Bill Lennon

William H. Lennon

• Bats Unknown, Throws Unknown
• Height 5' 7", Weight 145 lb.

• Debut May 4, 1871
• Final Game July 11, 1873
• Born January 3 1845 in Brooklyn, NY USA
• Died August 19, 1910 in Philadelphia, PA USA

BR page

Biographical Information

Bill Lennon scored the first major league run. A player from 1871 to 1873, his last two teams didn't win a single game, going 0-11 and 0-6. His first team was also under .500.

Bill was mostly a catcher. He was not a strong hitter, but his teams were so bad that he looked average or above-average on them.

Like many players who appeared in the first year of the National Association, Lennon had previously played amateur ball. He goes back at least as far as 1869, when he played catcher for the Marylands as a teammate of Bobby Mathews.

Lennon managed the 1871 Fort Wayne Kekiongas for 14 of their 19 games. He also worked a total of 15 National Association games as an umpire between 1871 and 1874.

The Baseball Daily article below indicates that Lennon and several other players were kicked off the Fort Wayne team. However, the article also describes how the team had not paid full salaries to the players, and had given them poor lodging, so there was definitely friction between the players and the team officers.

Related Sites

• Bill Lennon at the SABR Bio Project
• BR Manager page
• BR Minors page
• Baseball History Daily article on Bill Lennon

This manager's article is missing a managerial chart. To make this person's article more complete, one should be added.