Billy Sorrell
Bill Sorrell | |
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Third baseman | |
Born: Morehead, Kentucky | October 14, 1940|
Died: July 22, 2008 Rancho Bernardo, California | (aged 67)|
Batted: Left Threw: Right | |
MLB debut | |
September 2, 1965, for the Philadelphia Phillies | |
Last MLB appearance | |
October 1, 1970, for the Kansas City Royals | |
MLB statistics | |
Batting average | .267 |
Hits | 44 |
Home runs | 5 |
Teams | |
Billy Lee Sorrell (October 14, 1940 – July 22, 2008) was an American professional baseball player who appeared in 85 games over parts of three seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Philadelphia Phillies (1965), San Francisco Giants (1967) and Kansas City Royals (1970). Primarily a third baseman, Sorrell batted left-handed, threw right-handed, and was listed as 6 feet (1.8 m) tall and 190 pounds (86 kg). He was born in Morehead, Kentucky.
Baseball career
Sorrell signed with the Phillies in 1960 and was recalled to Philadelphia late in the 1965 campaign. He singled as a pinch hitter in his MLB debut September 2 off San Francisco relief pitcher Frank Linzy,[1] and batted .385 with five hits overall in his only trial with the Phillies. Then, in 1966, he was sent to Triple-A San Diego, where he hit 20 home runs. When he was left unprotected by the Phillies after the season, the Giants selected Sorrell in the 1966 Rule 5 Draft. He played sparingly for the 1967 Giants, getting into only 18 games with 21 plate appearances through June 18, before being returned to the Philadelphia organization. He spent two seasons in the New York Mets' system, beginning in 1968, before his contract was purchased by the Royals, an expansion team in its first season, in August 1969. The Royals then gave Sorrell his most extended trial in the majors: 57 games and 145 plate appearances during 1970 between June 2 and the end of that season.
Sorrell played in Triple-A through the end of 1971, then spent two years in Nippon Professional Baseball with the Hankyu Braves, retiring in 1973. In the majors, Sorrell batted .267 lifetime; his 44 hits included three doubles and five home runs, and he was credited with 17 runs batted in. In Japan, he hit .278 with 20 home runs and 75 RBI in 183 games. Sorrell died at age 67 in Rancho Bernardo, California.
10,000th MLB player
Sorrell was the 10,000th player in MLB history. Baseball Reference lists Sorrell, Darrell Osteen, Bud Harrelson and Dick Selma—all of whom made their major league debuts on September 2, 1965—as the major leagues' 9,998th player. The same source notes that Harrelson (9,998) and Selma (9,999) made their debut for the Mets in a game that ended at 4:56 PM; Sorrell (10,000) made his debut as the next-to-last batter in a game in Philadelphia that ended at 6:19 PM; and Osteen (10,001) made his debut for the Cincinnati Reds in a contest that started at 8:05.[2]
References
- ^ Retrosheet box score: 1965-09-02
- ^ "1965 Major League Baseball New Debuts". baseball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. 2019. Retrieved April 8, 2019.
External links
- Career statistics and player information from MLB, or ESPN, or Baseball Reference, or Fangraphs, or Baseball Reference (Minors), or Retrosheet
- Billy Sorrell at Baseball Almanac
- 1940 births
- 2008 deaths
- Arkansas Travelers players
- Bakersfield Bears players
- Baseball players from Kentucky
- Chattanooga Lookouts players
- Jacksonville Suns players
- Johnson City Phillies players
- Kansas City Royals players
- Major League Baseball third basemen
- Omaha Royals players
- People from Morehead, Kentucky
- Philadelphia Phillies players
- San Diego Padres (minor league) players
- San Francisco Giants players
- Tampa Tarpons (1957–1987) players
- Williamsport Grays players
- American baseball third baseman stubs