Bill Kissinger

William Francis Kissinger
(Shang or Shaney)

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Weight 185 lb.

• Debut May 30, 1895
• Final Game June 10, 1897
• Born August 15, 1871 in Dayton, KY USA
• Died April 20, 1929 in Cincinnati, OH USA

BR page

Biographical Information

Bill Kissinger played three years in the majors, mostly for the St. Louis Browns. He was primarily a pitcher, with 319 1/3 innings, but sometimes played in the field and had a batting average of .280 with some power. He also played in the minors, including two seasons with the Syracuse Stars, for whom he posted a record of 17-10.

His major league ERA of 6.99 has drawn attention. While it was not good, nevertheless it was done during a lively ball era when ERAs were high all around.

"It gives me great pleasure to read the kind expressions of opinion of Kissinger, our last season's best pitcher. "Kiss", as he was generally called, was all right in all that the word implies." - Sporting Life's Norfolk correspondent, February 28, 1895

"The Cairo club . . . rented the National League Browns battery of Bill Kissinger and Klondike Douglass from St. Louis manager Chris Von der Ahe. . .Thousands of people from as far away as Texas and Missouri came to Pine Bluff to witness the game, and it was said that the betting money “flowed like water”. . . St. Louis Browns Pitcher Bill Kissinger mowed down the Pine Bluff champions like bowling pins . . ." - from this site [1] quoting a Chicago News article about a heavily-bet game involving Cairo and PIne Bluff