William F. Bailey (April 12, 1888 – November 2, 1926) was an American left-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball. He played for the St. Louis Browns, Baltimore Terrapins, Chicago Whales, Detroit Tigers, and St. Louis Cardinals. He had a career record of 38–76 with a 3.57 earned run average. Despite his poor overall record, in the inaugural Federal League season of 1914, Bailey struck out more than one batter per inning (131 strikeouts in 128⅔ innings, or 9.2 strikeouts per 9 innings), a virtually unheard-of feat in that era. In the 1910-19 decade no other pitcher with at least 100 innings pitched even approached that level, with Rube Marquard (7.7 strikeouts per 9 innings in 1911) being a distant second. Nonetheless, Bailey even had a losing record (7-9) in that season.
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