Bob Will

Bob Will hit .333 during six minor-league seasons despite being advised in 1953 to stop playing sports because of “an irregular curvature of the spine.”1 However, the bespectacled outfielder never batted over .257 in three full seasons and parts of three others for the Chicago Cubs (1957-58; 1960-63). He was a regular in just one year, 1960 – pinch-hitting accounted for more than half of his big-league appearances.

Robert Lee Will was born on July 15, 1931, in Berwyn, Illinois, the son of Earl Theodore Will and Clara Anna (Bogdanowicz) Will. Earl, an electrician, and Clara, a housewife, had six children in all: Vivian, Elmer, Earl, Ruth, Robert, James, and Suzanne in that order.

Nicknamed “Butch” as a child, Will was a three-sport star at Morton High School in Berwyn.2 (The school is known now as J. Sterling Morton High School West.)  He also played American Legion ball and helped the suburban prep all-stars defeat the Chicago all-stars at Wrigley Field on July 11, 1949. His two-run single highlighted a three-run seventh and Will’s team won, 4-03.

As a result, he was chosen to represent the Chicago suburbs in the fourth annual Hearst All-Star Sandlot Classic at the Polo Grounds in New York City on August 20. His father, Earl, was in the stands as the lefty hitter collected two hits in three at-bats and drove in three runs in the U.S. All-Stars’ 7-6 victory over the local team. Will entered the game in the fifth with his team down, 5-0. He doubled in the sixth to drive in the U.S. All-Stars’ first run and singled in the seventh to knock in two more runs. He received eight first-place votes among 13 sportswriters and was awarded the Lou Gehrig Trophy as the game’s most valuable player.4

Will’s all-star accomplishments capped a memorable senior year at Morton High School. He received the school’s M Club trophy as the outstanding graduating athlete. He also hit .340 for the Mustangs’ baseball team and had a 4-4 record with a 2.10 earned run average and 79 strikeouts in 50 1/3 innings as a left-handed pitcher.5

After graduating from high school in 1949, Will attended Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, for three years. He played baseball there for former Cubs infielder Freddie Lindstrom. In two seasons with the Wildcats’ baseball team, Will hit .302 and .375 as a center fielder. He attended Mankato State Teachers College in Mankato, Minnesota, from 1952 to 1955, hit .654 at Mankato, and graduated in 1955 with a bachelor of science degree.

Will married Nancy Marie Cogan in White Bear Lake, Minnesota, in 1953. The couple met while Nancy’s brother Mike and Will played football at Mankato State.6 The couple had six children: Robert S., Julie, Lisa, Paula, Thomas, and Jennifer.

Scout Claude Freeman signed Will to a minor-league contract with the Cubs on May 16, 1954. The 22-year-old Will had an impressive debut in professional baseball for the Magic Valley Cowboys in Twin Falls, Idaho, in the Class C Pioneer League. He was named the team’s most popular player at the end of the season and led the Cowboys in batting average (.359) and walks (127). He struck out only 47 times as a leadoff hitter.

Will was named to the Three I League all-star team after hitting .335 for the Burlington (Iowa) Bees in 1955. He also collected 25 doubles, five triples, seven homers, and 70 RBIs. He was unable to play in the all-star game, however, owing to a fractured knee he sustained when he crashed into the center-field fence at Burlington on August 25.

Will moved up from Class B to Double-A in 1956. He had a memorable Texas League debut when he hit a game-winning two-run homer in the Tulsa Oilers’ 7-5 victory in 11 innings over the Oklahoma City Indians on April 13. “Bob Will, 24-year-old center fielder who authored the winning home run, may be a key ball player for the Oilers,” Tulsa sports editor B.A. Bridgewater predicted. “It’s a big jump he’s attempting to the Texas [League] and double-A, but he may have the ability. He’s a natural fielder and a determined-looking left-handed hitter.”7

After Will hit another two-run homer in the Oilers’ 3-1 win over the Austin Senators on May 13, sportswriter Jack Charvat said Tulsa’s leadoff hitter “has it all … good speed, a fine arm and poise and efficiency at the plate. He might be the best leadoff man in the league before the curtain goes down.”8

By the end of June, Will and four other Oilers were batting over .300, with Will at .312. Will had also scored a league-leading 86 runs at that point. He started off July by going 3-for-6 with three doubles and four runs batted in when Tulsa beat San Antonio, 9-7, in 12 innings on July 8.

The Oilers won six of their last eight games — all on the road — to finish fourth and reach the semifinals of the Texas League playoffs. Will hit three homers, drove in five runs, and scored four times, but Tulsa lost four of five games against the regular-season champion Houston Buffs, who advanced to the finals against the Dallas Eagles.

Will played in all 154 games, hit .304, scored 104 runs, collected 196 hits, and walked 91 times. He also hit 10 homers and drove in 73 runs, and his 45 doubles led the Texas League. He committed only five errors, which tied him for the third-best fielding mark for outfielders in league history.9

On January 17, 1957, Will was at home with his one-year-old daughter and two-year-old son when he received a call from Cubs publicity director Cliff Jaffe, who invited Will to the annual press luncheon. Cubs general manager John Holland told Will at the luncheon that he would participate in spring training with the team for the first time.10

The Cubs purchased Will from Los Angeles of the Pacific Coast League and added him to the major-league roster on March 6, 1957. Will beat out outfielders Gale Wade, Solly Drake, and Jim Bolger. In April, after the Cubs swept the Chicago White Sox in a preseason two-game series, Lindstrom, Will’s former baseball coach at Northwestern, called Will “a determined ball player who has a good chance to make it.”11

Will opened the season as the Cubs’ starting center fielder. He went hitless in four at-bats in his major-league debut against the Milwaukee Braves and pitcher Warren Spahn on April 16 at Wrigley Field. After one more appearance, he was optioned to Fort Worth (the team’s new Texas League affiliate) on April 20 when the Cubs obtained outfielder Bobby Del Greco from the St. Louis Cardinals.12

Will’s arrival in Fort Worth was hailed immediately by sportswriter Lorin McMullen, who said, “Seldom have the Cats drawn a player more highly recommended than Will. Will comes as a full-fledged phenom, sound in every department of the game, traveling at a much faster clip than the standard progress pace of a professional ball player (sic), and bearing A-plus marks on the all-important categories of intelligence, deportment and competitive zeal.”13

Three days before Will was recalled to Chicago on June 15, McMullen compared him to two other left-handed hitters, Jim Frey and Lloyd Jenney of Tulsa. “At the moment Frey is thriving on a lot of hits to left field, a habit which has enabled other lefthanders in years past to win the TL crown,” McMullen said. “Will is more of a spray hitter who consistently gets ‘good wood’ on the ball for line drives. He seldom lifts long, high, 380-foot fly balls, as Jim Gentile did, only to see the wind hold it up until the outfielder trots over to make the catch.”14 When Will was called up, he was the Texas League’s leading hitter at .341.

Despite hitting only .223 in 70 games for the Cubs in 1957, his two-run pinch-hit home run in the seventh brought the Cubs to within a run of the lead in the first game of a doubleheader against the St. Louis Cardinals on July 4. Chicago tied the score in the seventh and scored two more runs in the ninth to win, 7-6.

Will spent the early part of spring training in 1958 with the Cubs in Mesa, Arizona. On March 31, he was optioned to the Portland Beavers in the Pacific Coast League. Although the Beavers’ first game on April 15 was called after six innings with the score tied 3-3, Will scored the first run of the season, drew the first walk, and made the first outfield putout of the season for Portland. As a result, he received two steak dinners and cab rides.15

Will was sent back to Fort Worth on June 12, changing places with outfielder Don Robertson. Will found his hitting stroke in the Texas League again, prompting new manager Jim Fanning to call him the “man behind the Cats.”16

On July 24, Will extended his hitting streak to 13 games by going 3-for-4, walking four times, and driving in three runs in a doubleheader split against the Victoria Rosebuds. His hitting streak ended the next day when he went hitless in two at-bats in a 4-2 victory over Victoria.

On July 27-28 Will went 7-for-10 with five RBIs and three runs scored against Tulsa. He also received a $25 check for hitting a company’s advertisement on the right-center field fence at La Grave Field in Fort Worth on July 23 against Victoria.17 Going into the final day of the Texas League season, Will was hitting .361 in 361 plate appearances, far short of the 477 needed to qualify for the batting title.

Will was called up to the Cubs on August 26. He was used sparingly as the Cubs competed for a first-division finish. He was one of seven pinch-hitters used by the Cubs, however, in a 2-1 loss to Sandy Koufax and the Los Angeles Dodgers on September 21, the Cubs’ final home game of the season. Will pinch-hit for Chick King in the ninth and walked.18

After the 1958 season, he told the Berwyn Life, “Naturally, I was disappointed that I didn’t play. On the strength of my record with Fort Worth, I thought I should have been playing. But I can understand why I didn’t since the club was trying to finish as high as it could in a tight race. They had to go with veterans.”19

Nevertheless, Will wanted to be given a real chance to make it at the top level. “I’ve proved I can hit and play minor league ball,” he said. “I’d like a good try at trying to prove I can or can’t play in the majors.”20 Unlike the previous offseason, he didn’t play winter ball in Cuba, preferring “to stick close to my family for a change.”21

Despite playing well during spring training in 1959, Will was optioned to Fort Worth (by then in the Triple-A American Association) on April 1. By mid-June he was hitting .350 with 31 RBIs. Will reached base eight times in the Cats’ doubleheader sweep of the St. Paul Saints on June 12 and threw out Larry Sherry at the plate in the second inning of the nightcap to quell a rally. Mankato State Teachers College honored Will between games of the doubleheader. He became the first player in the American Association to collect 100 hits in the Cats’ 5-2 victory over the Minneapolis Millers a week later.

Will was a unanimous choice for the AA All-Star team and led off against Minneapolis on July 13. He had two of the All-Stars’ four singles in a 2-0 loss to the Millers. As of late July, he was leading the American Association in batting at .353. Instead of recalling Will, however, the Cubs bought right-handed hitting outfielder/first baseman Art Schult, who was hitting .289 for Minneapolis at the time. Cubs general manager Holland defended the move, saying “left-handed pitching is murdering us.”22

On August 8 Will’s three-run homer in the first propelled the Cats to a 3-2 win over the Denver Bears in the first game of a homestand. The victory gave Fort Worth the undisputed lead in the AA’s Western Division race. Will increased his lead in the contest for the batting crown against the Indianapolis Indians on August 29. His two hits in four at-bats lifted his average to .345, or 10 points higher than Luis Márquez’s mark.

Will received a silver bat as the American Association’s MVP before the Cats clinched the semifinals of the AA playoffs on September 14. Minneapolis edged Fort Worth four games to three in the AA championship series; Will had seven hits in 26 at-bats and drove in five runs.

The 1959 campaign was the best of Will’s 11-year career in professional baseball. He finished second in the league in batting and led the Cats in games, runs, hits, doubles, walks, on-base percentage, slugging percentage, on-base plus slugging, and total bases.

He reflected in December on his big season in Triple A. “I guess if I didn’t prove last year that I rate a chance, I never will,” he said. “I’ve managed to improve every year I’ve played so far.”23 Will also took exception to Holland’s comment during the season that he (Will) was “too slow” for the major leagues. “That’s pretty strange. All the other teams seem to think I’m faster than average,” Will told the Berwyn Life.24

A slow starter in years past, Will smacked a three-run homer and a double off the right-field wall at Rendezvous Park in Mesa, Arizona, in the Cubs’ first spring training intrasquad game on March 6, 1960. “Will has been out here longer than anybody in camp,” manager Charlie Grimm said. “He’s pulling the ball better this spring, and from what I remember he has never been too impressive at the start.”25 Nine days later, Will hit a pinch three-run homer off Mudcat Grant in a 7-2 win over the Cleveland Indians’ reserves.

The Cubs had five lefty-swinging outfielders when the season began: George Altman, Richie Ashburn, Walt Moryn, Irv Noren, and Will.26 The Chicago Tribune predicted that one of the four other than Ashburn would be traded for a veteran pitcher, released, or sent down to the minors. Will was out of options, however, so he would have to clear waivers if the Cubs wanted to send him back to the minors.

On April 24, pinch-hitter Will’s pop fly down the left-field line in the eighth inning dropped in for a single, clearing the bases and driving in the winning run in the Cubs’ 9-4 victory over the San Francisco Giants at Wrigley Field. The Cubs sent 13 batters to the plate in that inning and broke a five-game losing streak.

On May 4 manager Grimm was replaced by former major-league player and skipper Lou Boudreau, who had worked alongside broadcaster Jack Quinlan in the WGN Radio booth since December 1957.27 Despite Will’s double, single, and three runs batted in, the Cubs fell to the Pittsburgh Pirates, 9-7, in Boudreau’s debut as Cubs skipper the next day.

Will hit his first home run of the season in the ninth inning of the second game of a doubleheader at San Francisco on May 30. However, it was outweighed by his defensive lapse in the bottom of the inning. Willie Mays walked with one out and came around to score the winning run on Willie McCovey’s single when Will threw to the wrong base.28 The next night, though, Will clubbed a two-run homer over the right-field fence in the Cubs’ 9-1 win over the Giants.

Will collected three hits in six at-bats and drove in three runs in the Cubs’ 13-2 shellacking of the Pirates at Wrigley Field on June 7. Ten days later he led off the top of the fifth inning with a homer off the Cincinnati Reds’ Don Newcombe, and the Cubs won, 6-4. On June 29 Will’s pinch-hit single in the ninth lifted the Cubs to a 3-2 decision over the Milwaukee Braves in the first game of a doubleheader.

In another doubleheader (at Cincinnati on July 20), after the Cubs’ 4-0 victory in the opener stopped a six-game losing streak, Will played right field and hit second in the second game. Despite his fifth homer of the season, Chicago lost, 4-3.

On August 3, Will’s run-scoring double off the Reds’ Jay Hook in the seventh broke a 2-2 tie as the Cubs won the second game of a doubleheader in Chicago. The next day Will went 3-for-4 with two RBIs in the Cubs’ 5-3 win over the Reds, their fifth in six games. His line drive to left-center field scored the winning run in the seventh inning.

On August 30 Will hit a game-winning blast off the Braves’ Lew Burdette with two outs in the 10th in the first game of a double-header split. He drove in three of the Cubs’ five runs with a triple and single in a one-run decision over the St. Louis Cardinals on September 24.

The 1960 season was Will’s best in the majors. He appeared in 138 games, starting 110 in right and two in left. He hit in seven places in the batting order and also pinch-hit in 20 games. Overall, he hit .255 with 20 doubles, nine triples, six homers, and 53 runs batted in.

In 1961, owner P.K. Wrigley introduced his ill-fated “College of Coaches” plan.29 Despite that lack of continuity, Altman – who had rotated among all three outfield spots and first base the previous year – became the regular in right field. Will started only 13 games all season; his 52 pinch-hitting appearances led the National League. After hitting .257 in 86 games, he served as an outfield instructor for the Cubs’ team in the Arizona Instructional League in the fall.30 He also was an executive trainee with the Wrigley Gum Company during the offseason.31

Will was again used primarily as a pinch-hitter in 1962. Although he took part in 87 games, he appeared in the field in just nine, starting six. He hit .239 and had 17 pinch-hits, including two homers, his last of nine in the majors.

In 1963, Will collected only four hits in 23 at-bats before he was sent to the Salt Lake City Bees of the Pacific Coast League in exchange for outfielder Ellis Burton on June 15. The 32-year-old Will smashed two home runs and drove in six runs in his first two games with the Bees and finished the season with a team-leading .370 batting average.

Will batted .364 in 36 games for the Bees in 1964. On June 5, he was traded to the St. Louis Cardinals to complete a deal that three days earlier had sent pitcher Glen Hobbie to the Cardinals for pitcher Lew Burdette, with a player to be named later from each side.

After joining the Cardinals’ Triple-A affiliate in Jacksonville, Florida, Suns manager Harry “The Hat” Walker and pitching coach Barney Schultz convinced him to lose some weight. “I have more agility, and I’m quicker with my hands and swinging the bat,” Will said after his dropping about seven pounds, to 168.32

Will went 6-for-9 when Jacksonville took a one-game lead in the International League pennant race by beating the Richmond Vees, 8-3 and 1-0, on August 27. He extended his hitting streak to 17 games when he led off the Suns’ first inning of the second game with a double. In the 10th inning, his single up the middle drove in the game-winning unearned run. The streak ended the next day in the Suns’ victory over Richmond.

Will hit .325 in 90 games for Jacksonville but didn’t have enough plate appearances to qualify for the International League batting title. On September 3 he tore up his right knee while trying to break up a double play. “I had an operation after the season and it was then that I decided to retire,” he said 27 years later. “It was a tough way to finish, but once I announced my retirement from baseball, I felt I had made the right decision.”33

The Rochester Red Wings swept the Suns in the quarterfinals of the IL playoffs. Will was named the team’s most popular player and was given a full share of the playoff proceeds.

Will started a 29-year banking career after announcing his retirement from baseball in December 1964. He began as an apprentice and was elected an officer less than a year later. By March 1968 he was an assistant cashier at the National Boulevard Bank on the south side of Chicago’s Miracle Mile. He eventually became a vice president with the National Bank of Detroit at the company’s office in Elk Grove, Illinois.

After Will retired, he was active in the Major League Baseball Players Association. He also helped raise money for the Chicago Tribune Charities, which supported leukemia research, substance abuse programs, and indigent former players and their families, among other causes.34

Will died on August 11, 2011, at Hospice of Northeastern Illinois in Woodstock, Illinois. He was survived by his wife, Nancy; his six children; 10 grandchildren; one great-granddaughter; and two of his siblings, James and Suzanne. He was preceded in death by his father, Earl, who suffered a heart attack while driving in Chicago on October 17, 1957, and his mother, Clara, who died in a Berwyn hospital on May 26, 1980.

Twenty years previously, reflecting on his major-league career, Will said playing in Wrigley Field worked to his disadvantage because the Cubs watered down the infield and let the grass grow. As a result, his hard-hit balls often didn’t make through the infield around short and second.35

He always faced competition for a starting outfield position from the likes of Billy Williams, Altman, and Lou Brock. “It was my luck the Cubs had some young phenom every year competing with me. They were fellas who could run a step or two faster than I could, or hit a long ball with more consistency than I could,” he recalled. “But I worked hard to improve myself in all facets of the game. I studied the opposition and utilized the talents I had to play at a level that other ballplayers could reach a little easier than I could.”36

Persistence paid off for Will in baseball and banking. “I was just a chubby little guy who loved to run and play and work hard. I was a human dynamo. I had good work ethics and always stayed in good shape year around, two things that carried over into my business career after I retired from baseball,” he said.37

Acknowledgments

This biography was reviewed by Rory Costello and David Bilmes and checked for accuracy by e SABR’s fact-checking team.

Sources

In addition to the sources listed below, the author used the National Baseball Hall of Fame Research Museum, baseball-reference.com, familysearch.org, newspapers.com, the Minnesota Official Marriage System and its website, and the Chicago Cubs 1962 and 1964 Official Press, TV, Radio Roster Books (Spring Editions).

Notes

1  Star-Telegram Wire Services, “Will Bidding for Cub Job,” Fort Worth (Texas) Star-Telegram, March 11, 1957: 20.

2 “Local Church is Convention Host, Berwyn (Illinois) Life, August 2, 1948: 2.

3 “Bob Will Chosen Suburban Representative for Gotham Showdown of East, West,” Berwyn (Illinois) Life, July 13, 1949: 8.

4 Clits Carlson, “Will Has His Way, His Day, Hurrah: Lugs Home Lou Gehrig Trophy As Proof,” Berwyn (Illinois) Life, August 21, 1949: 1.

5 Clits Carlson, “Life Lines,” Berwyn (Illinois) Life, June 19, 1949: 8.

6 John Morrison, “League Leader Likes To Read, Tinker, Eat,” Fort Worth Star-Telegram, June 23, 1959: 17.

7 B.A. Bridgewater, “Telling the World,” Tulsa (Oklahoma) World, April 15, 1956: 49.

8 Jack Charvat, “Sports Slants,” The Tulsa (Oklahoma) Tribune, April May 14, 1956: 24.

9 Lorin McMullen, “Sports: Re-armed Rudy Puts Cats’ Harris in Bind,” Fort Worth Star-Telegram, March 1, 1957: 17.

10 Robert Cromie, “Phone Call Gives Will Big Chance,” Chicago Tribune, January 18, 1957: 30.

11 Edward Prell, “Cubs Win, 4-1; Sweep Series With Sox,” Chicago Tribune, April 15, 1957: 65.

12 The trade also involved outfielder Jim King to the Cardinals and pitcher Ed Mayer to the Cubs.

13 Lorin McMullen, “Sports: Assignment of Will Proves Cubs’ Policy,” Fort Worth Star-Telegram, April 22, 1957: 13.

14 McMullen, “Sports: Tip From Al Readies Slugger for Majors,” Fort Worth Star-Telegram, June 12, 1957: 17.

15 L. H. Gregory, “Beavers Win Night Opener,” The (Portland) Oregonian, April 18, 1958: 31.

16 John Morrison, “Fanning Considers Will Key Cat,” Fort Worth (Texas) Star-Telegram, July 29, 1958: 22.

17 Morrison, “Fanning Considers Will Key Cat.”

18 Jim Bolger popped out for starting pitcher Bob Anderson, and Bobby Adams flied out for Jerry Kindall in the seventh. In the eighth, Sammy Taylor was named to bat for Cal Neeman and Frank Ernaga grounded into a forceout for Sammy Taylor. Frank Gabler struck out for Tony Taylor, and Chuck Tanner walked for Don Elston in the ninth. Richard Dozer, “Cubs Lose Home Final; Donovan Wins 3-Hitter, 2 to 1,” Chicago Tribune, September 22, 1958: 70.

19 Paul Sisco, “Life Lines,” Berwyn Life, October 12, 1958: 10.

20 Sisco, “Life Lines.”

21 Sisco, “Life Lines.”

22 Paul Sisco, “Life Lines,” Berwyn Life, July 22, 1959: 12.

23 Paul Sisco, “Life Lines,” Berwyn Life, December 18, 1959: 18.

24 Sisco, “Life Lines,” 18.

25 Richard Dozer, “Will Opens Annual Cub Bid Strongly,” Chicago Tribune, March 7, 1960: 53.

26 The Philadelphia Phillies traded Ashburn, the National League’s batting leader in 1955 and 1958, to the Cubs on January 11, 1960, for John Buzhardt, Al Dark, and Jim Woods.

27 Boudreau resigned after the season when Cubs owner P.K. Wrigley didn’t give Boudreau a multi-year contract.

28 “Cubs Split With Giants; Sox Lose 2,” Chicago Tribune, May 31, 1960: 51.

29 Four coaches — Vedie Himsl, Harry Craft, El Tappe and Lou Klein — guided the Cubs in 1961.

30 Robert (Bob) Will, Chicago Cubs Official 1963 Press, TV, Radio Roster Book (Spring Edition), 28.

31 Paul Sisco, “Life Lines,” Berwyn Life, January 24, 1962: 14.

32 Wayne Minshew, “A Will, A Way …” Jacksonville (Florida) Journal, August 25, 1964: 13.

33 David Craft, “Ex-Cubbie and all-around good guy Bob Will profiled,” Sports Collectors Digest, July 12, 1991: 142.

34 Craft, “Ex-Cubbie and all-around good guy Bob Will profiled,” 140.

35 Craft, “Ex-Cubbie and all-around good guy Bob Will profiled,” 141.

36 Craft, “Ex-Cubbie and all-around good guy Bob Will profiled,” 141.

37 Craft, “Ex-Cubbie and all-around good guy Bob Will profiled,” 140.