Frank Brill
{{Short description|American baseball player and bowler (1864–1944)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2024}}
{{Infobox baseball biography
|name=Frank Brill
|position=Pitcher/Outfielder
|image=Frank Brill.jpg
|bats=Right
|throws=Right
|birth_date={{Birth date|1864|3|28|mf=y}}
|birth_place=Astoria, New York, US
|death_date={{death date and age|1944|11|19|1864|3|30}}
|death_place=Flushing, New York, US
|debutleague = MLB
|debutdate=June 23
|debutyear=1884
|debutteam=Detroit Wolverines
|finalleague = MLB
|finaldate=August 8
|finalyear=1884
|finalteam=Detroit Wolverines
|statleague = MLB
|stat1label=Win–loss record
|stat1value=2-10
|stat3label=Strikeouts
|stat3value=18
|stat2label=Earned run average
|stat2value=5.50
|teams=
- Detroit Wolverines ({{by|1884}})
}}
Francis Hasbrouck Brill (born Briell) (March 28, 1864 – November 19, 1944) was an American professional baseball player and hall-of-fame bowler. He appeared in one season in Major League Baseball for the Detroit Wolverines during the 1884 season. He played 12 games as a pitcher and one game as an outfielder. He later played several seasons of minor league baseball. During the 1900s he became a prominent ten-pin bowler. At the first annual national championship held by the American Bowling Congress in 1901, Brill won both the singles (648 pins) and all-events (1,736 pins) championships.{{cite book |title= Briell, Francis in Historical Dictionary of Bowling, p. 67 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bblKBAAAQBAJ&q=frank+brill+bowling&pg=PA68 |last1=Grosso |first1=John |last2=Hartman |first2=Eric R. |date = 7 August 2014|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |isbn = 9780810880221|access-date=January 31, 2018}} He was inducted into the American Bowling Congress Hall of Fame in 1996.
Early years
Brill was born in 1864 in Astoria, New York.
Professional baseball player
Brill made his major league debut for the Detroit Wolverines on June 23, 1884, at age 20. Over the next six weeks he appeared in 12 games as a starting pitcher and one game as a left fielder for the Wolverines, compiling a 2–10 win–loss record and a 5.50 earned run average (ERA) as a pitcher and a .136 batting average with six hits and five runs scored in 44 at bats. He appeared in his last major league game on August 8, 1884.{{cite web|title=Frank Brill Statistics and History|publisher=Sports Reference LLC|work=baseball-reference.com|access-date=July 23, 2014|url=https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/b/brillfr01.shtml}}
Although his major league playing career ended in 1884, Brill also played five seasons of minor league baseball as a first baseman (55 games), pitcher (26 games), third baseman (24 games) and outfielder (36 games). His minor league career included stints with the Scranton Indians (34 games, 1886), Buffalo Bisons (18 games, 1886), New Haven Blues (31 games, 1887), Wilkes-Barre Coal Barons (1887-1888), Elmira Hottentots (40 games, 1889) and with the Easton, Pennsylvania club (12 games, 1890).{{cite web|title=Frank Brill Minor League Statistics|publisher=Sports Reference LLC|work=baseball-reference.com|access-date=July 23, 2014|url=https://www.baseball-reference.com/minors/player.cgi?id=brill-001fra}} While playing for Wilkes-Barre in 1888, he became a first baseman, and The Sporting Life reported that the change in position had revived his career: "As a first baseman Frank Brill has shown himself as among the first in the League; the change from being a pitcher has been beneficial both in his playing and batting."{{cite news|title=Happy WilkesBarre|newspaper=October 10, 1888|page=1|url=http://library.la84.org/SportsLibrary/SportingLife/1888/VOL_12_NO_01/SL1201001.pdf|access-date=July 24, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160912081634/http://library.la84.org/SportsLibrary/SportingLife/1888/VOL_12_NO_01/SL1201001.pdf|archive-date=September 12, 2016|url-status=dead}}
Brill also played at the shortstop position for the Staten Island Athletic Club baseball team in 1891 and was presented with a gold watch and chain at the end of the season for his contributions to the team.{{cite news|title=News, Gossip, Editorial Comment|newspaper=The Sporting Life|date=November 21, 1891|page=2|url=http://library.la84.org/SportsLibrary/SportingLife/1891/VOL_18_NO_08/SL1808002.pdf}}
Bowling
After retiring from baseball, Brill became a professional bowler, competing for the Hoffman Bowling Club of Chicago.{{cite book|title=Current Encyclopedia, Volume 1|publisher=Hearst's international|year=1901|page=650|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=t47NAAAAMAAJ&q=%22Frank+brill%22+bowling}} In January 1901, he entered the first national bowling championship, participating in singles, doubles and team events.{{cite web|title=Super Bowling|publisher=WBEZ|work=Chicago History Today|author=John R. Schmidt|date=January 8, 2013|access-date=July 23, 2014|url=http://www.wbez.org/blogs/john-r-schmidt/2013-01/super-bowling-104659|archive-date=July 31, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130731155809/http://www.wbez.org/blogs/john-r-schmidt/2013-01/super-bowling-104659|url-status=dead}} The event was sponsored by the American Bowling Congress and was held on specially built lanes in the Wellsbach building on Wabash Avenue in Chicago.{{cite book|title=On This Day in Chicago History|author=John R. Schmidt|publisher=The History Press|year=2014|isbn=978-1625847317|page=16}} Brill won the 1901 singles championship with a score of 648, and also placed first in all-events with a total pinfall of 1,736 over nine games.{{cite news|title=This Gives Bowlers Line on Louisville Tournament: What May Be Expected This Year Judging by Previous Competitions|newspaper=The Evening World (New York)|date=February 3, 1906|page=6}} (available on-line through the LOC Chronicling America data base){{cite news|title=American Bowling Congress: Winners, Entries and Cash Prizes Since 1901|newspaper=The Sporting Life|date=March 4, 1916|page=22|url=http://library.la84.org/SportsLibrary/SportingLife/1916/VOL_67_NO_01/SL6701022.pdf}} Brill was also a member of the Lincoln Groves, the first bowling team to tour the United States.
In 1903 he was working as the manager of a Chicago bowling establishment. He was also reported to have won a prize at an International League tournament.{{cite news|title=Other Notables Engaged|newspaper=The Sporting Life|date=November 28, 1903|page=10|url=http://library.la84.org/SportsLibrary/SportingLife/1903/VOL_42_NO_11/SL4211010.pdf}} In 1905 he was described as "a bowler of some prominence and an ex-national champion."{{cite news|title=Sports and Athletics|newspaper=The Kentuckian|date=February 28, 1905|page=3}} (available on-line through the LOC Chronicling America data base).{{cite news|title=Brill for Chicago: Will Represent Windy City in Special Bowling Match at Louisville|newspaper=The Minneapolis Journal|date=March 11, 1906|page=1 (Sports)}}{{cite news|title=Expert Bowler Brill Tells How To Succeed|newspaper=The Pittsburgh Press|date=December 30, 1906|page=18|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1144&dat=19061230&id=kBIbAAAAIBAJ&sjid=uUgEAAAAIBAJ&pg=6327,6449022}} As of February 1906, The Evening World reported that Brill had competed in all five of the national tournaments held since 1901 and that he had the highest average in those tournaments at 188.21 (45 games).
Brill was inducted into the American Bowling Congress Hall of Fame in 1996.{{cite web|title=USBC Hall of Fame: Frank Briell|publisher=United States Bowling Congress|work=Bowl.com|access-date=July 23, 2014|url=http://www.bowl.com/Hall_of_Fame/Hall_of_Famers/Pioneer/Frank_Briell/}}{{cite web|title=Frank Brill (1907)|publisher=Dr. Jake's Bowling History Blog|access-date=July 23, 2014|url=http://bowlinghistory.wordpress.com/2009/12/20/frank-brill-famous-bowler/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140812172321/http://bowlinghistory.wordpress.com/2009/12/20/frank-brill-famous-bowler/|archive-date=August 12, 2014|url-status=dead}}
Later years
Brill lived in Long Island City in 1897.{{cite news|title=News and Comment|newspaper=The Sporting Life|date=November 13, 1897|page=4|url=http://library.la84.org/SportsLibrary/SportingLife/1897/VOL_30_NO_08/SL3008004.pdf}} He lived in Chicago for at least 20 years in the early 1900s. At the time of the 1900, 1910 and 1920 U.S. Censuses, he was living in Chicago with his wife, Frances L. Brill. He was employed in 1900 as the manager of a bowling establishment, in 1910 as a saloon keeper and bowling alley employee and in 1920 as a billiard hall manager.1900 U.S. Census entry for Francis Brill, born March 1864 in New York. Census Place: Chicago Ward 32, Cook, Illinois; Roll: 285; Page: 3A; Enumeration District: 1009; FHL microfilm: 1240285. Ancestry.com. 1900 United States Federal Census [database on-line].1910 U.S. Census entry for Frank H. Brill, age 46, born in New York. Census Place: Chicago Ward 14, Cook, Illinois; Roll: T624_256; Page: 11A; Enumeration District: 0701; FHL microfilm: 1374269. Ancestry.com. 1910 United States Federal Census [database on-line].1920 U.S. Census entry for Frank Brill, age 55, born in New York. Census Place: Chicago Ward 6, Cook (Chicago), Illinois; Roll: T625_310; Page: 4B; Enumeration District: 363; Image: 700. Ancestry.com. 1920 United States Federal Census [database on-line].
By 1940 Brill had moved to Queens, New York, living with his wife Frances.1940 U.S. Census entry for Frances H. Briell, age 76, born in New York. Census Place: New York, Queens, New York; Roll: T627_2737; Page: 8A; Enumeration District: 41-866. Ancestry.com. 1940 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. He died in 1944 in Flushing, New York at age 80. He was buried at the Flushing Cemetery in that city.
References
{{reflist|30em}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brill, Frank}}
Category:19th-century baseball players
Category:19th-century American sportsmen
Category:American ten-pin bowling players
Category:Baseball players from Queens, New York
Category:Buffalo Bisons (minor league) players
Category:Detroit Wolverines players
Category:Easton (minor league baseball) players
Category:Elmira Hottentots players
Category:Major League Baseball pitchers
Category:New Haven Blues players
Category:Scranton Indians players
Category:Wilkes-Barre Barons (baseball) players