Vic Willis
With his sharp curveball and several tricky arm angles, Vic Willis baffled batters on his way to 249 career victories. He pitched for the great 1898 Boston team that won the National League pennant and later hurled for the 1909 World Series champion Pittsburgh Pirates. He won twenty games eight times, though he never led his league in wins.
Played For
Boston Braves (1898-1905)
Pittsburgh Pirates (1906-1909)
St. Louis Cardinals (1910)
Best Season: 1899
Willis was 27-8 with a 2.50 ERA and 342 innings pitched for the Boston Beaneaters.
Factoids
Vic Willis completed 82% of his starts in his career. He had 388 complete games in 471 starts.
Four Times Twenty
In 1905, Willis posted an un-Hall of Fame-like 12-29 record for Boston. The Beaneaters finished seventh in the NL that season and made history with not two, not three, but four twenty-game losers on their pitching staff. In addition to Willis, Irv Young was 20-21, Chick Fraser came in at 14-21, and Kasier Wilhelm stumbled to a 3-23 record. The problem wasn't really the pitching, however. Willis, Young and Fraser all had respectable ERA's, in fact Young's 2.90 mark was below league average. The Braves simply couldn't score runs and made far too many mistakes in the field. Boston scored 468 runs the entire season, for 3.0 per game, and they committed 311 errors, the second worst in the loop.
What You Talkin' Bout, Willis?
Willis once said he wished he had been able to hit every day, he loved swinging the bat so much. But his team's were only too glad to rest his valuable pitching arm between starts. Willis was a notoriously poor hitter, once going a year-and-a-half without an extra-base hit, and his career batting mark of .166 is the second worst in history for players with as many as 1,400 at-bats.
Worst Slugging Percentage in History
(Minimum 1,000 career at-bats)
1. Bob Friend... .144
2. Don Sutton... .157
3. Red Faber... .161
4. Gaylord Perry... .164
5. Red Ames... .174
6. Red Donahue... .182
7. Vic Willis... .186
8. Dutch Leonard... .193
9. Larry Jackson... .193
10. Jerry Reuss... 195
Born
Victor Gazaway Willis was born on April 12, 1876, in Cecil County, MD.
Died
August 3, 1947, Elkton, MD
Batted: Right
Threw: Right
Primary Position: P
Primary Team: BSN
Major League Debut
April 20, 1898
Nine Other Players Who Debuted in 1898
Coming soon...
Similar Players
George Mullin, who was probably a little bit better than Willis.
Related Players
In 1995, Willis was elected to the Hall of Fame along with Richie Ashburn, William Hulbert and Leon Day.
| Hall of Fame Voting |
| Year |
Election |
Votes |
Pct |
| 1995 |
Veterans |
|
% |
|
Post-Season Appearances
1909 World Series
Transactions
December 15, 1905: Traded by the Boston Beaneaters to the Pittsburgh Pirates for Dave Brain, Del Howard, and Vive Lindaman; January, 1910: Purchased by the St. Louis Cardinals from the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Replaced
In 1898, Willis replaced "Happy Jack" Stivetts' in the Beaneaters' rotation.
Replaced By
In 1911, the Cardinals replaced Willis with Bill Steele, a chunky right-hander who won 18 games that year, but only 37 in his career.
Best Strength as a Player
He had the fortune to play on good teams. Physically, his long fingers allowed him to throw a very sharp curveball.
Largest Weakness as a Player
Willis had control problems early in his career. He led the National League in hit batsmen three times.
Learn More about Vic Willis
Search Amazon.com for Books about Vic Willis ⇒
Search for Vic Willis at Google ⇒
View a map of his hometown at Mapquest ⇒
