincinnati back in 1878 as a shortstop, he had made fewer errors per game but had less impressive range.)

He finished his career with the Louisville Colonels in 1885, on a team where, at age 25, he was finally older than average (the average team age was 25.0).