Dutch Hinrichs

William Louis Hinrichs

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 3", Weight 195 lb.
• School Occidental College
• Debut June 25, 1910
• Final Game July 8, 1910
• Born April 27, 1889 in Orange, CA USA
• Died August 18, 1972 in Kingsburg, CA USA

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Biographical Information

Dutch Hinrichs sounds German but was actually born in Orange, CA. He was the first major leaguer out of Occidental College in Los Angeles, CA, which he attended in 1908-1910. He came to the majors in June 1910 to pitch three games in June and July.

Hinrichs was 21 at the time, a year younger than fellow pitcher Walter Johnson on the 1910 Washington Senators.

One site says that Johnson had matched up against Hinrichs on Christmas Day in 1906 when Johnson pitched for Olinda and Hinrichs pitched for a team that might have been Santa Ana. The site goes on to say that Johnson took Hinrichs to Washington with him in 1910 but that Hinrichs came down with "infantile paralysis" and had to return to California. Source: early Johnson

Hinrichs lived a long time, however, dying in 1972 in Kingsburg, CA, a farm town between Fresno and Tulare that is known as the "Swedish Village".