William Sullivan

William F. Sullivan

• Debut May 29, 1884
• Final Game May 29, 1884
• Born March 12, 1864 in St. Louis, MO USA
• Died September 27, 1911 in St. Louis, MO USA

BR page

Biographical Information

William Sullivan pitched one game for the St. Louis Maroons of the Union Association on May 29, 1884. He was the winner in spite of giving up 6 runs in as many innings. It was his bad luck to have a better-known teammate called Sleeper Sullivan. His single pitching appearance was wrongly attributed to his namesake, and until 2011, William had disappeared from the record books. However, it is almost certain that Sleeper, who was a catcher by trade, did not pitch that one game, which would have been the sole mound appearance of his career.

William Sullivan did pitch professionally for a few years, although almost nothing is known about him. He was with Danville, IL in 1887. His very common name, and the fact he had been left out of the official record for over 125 years, made it difficult to find out more about him. However, an article in the St. Louis Globe-Democrat in 1897 identified him as a former player with the Maroons and mentioned he had escaped from a mental hospital. Before that, he was a butcher, as was his father, and it listed his age as 33. This information was sufficient to trace him through census records and provide dates of birth and death.

Further Reading

• "Another New Major Leaguer", in Bill Carle, ed.: Biographical Research Committee Report, SABR, November/December 2011, p. 4.
• "William Sullivan", in Bill Carle, ed.: Biographical Research Committee Report, SABR, July/August 2019, p. 7.