Bill Lange

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For other people named Bill Lange, see Bill Lange (disambiguation).
Bill Lange
Stolen bases
400
Teams
Career highlights and awards

William Alexander Lange (/ˈlæŋ/;[1] June 6, 1871 – July 23, 1950), also known as "Little Eva",[2] was an American Major League Baseball center fielder, who played his entire seven-year career for the Chicago Colts and Orphans from 1893 to 1899. During his time in the Majors, he once led the National League in stolen bases, and was among the seasonal leaders in several other offensive categories including home runs, and batting average.

Lange was noted for having a combination of great speed and power, especially for his size. His 6-foot-1-inch (1.85 m), 190-pound (86 kg) frame was considered large for his era.[3] He is best known for retiring from baseball during the prime of his career to get married, as his future father-in-law forbade his daughter to marry a baseball player. Despite the short-lived marriage, he refused all offers to return as a player.

He became a successful businessman after his retirement from baseball. In addition to his success in real estate and insurance, he became a leading figure in Major League Baseball's efforts to generate interest in the game worldwide. He was enlisted by the leading baseball figures of the day to assist in establishing leagues in several European countries, that could eventually compete against American teams, while also scouting for undiscovered talent.

Early life

Born in the

Chicago Colts of the National League.[7]

Major League career

Lange made his Major League debut on April 27,

times, hit eight home runs, had 88 runs batted in (RBIs), while also finishing seventh in stolen bases with 47, and batted .281. This was the only time he batted under .300 during his Major League career.[8] In the field that season, he played at second base, in right field and center field. He did not start playing center field exclusively until the following season.[5] Lange continued his success in 1894 by raising his batting average to .328 and finishing fifth in the league with 65 stolen bases.[8]

Lange achieved his highest league rankings in 1895. His .389 batting average was fifth in the league[8] and is still the top individual season average in Chicago Cubs history.[9] He also finished second in the league in stolen bases with 67, fifth in home runs with 10, fifth in on-base percentage with .456, hit 16 triples, scored 120 runs, and batted in 98 RBIs.[8]

Lange had several notable moments during the

ballpark, his teammates knocked down several wooden slats of the outfield fence to expedite his journey. However, the two events were confused and it became legend that Lange had crashed through the fence making that acrobatic catch in tenth.[12] Lange finished the season with a .326 batting average, while also stealing 84 bases, second in the league, and finished eighth in league with 16 triples.[8]

His success continued into the 1897 season, as he batted .340, scored 119 runs, and led the league in stolen bases for the only time in his career.[8] His production dropped his last two seasons in the Majors as his runs scored fell to 79 in 1898 and 81 in 1899, although he still kept his batting averages of .319 and .325 respectively.[5]

While he was very popular, his career as a baseball player was not without controversy. He was ejected from a game on at least two occasions,

Brooklyn Superbas, umpire Ed Swartwood called the game because of darkness with Brooklyn up by two runs. Lange, and other Chicago player surrounded Swartwood and proceeded to "knock him around", with Lange notably "tweaking" the umpire's ear.[14]

Retirement

Lange finished his career on October 15, 1899, having announced a few days earlier his intention to retire after the season. His team played a doubleheader that day, winning 7–0 against the St. Louis Perfectos, then losing to the Louisville Colonels later that day in a game shortened by darkness.[3]

He retired from the game at age 28, during the prime of his career, so he could marry a woman whose father forbade her to marry a baseball player.[3] In the eyes of the 19th century public, baseball players were popular, but were often looked upon as low class. Lange's future wife was from his hometown of San Francisco, and her family was very well-to-do. Also, with the prospect of entering into the world of real estate and insurance, he could make much more money than he did as a ball player.[15] Though the marriage ended in a divorce a short time later,[3] he would not take any offers to return to Major League Baseball, despite Chicago's salary offer of $3,500 that would have made him the highest paid player in the league.[15] Although his career lasted only seven years, he finished as the decade leader among 1890s Chicago players in batting average, on-base percentage, slugging percentage, and stolen bases.[16]

In 813 games over seven seasons, Lange posted a .330

bases on balls. He finished his career with a .932 fielding percentage.[8]

Post-career

Lange became successful in both

Jim Hart, but Hart disputed this claim, saying that Henry Harris had recommended Chance to him while Harris was an owner of a San Francisco team in the fall of 1897.[19]

In 1907, the California State League, a minor league, was declared by organized baseball to be an "outlaw" league. Organized baseball accused the league of harboring players from the Majors Leagues who had violated the reserve clause to join a number of their teams.[14] The league had become a rival to the already established Pacific Coast League (PCL), who, after being an "outlaw" league themselves, had signed the National Agreement with organized baseball, agreeing that they would not harbor blacklisted or banned players from the Major Leagues.[14] The National Commission decided that the best way to deal with this situation was to dissolve this outlaw league. They did this by lifting the blacklist on any player already in the State League, which would create competition among all known leagues, for these players. This commission enlisted Lange, who used his influence with the sports editors in the local area to speed up the process. The attempt worked as the PCL successfully lured the Sacramento, California team into joining their league, with many of the players soon to follow.[14]

Later,

Washington Senators owner Clark Griffith
donated $40,000 worth of equipment to assist in supplying the new league.

Lange died at the age of 79 in his hometown of San Francisco, and is interred at the

Holy Cross Cemetery in Colma, California.[5] Two of his nephews played Major League ball as well, Ren, and George "Highpockets" Kelly.[5][20] George later gained induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1973.[21]

See also

References

General
  • Nelson, Kevin;Greenwald, Hank. The Golden Game: The Story of California Baseball. Heyday Books.
    ISBN 1-890771-80-5
    .
  • Robbins, Michael. 2004. Ninety Feet From Fame. Carroll & Graf Publishers.
    ISBN 0-7867-1335-6
    .
  • Seymour, Harold. 1960. Baseball. United States: Oxford University Press.
    ISBN 0-19-501403-0
    .
  • Simon, Thomas P. 2004. Deadball Stars of the National League. Brassey's.
    ISBN 1-57488-860-9
  • Snyder, John. 2005. Cubs Journal: Year by Year and Day by Day with the Chicago Cubs Since 1876. Emmis Books.
    ISBN 1-57860-192-4
    .
Specific
  1. ^ "Lange entry from Dictionary.com". dictionary.com. Retrieved August 14, 2008.
  2. ^ Robbins, p. 194
  3. ^ a b c d Snyder, p. 101
  4. ^ a b Nelson, p. 51
  5. ^ a b c d e f "Bill Lange's career stats". retrosheet.org. Retrieved July 28, 2008.
  6. ^ Raley, Dan (July 4, 1999). "From Reds to Ruth to Rainiers: City's history has its hits, misses". Seattle Post. Retrieved July 28, 2008.
  7. ^ a b Nelson, p. 52
  8. ^
    baseball-reference.com
    . Retrieved August 5, 2008.
  9. ^ Snyder, p. 86
  10. ^ Snyder, p. 89
  11. ^ "Stolen Bases Records". baseball-almanac.com. Retrieved August 19, 2008.
  12. ^ Snyder, p. 90
  13. ^ Snyder, p. 91
  14. ^ a b c d Snyder, p. 198
  15. ^ a b Nelson, p. 56
  16. ^ Snyder, p. 64
  17. ^ a b c "Plan World-Wide League". The New York Times. January 19, 1919. Retrieved July 28, 2008.
  18. ^ "The Biography Project: Frank Chance". by Gregory Ryhal, bioproj.sabr.org. Retrieved July 29, 2008.
  19. ^ Simon, p. 91
  20. ^ "Bill Lange Praises Hoyt". The New York Times. October 13, 1921. Retrieved July 29, 2008.
  21. ^ "Highpockets Kelly's stats". retrosheet.org. Retrieved July 29, 2008.

External links

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