William Ritter

William Francis Ritter

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5' 8", Weight 155 lb.

• Debut June 4, 1890
• Final Game June 4, 1890
• Born November 26, 1869 in Columbus, OH USA
• Died December 5, 1928 in Columbus, OH USA

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Biographical Information

William Ritter was an amateur from Columbus, OH who appeared in just one big league game. He played nine innings at catcher for the Toledo Maumees on June 4, 1890. For over one hundred years, he was wrongly identified as Floyd Ritter. It's not clear why Floyd Ritter, who did exist and whose vital statistics were long associated with the player, was confused with William, as he has no known connections to baseball.

Anyone can have a bad day. Ritter had one in his only presence in the major leagues, and the press roasted him for it. He made two errors and allowed five passed balls, although he did throw out three of five runners trying to steal bases. Before that, he had been playing for the "Clippers", a local amateur club, listed as W. Ritter. City directories identify him as a fireman, who later played catcher for the local firemen's club

"Some of the Eastern papers have started a paragraph going the rounds that Toledo is weak in the box. The writer must have got tangled up with the catchers when they were both disabled . . . Sprague would have won the only ball game he pitched at Columbus had he had any support behind the bat, but an amateur named Ritter, and by whom all Columbus seems to swear, caught such poor ball that the game was made a farce, and Columbus writers immediately jumped onto Sprague and roasted him. Any sane man . . . must know that a pitcher cannot pitch to a catcher who cannot support him." - from Sporting Life, June 21, 1890

Further Reading

• "William Ritter Found", in Bill Carle, ed.: Biographical Committee Report, SABR, September/October 2024, p. 1.