Bill McCloskey

{{Infobox baseball biography

|name=Bill McCloskey

|position=Catcher/Outfielder

|image=Bill McCloskey.jpg

|bats=Unknown

|throws=Unknown

|birth_date=May 1854

|birth_place=Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

|death_date={{death date and age|1924|7|9|1854|5}}

|death_place=Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

|debutleague = MLB

|finalleague = MLB

|finaldate=September 9

|finalyear={{Baseball year|1884}}

|finalteam=Wilmington Quicksteps

|statleague = MLB

|stat1label=Batting average

|stat1value=.143

|stat2label=Games

|stat2value=20

|stat3label=Hits

|stat3value=10

|teams=

Washington Nationals ({{Baseball year|1875}})
Wilmington Quicksteps ({{Baseball year|1884}})

}}

William George McCloskey (May 1854 – July 9, 1924) officially played two years of Major League Baseball, in {{Baseball year|1875}} for the Washington Nationals, debuting on May 25, and in {{Baseball year|1884}} for the Wilmington Quicksteps of the Union Association.{{cite web| title = Bill McCloskey's statistics | work = retrosheet.org | url=http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/M/Pmcclb102.htm | access-date = 2007-12-18 }}

Biography

McCloskey played eleven games for the Washington Nationals in 1875 at catcher, batting .175 (7-for-40) with one run and four RBI. He played nine games in the 1884 season, splitting time between the outfield and catcher. In thirty at bats, he had three hits for a .100 batting average.

Baseball historian David Nemec has argued that the evidence is "fairly persuasive" that the "McCloskey" who pitched for Washington in 1875 is Bill McCloskey.{{cite book|title=The Rank and File of 19th Century Major League Baseball|author=David Nemec|page=114|publisher=McFarland|year=2012|isbn=978-0786490448}}