{{Short description|American baseball player (1940–2017)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=June 2024}} {{Infobox baseball biography |name=Bill Hands |position=Pitcher |image=Bill Hands 1969.jpg |caption=Hands in 1969 |bats=Right |throws=Right |birth_date={{Birth date|1940|5|6}} |birth_place=Hackensack, New Jersey, U.S. |death_date={{Death date and age|2017|3|9|1940|5|6}} |death_place=Orlando, Florida, U.S. |debutleague = MLB |debutdate= June 3 |debutyear= 1965 |debutteam= San Francisco Giants |finalleague = MLB |finaldate=August 10 |finalyear=1975 |finalteam= Texas Rangers |statleague = MLB |stat1label=Win–loss record |stat1value=111–110 |stat2label=Earned run average |stat2value=3.35 |stat3label=Strikeouts |stat3value=1,128 |teams= * San Francisco Giants ({{baseball year|1965}}) * Chicago Cubs ({{baseball year|1966}}–{{baseball year|1972}}) * Minnesota Twins ({{baseball year|1973}}–{{baseball year|1974}}) * Texas Rangers ({{baseball year|1974}}–{{baseball year|1975}}) }} '''William Alfred Hands, Jr.''' (May 6, 1940 – March 9, 2017) was an American professional baseball player who pitched in the major leagues from 1965 to 1975. His best season came in 1969 with the Chicago Cubs, when he won 20 games.
==Early life== A native of Rutherford, New Jersey,<ref>Adamek, Steve. [http://archive.northjersey.com/story-archives/where-are-they-now-rutherford-s-bill-hands-1.1239974?page=all "Where are they now? Rutherford's Bill Hands"] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110714200758/http://www.northjersey.com/sports/pro_sports/060110_Where_are_they_now_Rutherfords_Bill_Hands_.html |date=July 14, 2011 }}, ''The Record (Bergen County)'', May 31, 2010. Accessed March 6, 2011.</ref> Bill Hands played baseball at Rutherford High School.<ref>Durso, Joseph. [https://www.nytimes.com/1969/04/27/archives/cubs-crush-mets-93-hands-is-winner.html "Cubs Crush Mets, 9–3; Hands Is Winner"], ''The New York Times'', April 27, 1969. Accessed March 6, 2011. "Last season he beat the Mets four straight times without a loss, and allowed them about half a run a game. No other graduate, of Rutherford High School has harassed them more."</ref>
Hands pitched at Fairleigh Dickinson University and Ohio Wesleyan University before signing with the San Francisco Giants. He was later inducted into the Rutherford Hall of Fame.<ref name="iseman">{{cite web |last1=Iseman |first1=Chris |title=Bill Hands, Rutherford native, former MLB pitcher, dies |url=https://www.northjersey.com/story/sports/mlb/2017/03/10/bill-hands-rutherford-native-former-mlb-pitcher-dies/99020554/ |website=northjersey.com |publisher=North Jersey Media Group |accessdate=October 4, 2020 |date=March 10, 2017}}</ref>
==Major Leagues== Hands, whose nickname was "Froggy," signed as an amateur free agent with the San Francisco Giants in 1959, made his major league debut with them in 1965, pitching in four games that season. After the 1965 season, Hands was traded to the Chicago Cubs with catcher Randy Hundley for outfielder Don Landrum and reliever Lindy McDaniel,<ref name="BRef">{{cite web |title=Bill Hands Stats |url=https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/h/handsbi01.shtml |website=Baseball-Reference.com |accessdate=October 4, 2020 |language=en}}</ref> a trade regarded at the time as a success for the Giants,<ref>{{cite web |last1=Bergman |first1=Ron |title='Giants' Best Trade Was Lindy McDaniel' |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/41885821/giants-best-trade-was-lindy-mcdaniel/ |website=newspapers.com |publisher=The Napa Valley Register |accessdate=October 4, 2020 |pages=8 |date=August 23, 1966}}</ref> and which went on to be viewed as one of the best in Cubs history.<ref name="trib obit">{{cite web |last1=Sullivan |first1=Paul |title=Ex-Cub Bill Hands, 20-game winner in 1969, dies at 76 |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/cubs/ct-bill-hands-cubs-obit-spt-0310-20170309-story.html |website=chicagotribune.com |publisher=Chicago Tribune |accessdate=October 4, 2020 |date=March 10, 2017}}</ref>
In 1966 with the Chicago Cubs, he started 26 games and relieved 15, going 8-13 with a 4.58 ERA. By 1968, at age 28, he went 16-10 with a 2.89 ERA, followed up in 1969 by his best season, as he went 20-14 with a 2.49 ERA. He threw 18 complete games and pitched 300 innings, while pitching in a rotation along with Hall of Famer Ferguson Jenkins.<ref name="iseman" />
The right-hander spent seven seasons with the Cubs, two with the Minnesota Twins and two with the Texas Rangers.
Of Hands, Ferguson Jenkins said, "Hands was an 'even-tempered guy' with a good sinking fastball and sharp slider who did his job and never complained about being underappreciated on a team full of stars."<ref name="trib obit" />
He finished his career with a record of 111-110 and an ERA of 3.35.<ref name="BRef" />
==Personal life== During his professional career, he had been a resident of Parsippany-Troy Hills, New Jersey.<ref>Manas, Steve. [https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/254916242/ "Show Of Hands Dominates Baseball Camp"], ''Daily Record'', July 9, 1975. Accessed April 22, 2021, via Newspapers.com. "That means Bill Hands, as he had done so often during the past 17 years, must once again leave his family and go on the road. The Rangers' 35-year-old righthander, born in Rutherford and a resident of Parsippany since 1965, paid a visit to the Jack Mott-Fred Leeney Baseball Camp at Smith Field yesterday and spoke to more than 130 boys, aged 7-15, and 22 instructors, former high school players, college players and coaches, about what else? baseball."</ref>
After retiring from baseball, Hands was a salesman for an oil company on Long Island. He later opened up a service station, the Orient Service Center, in Orient, New York, where he lived for many years with his wife Sandy; his children (Heather, Billy, and Heidi) and grandchildren also lived in Orient.<ref>After retiring from baseball, Hands was a salesman for an oil company on Long Island. He later opened up a service station in Orient, N.Y.</ref>
Hands died in Florida on March 9, 2017.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://suffolktimes.timesreview.com/2017/03/73892/orient-resident-mlb-20-game-winner-bill-hands-dies-76/|title=Orient resident, MLB 20-game winner Bill Hands dies at 76 - Suffolk Times - Suffolk Times|website=suffolktimes.timesreview.com|date=March 9, 2017|access-date=March 9, 2017|archive-date=March 10, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170310020433/http://suffolktimes.timesreview.com/2017/03/73892/orient-resident-mlb-20-game-winner-bill-hands-dies-76/|url-status=dead}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== {{Baseballstats |mlb=115413 |espn=|br=h/handsbi01|fangraphs=1005303|brm=hands-001wil}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hands, Bill}} Category:1940 births Category:2017 deaths Category:Major League Baseball pitchers Category:San Francisco Giants players Category:Minnesota Twins players Category:Chicago Cubs players Category:Texas Rangers players Category:Baseball players from Hackensack, New Jersey Category:Sportspeople from Parsippany–Troy Hills, New Jersey Category:Baseball players from Morris County, New Jersey Category:Sportspeople from Rutherford, New Jersey Category:Fresno Giants players Category:Hastings Giants players Category:Eugene Emeralds players Category:Springfield Giants players Category:Ohio Wesleyan Battling Bishops baseball players Category:Fairleigh Dickinson Knights baseball players Category:Rutherford High School (New Jersey) alumni Category:Baseball players from Suffolk County, New York Category:20th-century American sportsmen