Bill Evans (evansbi02)

William Lawrence Evans

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 2", Weight 180 lb.
• High School Fruita Monument High School
• Debut April 21, 1949
• Final Game June 21, 1951
• Born March 25, 1919 in Quanah, TX USA
• Died November 30, 1983 in Grand Junction, CO USA

BR page

Biographical Information

A right-hander from Texas who spent most of his career in the minor leagues, Bill Evans was thirty years old before he had a chance to pitch in the majors. He appeared in four games out of the Chicago White Sox bullpen in 1949, losing his only decision.

Bill spent the first year of his lengthy minor league jaunt with the Cheyenne Indians in 1941, going 10-13 with a 4.71 ERA. He then spent 1942 with three different teams, altogether going 11-13 with a 4.08 ERA.

As happened to many minor leaguers during this period, Bill's career was interupted by World War II when he enlisted in the United States Army, serving three years (1943-1945), in the European theater of operations.

1946 saw the right-hander have the best season of his career with the class C Amarillo Gold Sox when he won 26 while losing only 7, pitching 267 innings and having a 3.30 ERA. This prompted the White Sox to purchase him from the Amarillo Team in late September 1946. He led the West Texas-New Mexico League in wins, innings and strikeouts (297). He was 5th in the circuit in ERA.

He didn't fare too well in 1947, however, going 4-17 with the class AA Little Rock Travelers, but 1948 saw him bounce back to the right side of the ledger, winning 17 while losing 12 with a 2.55 ERA for the class A Muskegon Clippers. This probably opened his door to the majors but as it says above it didn't stay open long and he was back in the minors with the Memphis Chickasaws for the balance of 1949, where he went 8-10 with a 2.96 ERA.

In 1950 Bill won 15 games for the Pacific Coast League Sacramento Solons but he also lost 22 (leading the league); he did have a decent 3.44 ERA. He also spent 317 innings on the pitching rubber. On October 9th, the White Sox traded him to the Boston Red Sox for Mike Palm and cash. 1951 gave Bill a last look at major league hitters when the Red Sox had him up for nine games with no decisions. Bill was be with the Louisville Colonels for the remainder of 1951, going 8-4 with a 3.87 ERA.

Bill was 33 years old in 1952, but he still spent four more seasons on the mound, mostly in the high minors. In 1953, he won 16 and lost 13 for the Seattle Rainiers; that all but concluded his career. 1954 and 1955 were rough and Evans decided to call it quits in 1955. He was 35 years old and had been in pro baseball for twelve active seasons from 1941 through 1955.

Evans was later an airport limousine driver in Grand Junction, CO, where he died November 30, 1983, at age 64.

Sources

Baseball-Reference.com
Baseball Players of the 1950s
SABR MILB Database:page

Related Sites

• Bill Evans at the SABR Bio Project