In 1891 a 17 year-old Bill Clymer appeared in 3 games for the Philadelphia Athletics. He made 13 Plate Appearances but was not able to record a hit. He did however walk once and steal a base before being sent back to the Minors. I’m sure many people around the game expected him to be back in the Majors at some point, but it never happened.
You may be thinking: How is he in the T206 set if he only played in 3 games in the Majors in 1891? His T206 card was released 29 years later, in 1910. Good question.
In 1892, the speedy shortstop returned to the Minor Leagues, playing for Portland of the New England League. No stats have survived from that season, but we do have stats from 5 of his next 6 seasons in the Minors. Clymer played in Portland again in 1893. He hit .310 and slugged .504 as a 20 year-old. Not bad for a 155 pound speedster. He also stole 42 bags that year.
In 1893, he signed with the Buffalo Bisons of the Eastern League who made him an outfielder. He continued to rake, hitting .337 and stealing 36 bags. Looking at his stats, it’s incredibly tough to believe he was never given another shot in the big leagues.
In the five seasons following his cup-of-coffee in the Big Leagues, Clymer’s average season looks like this:
- 116.8 Games
- .298 Batting Average
- 27 Doubles
- 31.6 Stolen Bases
I have to imagine some of the clubs in the Majors at time could’ve used some help at the plate from their middle infielders. But, for whatever reason, he was never given another shot. During the last of the five seasons mentioned above, Clymer played for the Rochester Patriots/Ottawa Wanderers of the Eastern League (the team left Rochester in July and re-located to Ottawa. During this season, he was given his first shot as a player/manager. Though he only managed for two weeks in 1898, he must have made an impression because he went on to manage the Wilkes-Barre Coal Barons of the Atlantic League in 1900 (though the league disbanded on June 12th). His promotion to manager coincided with a precipitous decline in production on the field, but he proved to be an excellent skipper.
In 1902, Clymer was named the new skipper of the Louisville Colonels of the American Association. They finished 2nd in the AA that year, and they duplicated that feat the following season. With Louisville he bounced back at the plate. After a handful of disappointing offensive seasons, he hit .290 in 1902 and an astonishing .351 in 1903.
In 1904, “Derby Day Bill” became the manager of the Columbus Senators, also of the American Association. His club finished in 2nd place in the league. 1904 was his last full season as a player. He played in 139 games, but hit just .224. In 1905, Clymer lead his first squad to a league pennant, and followed up with a repeat in 1906 and a three-peat in 1907. In 1905, he appeared in only 47 games as a player, and that number dropped to 15 in 1906. In 1907 he was strictly the manager of the club.
In 1907, Sporting Life magazine predicted that Bill Clymer would be named the new Boston Red Sox manager for the 1908 season. However, the prediction never came to fruition. Clymer never managed in the Major Leagues, although he did serve as a coach on the 1925 Cinicinnati Reds staff. 1909 was his last season managing in Columbus. In 1910, he was featured as the Columbus skipper on his T206 card.
He would go on to manage for approximately 29 years in the Minor Leagues. He returned to Wilkes-Barre, Buffalo, Columbus, and Louisville along with one-year tours in Tulsa, Toronto and Seattle. His teams went 2,122-1,762 over that span, winning an impressive seven pennants. Baseball Reference shows that he appeared in one game as a player in 1922 for the Newark Bears of the International League, although he didn’t record any stats.
In 1989, Bill Clymer was inducted into the Buffalo Bisons Hall of Fame in recognition of his 11 years of service to the ball club (see the HOF plaque below).
I’d like to thank Baseball Reference, Baseball History Daily, and the Buffalo Bisons. Baseball Reference for the use of their stats, biographical information, and the cartoon that appears above. The picture at the top of this article is courtesy of Baseball History Daily. The Buffalo Bisons Hall of Fame plaque is courtesy of the Buffalo Bisons.