Bill Lindsay (third baseman)

William "Bill" Lindsay (born 02/24/1881 in Madison, NC - died 07/14/1963 in Greensboro, NC) is a former Major and Minor League player. Batted Left. Threw Right. Played 2B, SS and 3B over his career.

Bill Lindsay's basesball career spanned over 8 years. The pinnacle of his career was playing for the Cleveland Indians (known then as the Cleveland Naps) in 1911.

Bill Lindsay was often referred to as "The Professor" due to his older age and college education. Bill Lindsay was well educated in an era where few ballplayers experienced a formal education. Bill graduated from Guilford College in Greensboro, NC[1]. Bill also attended graduate school at Haverford College in PA (where he later taught)[2], Harvard University[3] and law school at Tulane University[4].

Bill Lindsay's first year in professional baseball was 1908, playing for Winston-Salem in the Carolina Association. As the season came to a close his manager took the same job with the Memphis Turtles (later the Memphis Chicks) of the Southern Association[5]. He asked Bill to follow and become the everyday SS. Bill played with Memphis for rest of the 1908 season as well as part of the 1909 season. The Southern Association was a pipeline to the Major Leagues during this era. Teams in the Southern Association included the Atlanta Crackers, Birmingham Barons, Little Rock Travelers, Memphis Turtles, Mobile, Montgomery, Nashville Vols and New Orleans Pelicans.

In the early summer of 1909 Bill was traded to the New Orleans Pelicans, also of the Southern Association. Playing on this team is where Bill would gain some of his noteriaty. Bill would remain with New Orleans for parts of 1909, 1910, 1911 and 1914. In 1910, the Pelicans would win the Southern Association Championship with Bill at SS. Bill would play this season with a CF named Shoeless Joe Jackson[6].

With injuries to Nap Lajoie of the Cleveland Indians (Naps) during the early 1911 season, Bill Lindsay's contract was bought by the team to help shore up the infield[7]. Bill played his first major league game on June 21, 1911 versus Ty Cobb and the Detroit Tigers[8]. Players on the Cleveland team during this time were Shoeless Joe Jackson, Cy Young and Nap Lajoie. Once Nap Lajoie recovered from his injuries, Bill was made expendable. Bill played 19 games with the Cleveland Naps. He batted .242 while mainly playing 3B.[9]

After he was made expendable by Cleveland, two seperate American League clubs wanted to sign Bill but the Cleveland owner, Charles Somers ,sent him to Cleveland's new farm team in Portland, OR (Portland Beavers)[10]. Charles Somers was one of the first owners to invest in "farm teams" as part of building a Major League team. Bill spent parts of the 1911, 1912 and 1913 seasons with Portland of the Pacific Coast League. Due to all of the Major League teams being located in the NorthEast, the PCL was basically the Major Leagues of the West Coast. A notable player who got his start in the PCL was Joe DiMaggio[11].

Bill continued to play baseball for about 4 more years after his brief Major League stint. He went back to play with New Orleans in 1914. In 1915 he played with both the Oakland Oaks of the PCL and Birmingham Barons of the Southern Association. Bill's last season in professional baseball was 1916. He played parts of the 1916 season with Birmingham and Norfolk (VA) of the Virginia League.

Bill Lindsay's Batting Statistics[12] 1911 Portland .285 / 1911 Cleveland .242 / 1912 Portland .318 / 1913 Portland .300 / 1914 New Orleans .248 / 1915 Birmingham .270 / 1916 Birmingham .249 / 1916 Norfolk .230 /