Billy Klaus

Shortstop / Third baseman

Born: December 9, 1928
Spring Grove, Illinois

Died: December 3, 2006 (aged 77)
Sarasota, Florida

Batted: Left

Threw: Right

MLB debut

April 16, 1952, for the Boston Braves

Last MLB appearance

May 12, 1963, for the Philadelphia Phillies

MLB statistics

.249

250

Teams

William Joseph Klaus (December 9, 1928 – December 3, 2006) was a shortstop and third baseman in Major League Baseball who played with the Boston/Milwaukee Braves (1952–53), Boston Red Sox (1955–58), Baltimore Orioles (1959–60), Washington Senators (1961) and Philadelphia Phillies (1962–63). He played the end of the 1963 season in Japan for the Chunichi Dragons. Klaus batted left-handed and threw right-handed, and was listed as 5 feet 9 inches (1.75 m) tall and 160 pounds (73 kg).

Born in Spring Grove, Illinois, he attended Grant Community High School in Fox Lake, Illinois. One of four children, his family lived on a dairy farm and at one point he had to leave high school in order to help on the farm while his father was ill. He was the older brother of infielder Bobby Klaus, who played for the Cincinnati Reds and New York Mets in 1964–65.

After nine games played and seven at bats without a hit during brief trials for the 1952–53 Braves, Billy Klaus was included in one of the most important trades of the early 1950s, when Milwaukee sent him to the New York Giants on February 1, 1954, with pitchers Johnny Antonelli and Don Liddle and catcher Ebba St. Claire (plus $50,000) for erstwhile Giants' hero Bobby Thomson and catcher Sam Calderone. The deal came out heavily in the Giants' favor, with Antonelli pitching them to the 1954 National League pennant and world championship. Thomson, meanwhile, broke his ankle and was able to play in only 43 games that season. Klaus never appeared in a Giants' uniform; he was the all-star shortstop in the Triple-A American Association, hitting 21 home runs, and was acquired by the Red Sox during the 1954–55 offseason.