William Parson

In the early years of the 20th century college players became more commonplace in major league baseball. One of the most widely known was Christy Mathewson, who attended Bucknell University in Pennsylvania before embarking on a Hall of Fame career with the New York Giants. So when another Bucknell pitcher named William Parson had success a decade later, Mathewson’s manager John McGraw naturally took notice and drafted Parson in 1909.

Showing speed “almost as great as that of Rube Marquard”1 and baffling veteran hitters such as Larry Doyle, Cy Seymour, and Art Devlin with a puzzling curveball, Parson was the find of the Giants’ 1910 spring training camp. His performance even prompted McGraw “to believe that he has in the lad from Bucknell…another Christy.”2

But it was not to be. Although Parson possessed “a varied assortment of speed and curves,”3 and was “as imperturbable as an iceberg,”4 the right-hander struggled with control throughout his career. Consequently, his major-league career was limited to 17 games over two seasons (1910-1911) with Boston of the National League. He lost all three of his pitching decisions, had an ERA near 5.00, and in the 60 1/3 innings he logged, Parson walked 41, a rate of more than six per nine innings.

William Edwin Parson5 was born December 27, 1885, in Parker, South Dakota, a small town near Sioux Falls. He was the only child born to Benjamin and Mary (Rentz) Parson, both natives of Pennsylvania. It was noted that Benjamin’s father (George) and brother (W. E.) were Lutheran pastors,6 an ironic twist in that clergymen had the surname of Parson.

The Parson family moved back to Pennsylvania in March 1888, just after William had turned two. What William’s parents were doing in rural South Dakota at the time of his birth is unknown. William grew up in Clinton, Pennsylvania, a small community just west of Pittsburgh and later moved to the town of Montgomery, Pennsylvania, where he made his home the rest of his life.

Little is known of Parson’s childhood. In 1904 he enrolled at Bucknell University in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, and played on the school’s baseball team, primarily as a pitcher and in the outfield when not on the mound. In addition to area college nines and town teams, Bucknell’s schedule included several traveling teams. Parson’s first collegiate game was against the Cuban Giants that spring in which he “pitched in masterly style.”7 Parson also pitched Bucknell to a 5-2 win over the Indians of Carlisle.8 In April 1906 he was suspended from the team “because he failed to keep up his college work.”9 Parson’s suspension was apparently short-lived as he was back in the Bucknell lineup later that spring. He tossed a one-hit shutout of Lafayette that June.10

During the summers Parson pitched for area teams, presumably compensated as a semipro, in the nearby towns of Muncy and Milton. In 1906 he joined Steubenville of the Class D Pennsylvania-Ohio-Maryland League. One report said that he played under the assumed surname “Small,” likely to hide his identity and retain his college eligibility, but when he joined the team in June he was clearly identified as “Pitcher Parson of Bucknell.”11 No one named Small is included on the Steubenville roster in Baseball-Reference but a player named Parsons (with no first name) is.12

Parson returned to Bucknell for his senior season in 1907 and that June he signed with Oil City (Pennsylvania) of the Class D Interstate League where he had a 15-5 record in 27 games. The following March he tried to make the jump all the way up to Class A when he was signed by the Columbus Senators of the American Association. Parson, however, elected to return to Bucknell to complete his college coursework.13 He did join the Senators in June 1908, however. 14 He got off to a good start, shutting out Kansas City on five hits and five walks in an eight inning game,15 but after continuing to struggle with his control, in July he was sent to Lima of the Class D Ohio State League for more seasoning.16 Often referred to in the local papers as Buchnell Bill Parsons (sic), his pitching and hitting helped Lima to a second-place finish.17 He went 11-5 in 18 games, and hit .293, leading Lima in hitting, albeit with only 58 at bats.18

Columbus still held his contract rights and in the spring of 1909 Senators manager Bill Clymer arranged a deal to send Parson to Omaha of the Western League. He balked because he didn’t want to play so far from home, so he was allowed to “look around on his own hook for a few days.”19 Unable to find anything with a salary comparable to what Omaha was offering, he reluctantly reported in early May. Slowed by a blister on his pitching hand that became infected, Parson struggled with wildness during a two-game trial. Omaha shipped him back to Columbus who in turn turned him over to the Marion Diggers of the Ohio State League.20 Once healed Parson went 14-7 in 27 games.

Late in the 1909 season it was reported that “several clubs are looking longingly at [Parson]”21 and “Parsons (sic) is now ripe for faster company.”22 He was also called “the best curve-ball pitcher in the Ohio State League.”23 One person who took notice was New York Giants manager John McGraw who obtained Parson via the Rule 5 draft at the close of the 1909 season24 and Parson went to spring training with the Giants in Marlin, Texas, in 1910.

McGraw invited former major league catcher Wilbert Robinson to the Giants camp to work with pitchers. Once Robinson caught the young pitcher, he claimed the 6’2”, 180-pound25 Parson threw a “curve ball that he had never seen before” and that was “absolutely new to baseball.”26 Delivered side-arm, the ball wobbled from side to side like a fish’s tail, so Robinson named it a “fish ball.” Uncle Robbie predicted great things for the young pitcher saying, “if Parsons (sic) doesn’t make good he [Robinson] will get the greatest surprise of his baseball life.”27

He came north with the team, even pitching in an exhibition game against Yale, but couldn’t crack a deep and talented pitching staff that included Mathewson, Red Ames, Bugs Raymond, Doc Crandall, Hooks Wiltse, and Marquard. Parson was the victim of McGraw’s roster cut down before opening day and was placed on waivers with the intention of optioning him to Newark, managed by former Giant pitcher Joe McGinnity. However, the Boston Doves claimed Parson for the waiver price so he was sent to Boston as the result of a “special agreement” between McGraw and [Doves manager] Fred Lake.28

Parson made his major-league debut for Boston on May 16, 1910, against the Cubs in Chicago, pitching three scoreless innings in relief of Doves starter Buster Brown. He got his first starting assignment on May 25 in Cincinnati against the Reds. Parson pitched five innings and yielded three runs. The Doves were trailing 3-2 in the top of the sixth inning with two runners on base. Parson was due up next but Dave Shean was sent up to pinch-hit. Shean stroked a single scoring both runners to give Boston the lead, 4-3, which was the final score.29  Under modern rules Parson would have been credited with the victory, but according to those in effect at the time, Brown, who replaced Parson on the mound, was determined to be the winning pitcher.

Parson got into just four games over the next month. He allowed three hits and surrendered five walks in just 1 2/3 innings of relief in a 12-0 loss to the Phillies on June 21, and shortly thereafter he was released to Lowell (Massachusetts) of the Class B New England League. Parson regained his form, going 12-6, and was recalled by the Doves in mid-September. He struggled with his control once again in his return to the big leagues, walking 14 in 16 1/3 innings, including eight in a 4-2 loss to the Reds on September 24.

New Boston manager Fred Tenney, “convinced that he is worth another trial,”30 brought Parson to the Rustlers31 spring training camp in 1911 and he made the team’s opening day roster. He was ineffective in three April relief outings, giving up 17 hits, eight walks and a hit batsman in 16 innings, but then seemed to improve.  Although he was touched for eight hits, he allowed only one run and one walk in four innings over three appearances in May. However, on June 4, with the Rustlers already down 12-0 to Cincinnati after three innings, Parson was brought in to mop up. In what would turn out to be his last major league game he hit two batters, walked seven, and allowed 11 hits and 14 more runs over the final five innings in a 26-3 shellacking by the Reds. Parson did get a hit in that final game, and scored his only major-league run.

Parson rode the bench for the next month until Boston released him to Montreal of the Class A Eastern League on an option agreement in mid-July.32 The Eastern League was still a little fast for him and he went 3-8 for the Royals. Parson began the 1912 season with Montreal, but was ineffective, so in June, Boston, who still held his rights, sent him to the Memphis Chickasaws of the Southern Association, also a Class A league.33 Parson had a winning record (11-7) for Memphis but fell off to 12-17 (.414) in 36 games for the 1913 Chicks, who finished in sixth place with a record of 64-74 (.464).

Early in 1914 Parson got the opportunity to pitch closer to his Pennsylvania home when he was signed by the Troy Trojans of the Class B New York State League. He worked 256 1/3 innings in 31 games and in mid-September one of the league newspapers reported a won-loss record of 16-13.34 Parson returned to Troy35 the following season, and 1915 was a microcosm of Parson’s up-and-down career. He still had the stuff to toss a no-hitter against Wilkes-Barre in June but tied for the league lead in walks with 103. He finished with a 10-16 record.36 Parson played one more season, 1916, with Troy/Harrisburg. He tried to catch on with Harrisburg in 1917 but was released in June.37

Parson had an excellent bass singing voice, once called “a basso profundo.” In fact, during spring training with New York in 1910, teammates were rooting for him to make the team so he could join Al Bridwell and two other Giants on the team’s quartet.38 At the end of season banquet in September 1908 in Lima, Ohio, it was reported that “Bushnell” Bill Parsons (sic) had demonstrated that he was an able bass soloist.39 He continued his love of music throughout his life, teaching music off-seasons at a school in Milton, Pennsylvania, and gained prominence as a bass soloist for many years in a local choir.

After retiring from baseball Parson operated the Lycoming Manufacturing Company, a furniture factory in Montgomery, Pennsylvania. For several years Parson continued to pitch for local teams in and around his home and served as president of a semipro league in 1935. He served as head of Montgomery’s Civil Defense Program during World War II.

After graduating from Bucknell in 1908 Parson married Lillian James of Lancaster, Ohio. The couple had two children, a son William Jr., and a daughter Mary. William followed his father to Bucknell, graduating in 1932 and worked for many years for the Dupont Company. In 1962 William and Lillian moved to Los Angeles where their daughter Mary lived. Five years later, on May 19, 1967, William died of a heart attack while playing in a bridge tournament in Inglewood, California. He was buried at St. John’s Church Cemetery back in Montgomery. Parson was survived by his wife, two children, two grandchildren, and one great-grandchild.

Acknowledgments

This biography was reviewed by Bill Lamb and Rick Zucker and fact-checked by James Forr.

Photo credit: Courtesy of the author.

Sources

Unless otherwise noted, statistics from Parson’s playing career are taken from Baseball-Reference.com and genealogical and family history was obtained from Ancestry.com. The author also used information from clippings in Parson’s file at the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

Notes

1 “New Curve for 1910,” Harrisburg (Pennsylvania) Patriot, March 11, 1910: 8.

2 “Hopes for Another Mathewson in Bucknell Bill Parson,” Marion (Ohio) Daily Mirror, March 12, 1910: 6.

3 “Varsity Nine Defeated Twice,” Lewisburg (Pennsylvania) Journal, May 27, 1904: 3.

4 “New Tuttle Twirler Who Made Favorable Impression,” Memphis Commercial-Appeal, June 10, 1912: 12.

5 Parson’s Baseball-Reference page contains the statement: “Name Note: Name presented as Jiggs Parson in some sources.” Parson had several nicknames including “Bucknell Bill,” “Cy,” and “Chief,” but the author could find no instance in which he was ever called Jiggs during his playing career or later life. What those sources were for Jiggs is not known.

6 “Personal,” Northumberland County (Sunbury, Pennsylvania) Democrat, March 23, 1888: 1.

7 “Varsity Nine Defeated Twice.”

8 “One Victory; One Defeat,” Lewisburg Journal, June 10, 1904: 2.

9 “The Baseball Outlook,” Lewisburg Journal, April 13, 1906: 2.

10 “Bucknell Scores Shut-Out.” Lewisburg Journal, June 8, 1906: 2.

11 “P. O. M. Notes,” East Liverpool (Ohio) Evening Review, June 25, 1906: 6.

12 Documentation has been submitted by the author to add this Steubenville season to Parson’s record in Baseball-Reference.

13 “Parson Will Join Camps in Kansas City,” Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch, June 18, 1908: 14.

14 He is not shown on the Columbus roster in Baseball-Reference.

15 “Even Break,” Cincinnati Enquirer, June 22, 1908: 3.

16 “Pitcher Parson Is Sent to the Lima Club to Get More Seasoning,” Columbus Dispatch, July 11, 1908: 6.

17 “Pennant Race is Over…Lima in Second Place,” Times-Democrat (Lima, Ohio), September 14, 1908: 3.

18 “Mansfield Heads List in O.S. League Hitting,” Lima Times-Democrat, September 12, 1908: 3.

19 “Parson Awaits a Deal,” Columbus Dispatch, May 4, 1909: 11.

20 “Welcome Additions to the Marion Team,” Marion Star, May 29, 1909: 3.

21 “Belongs to Marion,” Marion Daily Mirror, July 27, 1909: 6.

22 “Marion Gets Parsons (sic),” Marion Star, July 28, 1909: 6.

23 “Parsons the Best Curve-Ball Pitcher,” Marion Star, March 9, 1910: 8.

24 “Giants Draft Bucknell Man,” Lewisburg Journal, October 1, 1909: 1.

25 Baseball-Reference lists him as 6’2, 180 pounds.  However, a newspaper report following Parson’s signing by McGraw stated that he was 5’11” and 175 pounds. “Young Giants to Get Trial,” Pittsburgh Press, February 1, 1910: 19.

26 “New Curve For 1910,” Harrisburg Patriot, March 11, 1910: 8.

27 “New Curve For 1910.”

28 “Tenney Is Released,” Fall River (Massachusetts) Evening News, May 10, 1910: 3.

29 “Pinch Hit Wins Game,” Boston Globe, May 26, 1910: 8.

30 “Tenney Has Signed Up One More, A Pitcher” Boston Globe, January 5, 1911: 7.

31 According to Baseball-Reference the name of the Boston National League franchise was changed from the Doves to the Rustlers in 1911.

32 “Baseball Notes,” Boston Globe, July 18, 1911: 6.

33 “Two New Twirlers Bagged by Bernhard,” Memphis Commercial-Appeal, June 4, 1912: 15.

34 “Local Lads Show Up Fine as Pitchers,” Scranton (Pennsylvania) Truth, September 15, 1914: 8.

35 The team relocated to Scranton, Pennsylvania, mid-season.

36 “Prieste Tops Mound Artists,” Scranton Tribune, September 17, 1915: 12.

37 “Cy Parsons Dropped by Manager Cockill,” Scranton Tribune, June 5, 1917: 10.

38 “Parsons the Best Curve-Ball Pitcher.”

39 “At the Lima House,” Lima Times-Democrat, September 14, 1908: 5.