Bill Blair (1940s pitcher)

Template:Short description Template:For Template:Infobox baseball biography William Blair (October 17, 1921 – April 20, 2014) was an American Negro league pitcher.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Blair graduated Booker T. Washington High School in Dallas and briefly attended Prairie View A&M University. He began his baseball career at the age of 16, playing for a barnstorming team in Mineola, Texas, and went on to join the United States Army, where he became the youngest African American to serve as a first sergeant in the Army during World War II.

He pitched from 1946 to 1951, for teams including the Indianapolis Clowns, Cincinnati Crescents, and was a player-manager for the Dallas Black Giants. He played against players such as Cool Papa Bell, Satchel Paige, and Hilton Smith. After retiring from baseball, he became a fixture in the community, running a local newspaper, the Elite News, and organizing golf tournaments and parades. He died in Campbell, Texas in 2014.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

William Blair Park in South Dallas, formerly Rochester Park, was named after him.

References

• Template:Cite web
• Template:Cite news
• Template:Cite press release

External links

{{#if:||* }}Career statistics from {{#invoke:String|join|Template:Space·Template:Space|{{#if: | MLB | {{#if: Template:Wikidata | Template:Wikidata MLB Template:EditAtWikidata}} }}|{{#if: | ESPN | {{#if: Template:Wikidata | Template:Wikidata ESPN Template:EditAtWikidata}} }}|{{#if: b/blairbi02 | Baseball Reference | {{#if: Template:Wikidata | Template:Wikidata.shtml Baseball Reference Template:EditAtWikidata}} }}|{{#if: | Fangraphs | {{#if: Template:Wikidata | Template:Wikidata Fangraphs Template:EditAtWikidata}} }}|{{#if: | Baseball Reference (Minors) | {{#if: Template:Wikidata | Template:Wikidata Baseball Reference (Minors) Template:EditAtWikidata}} }}|{{#if: | Retrosheet | {{#if: Template:Wikidata | Template:Wikidata.htm Retrosheet Template:EditAtWikidata}} }}|{{#if: | Baseball Almanac | {{#if: Template:Wikidata | Template:Wikidata Baseball Almanac Template:EditAtWikidata}} }}}}{{#if: b/blairbi02

         Template:Wikidata Template:Wikidata Template:Wikidata Template:Wikidata Template:Wikidata Template:Wikidata Template:Wikidata Template:Wikidata
  | 
  | Template:Main other Error: Template:Baseballstats must contain at least one valid parameter name.
  }}{{#invoke:Check for unknown parameters | check
  | unknown = Template:Main other
  | preview = Page using Template:Baseballstats with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"
  | ignoreblank = y | br | brm | espn | fangraphs | id | mlb | retro | nobullet | almanac
  }} and Seamheads