Bill Hughes (hughebi01)

William W. Hughes

• Bats Left, Throws Left

• Debut September 28, 1884
• Final Game October 5, 1885
• Born 1860 in Pennsylvania USA
• Died December 2, 1928 in Brooklyn, NY USA

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Biographical Information

Bill Hughes played first base and the outfield in 14 games for the Washington Nationals of the Union Association in 1884, then pitched and played the outfield in 4 games for the Philadelphia Athletics of the American Association in 1885. According to the information in the Baseball Encyclopedia, he would have been 17 when he played his first game, but that information was considered suspicious. The correct personal information was found by Peter Morris of SABR in 2010.

Hughes was born in Schuykill County, Pennsylvania, some time after the 1860 census was conducted, since he is not listed in that record, but appears as a 10-year-old in the 1870 one, living with his family in St. Clair, PA. His father was a saddler and a Civil War veteran, and he is listed as having 5 siblings in 1870. By 1880, the family had moved to Shenandoah, PA, in the same county, and a seventh child had been born.

He signed by Peoria in January of 1884. The 1884 Reach Guide states that he was from Pennsylvania. He played first base for Peoria that season from May to August, then is listed in October as having been released by Dayton; his brief sojourn in the Union Association was in September of that year. In May of 1885, he is listed as a pitcher for Dayton. The team folded in late May, and he was picked up by Norfolk. In September of that same year, he was playing for Philadelphia in the American Association, starting games as a pitcher on September 19 and September 29, and playing his last game, as an outfielder, on October 5. He lost both of his starts - both of them complete games -, giving up 17 runs in 16.2 innings; because 8 of the runs were unearned, his lifetime ERA looks semi-decent at 4.86, but he was in fact batted around badly.

He lived in Shenandoah in the 1885-86 off-season. He signed with Jersey City in 1886, but did not report to the team because of "family opposition". This opposition appears to be his marriage that year to Annie, and the birth of his first child, daughter Susan. By 1905, he was living in Brooklyn, NY and in the 1910 census was listed as a bookkeeper for a grocery store; his wife and two children were living at the same address, with 19-year-old son Frank a clerk with an insurance company. The son's World War I draft registration card states he was born in Hazleton, PA in 1890, so Bill was presumably living there at the time. Bill Hughes died in Brooklyn in 1928 and was buried there.

Further Reading

• "William Hughes", in Bill Carle, ed.: Biographical Research Committee Report, SABR, July/August, 2010, pp. 3-4.