Bunk Congalton

William Millar Congalton

• Bats Left, Throws Left
• Height 5' 11", Weight 190 lb.
• High School Guelph Collegiate High School
• Debut April 17, 1902
• Final Game October 5, 1907
• Born January 24, 1875 in Guelph, ON CAN
• Died August 16, 1937 in Cleveland, OH USA

BR page

Biographical Information

"Congalton is what you would call a winning ball player - head always up." - Sporting Life, August 10, 1912

Bunk Congalton hit .290 during his four years in the majors and .315 during his 12 years in the minors. In his best year in the bigs, with the Cleveland Naps in 1906, he was in the top ten in the American League in batting average, on-base percentage and slugging percentage. It was his first full season as a starter in the majors, although he was already 31. He is the only major leaguer named "Bunk", although there was a Bunky Stewart and a Billy "Bunker" Rhines.

Bunk had his ups-and-downs. The St. Paul Pioneer-Press in 1899 said that "he was very, very good but when he is bad he is awful". He had a specific problem with fly balls hit over his head. Source: The Minor League Milwaukee Brewers: 1859-1952. Sporting Life of September 10, 1898 mentioned him as a player on the Hamilton, ON team, saying that he started out in professional ball playing for Toronto. In 1896 and 1897, he played for Guelph. At the time of the article he lived in Guelph, ON.

Congalton suffered a heart attack while attending an Indians game and died several days later.

Related Sites

• Bunk Congalton at the SABR Bio Project