Happy Belated Birthday to the late and great Hall of Famer Billy Hamilton; this is another great from the 1800s, forgotten by many. In a fourteen-year career playing for the Kansas City Athletics, Philadelphia Phillies, and the Boston Beaneaters, Hamilton established himself as one of the greatest leadoff hitters who had ever played. 

Career Statistics/Accolades (1888-1901):

.344 BA 2,164 HITS 40 HR 742 RBI .455 OBP 1,697 RUNS

As a Hitter

As a left-handed hitter, Hamilton was perfect for his era. With great contact, plate discipline, and speed, he was the right guy to bat leadoff. Hamilton recorded an OBP of .400 or higher thirteen times consecutively, leading the league five times. Hamilton batted .300 or higher twelve times, also being a two-time batting champion. Whether it was averaging 100 + Walks and 200 plus Hits on average for a career, Hamilton was a master at getting On Base. Once he got on base, with his speed, he led the league in stolen bases five times, scored 100 or more runs eleven times, and led the league four times. Ultimately, Hamilton was the Rickey Henderson of his time; if he led off the inning with a single or a walk, pitchers would say to themselves: “Well, that’s a run.” 

As a Fielder

So I don’t have his exact statistics and how many Innings he played at each position. However, he appeared in 1,587 Games and 13,876 Innings in the Outfield. The majority of his games (990), were in Center Field. He spent 434 games in Left Field, and the other 163 in Right Field. Between the three positions, he had a lifetime .926 Fielding Percentage, which was +.003 above the league average. While combining for 3,453 Putouts, 182 Assists, and 55 Double Plays.

Best Years

Hands down, 1894 was his best season, in which he had career highs in AVG, HITS, RBI, 2B, 3B, RUNS, and OBP. That year, he batted over .400 and had an OBP of .521 while scoring an all-time single-season record of 198 Runs.

1889: .301 BA 161 HITS 3 HR 77 RBI .413 OBP 144 RUNS 111 SB (137 Games)

1890: .325 BA 161 HITS 2 HR 49 RBI .430 OBP 133 RUNS 102 SB (123 Games)

1891: .340 BA 179 HITS 2 HR 60 RBI .453 OBP 141 RUNS 111 SB (133 Games)

1894: .403 BA 225 HITS 4 HR 90 RBI .521 OBP 198 RUNS 100 SB (132 Games)

1895: .389 BA 201 HITS 7 HR 74 RBI .490 OBP 166 RUNS 97 SB (123 Games)

1896: .366 BA 192 HITS 3 HR 55 RBI .478 OBP 153 RUNS 83 SB (131 Games)

1897: .343 BA 174 HITS 3 HR 61 RBI .461 OBP 152 RUNS 66 SB (127 Games)

1898: .369 BA 154 HITS 3 HR 50 RBI .480 OBP 110 RUNS 54 SB (110 Games)

Legacy

Like I said, Hamilton played so long ago that very few people remember who this guy was. So let me tell you a little more about him. At the time of his retirement, he was the all-time leader in Stolen Bases (914), and it would be almost 80 years until Lou Brock broke his record. Certainly, he is one of the greatest leadoff hitters of all time, having all the traits. The first trait is the great ability to make contact, hitting .344 lifetime. The second trait is great plate discipline of knowing what is a good pitch, drawing 1,189 Walks while only striking out 362 times in his career. The third trait is having great base running abilities, stealing bases, and reaching home plate as a Run. He is one of three players in baseball history to have more career Runs than the number of games he appeared in and has the fourth-highest career OBP in baseball history. If you’re a Phillies fan, you may want to do more homework on Billy Hamilton because while he’s forgotten, he should be remembered as one of the great all-time Phillies. It took until 1961, but he would be inducted into Cooperstown from the Veterans Committee. 

References:

  1. Billy Hamilton via Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_Hamilton_(baseball,_born_1866)#
  2. Billy Hamilton Career Statistics via Baseball-Reference: https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/h/hamilbi01.shtml