Willie Keeler

Willie Keeler
Keeler c. 1903
Right fielder
Born: (1872-03-03)March 3, 1872
Brooklyn, New York, U.S.
Died: January 1, 1923(1923-01-01) (aged 50)
Brooklyn, New York, U.S.
Batted: Left
Threw: Left
MLB debut
September 30, 1892, for the New York Giants
Last MLB appearance
September 5, 1910, for the New York Giants
MLB statistics
Batting average.341
Hits2,932
Home runs33
Runs batted in810
Stolen bases495
Teams
Career highlights and awards
Member of the National
Baseball Hall of Fame
Induction1939
Vote75.5% (fourth ballot)

William Henry Keeler (March 3, 1872 – January 1, 1923), nicknamed "Wee Willie" because of his small stature, was an American right fielder in Major League Baseball who played from 1892 to 1910, primarily for the Baltimore Orioles and Brooklyn Superbas in the National League, and the New York Highlanders in the American League. Keeler, one of the best hitters of his time, was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1939. One of the greatest contact hitters of all time and notoriously hard to strike out, Keeler has the highest career at bats-per-strikeout ratio in MLB history, averaging 63.17 at bats between each strikeout.[1] His plate appearance-per-strikeout ratio is also one of the best of all time, with Keeler averaging 70.66 plate appearances between strikeouts, second only to Joe Sewell, another Hall of Famer, who averaged 73.06 plate appearances between each strikeout.[2]

  1. ^ "Most career at bats per strikeout by a player in MLB history, minimum 3000 career plate appearances". StatMuse. Retrieved April 23, 2024.
  2. ^ "Most career plate appearances per strikeout by a player in MLB history, minimum 3000 career plate appearances". StatMuse. Retrieved April 23, 2024.