Bill Pettus

{{Infobox baseball biography

| name = Bill Pettus

| image = Bill Pettus.jpg

| image_size =200px

| position = First baseman

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1884|8|13|mf=y}}
Goliad County, Texas

| death_date = {{death date and age|1924|8|22|1884|8|13|mf=y}}
New York, New York

| bats = Right

| throws = Right

| debutleague =

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| debutyear = 1902

| debutteam = Albuquerque, New Mexico

| finaldate =

| finalyear = 1923

| finalteam = Harrisburg Giants

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| teams =

Albuquerque, New Mexico (1902–1903, 1905–1906)
San Francisco, California (1904)
Oakland, California (1904)
Santa Fe, New Mexico Salmon Grays (1907–1908)[http://negroleagues.bravehost.com/pdf/002946.pdf "Salmon Grays Defeat Barelas" Santa Fe Daily New Mexican, Santa Fe, New Mexico, Monday July 28, 1908, Page 9, Column 5]
Occidental Club (1908–1910)
Kansas City Giants (1909)
Chicago Giants (1910–1911, 1917)[https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B1Wcncq5-bHdcnh1dUwxelpMUUE "Chicago Giants Will Raise Flag Sunday" Chicago Broad Ax, Chicago, IL, May 14, 1910, Page 2, Columns 4 and 5][https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B1Wcncq5-bHdYWRkbDY4VlRybTQ "Dubuque 6, Leland Giants 2" Waterloo Evening Courier, Waterloo, IA, Friday, April 28, 1911, Page 6, Column 5]
Habana (1911–1912)
New York Lincoln Giants (1912, 1916–1920)
Chicago American Giants (1912–1913) [https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B1Wcncq5-bHdbVdSTldxamV6ZGs "American Giants Beat Nagel's Men" Indianapolis Freeman, Indianapolis, IN, November 30, 1912, Page 7, Column 3]
Brooklyn Royal Giants (1913–1918)
New York Lincoln Stars (1914–1916)
Philadelphia All-Stars (1917)
Atlantic City Bacharach Giants (1917–1918, 1921)
Hilldale Club (1917–1918) [https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B1Wcncq5-bHdelZPc0FUaDJDZEk "Hilldale Again" Philadelphia Inquirer, Philadelphia, PA, Sunday, June 30, 1918, Page 20, Column 2]
Philadelphia Giants (1918) [http://negroleagues.bravehost.com/pdf/001909.pdf "Burns Leads Giants to Another Victory" The Sun, New York, New York, Monday, October 28, 1918, Page 11, Column 2]
Richmond Giants (1922)
Harrisburg Giants (1923)

| highlights =

}}

William Thomas Pettus (August 13, 1884 – August 22, 1924) was an American baseball first baseman in the Cuban League and Negro leagues. He played from 1902 to 1923 with several teams.{{Cite book |

last=Riley |

first=James A. |

title=The Biographical Encyclopedia of the Negro Baseball Leagues |

place=New York |

publisher=Carroll & Graf |

year=1994 |

isbn=0-7867-0959-6 |

postscript= }}

Career

Pettus began playing baseball in 1902 for the Albuquerque, New Mexico team, staying there until the end of the 1903 season.[https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B1Wcncq5-bHdOGxTTXJvRVNWRmc "Frank Lelands' Chicago Giants Base Ball Club" Fraternal Printing Company, 1910] He often went by the nickname "Zack" Pettus.

In addition to baseball, in his twenties, Pettus made money boxing and working in the coal mine near Madrid, New Mexico.[http://negroleagues.bravehost.com/pdf/002947.pdf "Kennedy Will Box Bill Pettus" Albuquerque Morning Journal, Albuquerque, New Mexico, Tuesday, December 22, 1908, Page 4, Column 3]

Pitcher Babe Adams said of Pettus's early days, he was "one of the best catchers in the baseball world."[http://negroleagues.bravehost.com/pdf/001970.pdf "Pettus Caught for Babe Adams." Albuquerque Morning Journal, Albuquerque, New Mexico, Wednesday, October 20, 1909, Page 3, Column 1]

In 1904, Pettus played on the white teams of San Francisco and Oakland California, and was the only black player on those teams.

In 1905, he returned to Albuquerque, New Mexico to manage and captain the team, which was made up of ten Mexicans and two colored ball players. The team won 48 out of 49 games, losing only one.

In 1906, Pettus again was the only black player on a white team when he played for the Albuquerque, New Mexico team.

In 1907 and 1908, Pettus caught for the Santa Fe, New Mexico Salmon Grays.

During 1908–1909 he played for the Occidental Club, a black baseball team in Los Angeles, California.

In 1909, Pettus played first base for the Kansas City Giants. At the end of that year, he re-joined the Occidental Club in Los Angeles.

In 1910, Pettus joined the Chicago Giants, a Frank Leland team that had recently broken off of the Leland Giants after a legal battle over naming rights.[https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B1Wcncq5-bHdTGFMWHZiNWo2UHM "Frank C. Leland Enjoined From Using the Name Leland Giants" Chicago Broad Ax, Chicago, IL, Page 2, Column 2] Pettus would play there for two seasons, touring much of the upper midwest.

He played winter ball in the 1911–1912 season for Habana, and returned to split the season between the Brooklyn Royal Giants and the New York Lincoln Stars where he played on and off until 1916, continuing on in this way playing on and off with the Lincoln Giants until 1920.