William P. "Plunk" Drake (June 8, 1895 – October 30, 1977) was a Negro League baseball pitcher.
Drake pitched for top Negro League teams between 1920 and 1927, primarily remembered for his time with the Kansas City Monarchs, participating in two Colored World Series in 1924 and 1925. He gained his nickname from his propensity for pitching inside to batters and his willingness to hit batters who crowded the plate. He claimed to have taught Satchel Paige his famous hesitation pitch, though credit is usually given to Bill Gatewood.
Famous quotes containing the words bill and/or drake:
“I need not tell you of the inadequacy of the American shipping marine on the Pacific Coast.... For this reason it seems to me that there is no subject to which Congress can better devote its attention in the coming session than the passage of a bill which shall encourage our merchant marine in such a way as to establish American lines directly between New York and the eastern ports and South American ports, and both our Pacific Coast ports and the Orient and the Philippines.”
—William Howard Taft (1857–1930)
“Believe me, if a man doesn’t know death, he doesn’t know life.”
—William A. Drake (1900–1965)