Nashville's Major Leaguer
from Elmira Pioneers team photo
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Bill Strickland, Nashville's only major league player, was born March 29, 1908. He died January 26, 2000, and is buried in the cemetary of Pleasant Primitive Baptist Church of Berrien County. He was listed as 6'2" and 170 lbs. and batting and throwing right. He graduated from Nashville High School in 1927 and played on the 1926 basketball team that went to the state playoffs.
Strickland's complete playing career is not known. This is what's offered from the Nashville Herald and other sources; I have some exact dates listed - those pertain to the Herald and not the dates of games:
- 1930: trying out for the Georgia Tech varsity squad. He had played freshman baseball for Tech in 1929. Previously, he played for South Georgia A&M (now known as ABAC).
- 1933: gets a tryout with the Cincinnati Reds. He's spent the last two years in the Central Florida League.
- 1933: Sent to Rock Island. The Herald noted that he hoped to play for the Reds in 1934. During spring training, he had been injured when he was struck by a batted ball.
- 06/15/33: wins a game for Rock Island against Quincy, 5-1. It's his first win of the season.
- 09/21/33: against Davenport in the playoffs, he pitches in two games. He gains the only win for Rock Island in the series, 4-0. During the season, he went 15-11.
- 10/05/33: he's playing with Cocoa in the Florida East Coast Championship. On September 30, he beat Tiny Chaplin of Nashville (note: it's the other Nashville) of the Southern League, 1-0. With that, Cocoa takes a series lead of 2-1.
- 08/05/37: on June 15, he joined the Browns in Philadelphia. He was signed by Pat Monahan.
- 1938: playing for the Dallas Rebels and San Antonio Missions or the Texas League
- 1939: playing for San Antonio Missions.
- 08/16/39: playing for Savannah Indians of the South Atlantic League. At present, he has a 6-2 record with them.
- 1940: playing for Savannah Indians.
- 1941: playing for the Elmira Pioneers.
Statistics
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