Major League Career
In a 13-season career, Wambsganss posted a .259 batting average with seven home runs and 519 RBI in 1492 games played. Due to his long surname, Wambsganss was often called "Wamby" by headline writers.
A native of Cleveland, Ohio, Wambsganss was the regular second baseman of the Cleveland Indians for 10 years. A fine fielder throughout his 13-year career overall, he amassed 4,269 assists with 3,420 putouts and turned 605 double plays. He committed only 375 errors in 8,064 chances for a significant .954 fielding percentage.
Batting from the second or eighth spot, from 1919 to 1923 Wambsganss averaged 74.2 runs per year, with a high 89 runs in 1922, as he also hit a career-high .295 in 1918 and .290 in 1923, his last season with Cleveland, when he was sent to the Boston Red Sox in the same trade that brought first baseman George Burns to the Indians.
In 1924 with Boston, Wambsganss hit .275 and collected career-highs in hits (174) and runs (93). After a sub-par season in 1925, he was sold to the Philadelphia Athletics. He finished his major league career with the A's in 1926, batting .352 in 54 games. A year later, he played for Triple-A Kansas City of the American Association.
Additionally, he managed during four seasons in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League for the Fort Wayne Daisies (1945-'46) and the Muskegon Lassies (1947-'48). In November 1988, Wambsganss along with the rest of the AAGPBL received recognition when the Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, New York dedicated a permanent display to the entire league rather than any individual player. The gymnasium at Concordia Theological Seminary is named in honor of him.
Bill Wambsganss died in Lakewood, Ohio, at age 91.
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