Bill Foster | |||
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Pitcher | |||
Born: Calvert, Texas |
June 12, 1904|||
Died: September 16, 1978 Lorman, Mississippi |
(aged 74)|||
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Negro National League debut | |||
1923, Memphis Red Sox | |||
Last appearance | |||
1937, Chicago American Giants | |||
Career statistics | |||
Win–loss record | 143–69 | ||
Earned run average | 2.40 | ||
Teams | |||
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Career highlights and awards | |||
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Member of the National | |||
Baseball Hall of Fame | |||
Inducted | 1996 | ||
Election Method | Veterans Committee |
William Hendrick "Bill" Foster (June 12, 1904 – September 16, 1978) was an American left-handed pitcher in baseball's Negro leagues in the 1920s and 1930s, and had a career record of 143-69. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1996. Foster was the much-younger half-brother of Rube Foster, a Negro league player, pioneer, and fellow Hall of Famer.
Foster was born in 1904 in Calvert, Texas. He had the same father as Rube Foster, who was a Negro league player, manager and owner. Rube Foster was a key figure in the founding of the Negro National League. Bill Foster's mother died when he was four years old, so he was raised by his grandparents in Rodney, Mississippi. He did not meet his older half-brother until he was a teenager.
Foster played for the Memphis Red Sox in 1923 and 1924, the Chicago American Giants from 1925 to 1930—and again from 1932 to 1935 and in 1937—the Homestead Grays and Kansas City Monarchs in 1931, and the Pittsburgh Crawfords in 1936.
Foster played for Chicago American Giants teams that won the Negro National League pennant and the Negro League World Series championship in 1926 and 1927, the Negro Southern League pennant in 1932, and the Negro National League pennant in 1933. He was the player-manager of the team in 1930.
In 1926, Foster won 23 games in a row and 26 overall, but his most amazing performance came the last day of the playoffs to determine the Negro National League title. Needing to win both games of a doubleheader against the Kansas City Monarchs, Foster hurled complete game shutouts in both games of a doubleheader against Bullet Joe Rogan and the Monarchs, 1–0 and 5–0, to put the Giants in the World Series.