{{Short description|American baseball player (1873–1928)}} {{About||the New Zealand rugby league player|Bill Stuart (rugby league)|those of a similar name|William Stuart (disambiguation)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=July 2024}} {{Infobox baseball biography |name=Bill Stuart |image=Bill Stuart, 1894 Penn State baseball team.jpg |caption=Stuart on the 1894 Penn State baseball team |position=Infielder |bats=Right |throws=Right |birth_date={{Birth date|1873|8|28|mf=y}} |birth_place=Boalsburg, Pennsylvania, U.S. |death_date={{death date and age|1928|10|14|1873|8|28}} |death_place=Fort Worth, Texas, U.S. |debutleague = MLB |debutdate=August 15 |debutyear=1895 |debutteam=Pittsburgh Pirates |finalleague = MLB |finaldate=September 7 |finalyear=1899 |finalteam=New York Giants |statleague = MLB |stat1label=Batting average |stat1value=.238 |stat2label=Home runs |stat2value=0 |stat3label=RBI |stat3value=10 |teams= *Pittsburgh Pirates (1895) *New York Giants (1899) }} '''William Alexander "Chauncey" Stuart''' (August 28, 1873 – October 14, 1928) was a professional baseball middle infielder and an American football player and coach. He played major league baseball with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1895 and the New York Giants in 1899.
== Early life == Stuart was born on August 28, 1873, in Boalsburg, Pennsylvania.<ref name=bref>{{cite web|title=Bill Stuart|publisher=Sports Reference|website=Baseball Reference|url=https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/s/stuarbi01.shtml|access-date=February 29, 2024|archive-date=September 19, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230919021919/https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/s/stuarbi01.shtml|url-status=live}}</ref> He attended Penn State University, where he played on the varsity football and baseball teams.<ref name=suntel>{{cite news|last=Long|first=James J.|newspaper=Pittsburgh Sun-Telegraph|date=October 16, 1928|page=26|title=Sport Comment|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/142391357/|access-date=May 24, 2024|archive-date=May 24, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240524142115/https://www.newspapers.com/article/pittsburgh-sun-telegraph/142391357/|url-status=live}}</ref>
== Baseball career == Listed at 5'11" and 170 pounds, Stuart threw and batted right-handed. He made his big league debut on August 15, 1895, with the Pittsburgh Pirates at the age of 21, playing 19 games that year (2 at second base and 17 as shortstop) and hitting .247 with 0 home runs and 10 RBI. He returned to the Major Leagues in 1899 to play for the New York Giants (playing only one game at second base that season) and collected zero hits in three at-bats. Stuart's overall career fielding percentage was unremarkable, at .912.<ref name=bref/><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.mlb.com/player/122898|accessdate=February 29, 2024|title=Bill Stuart|website=MLB.com|archive-date=May 24, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240524142118/https://www.mlb.com/player/bill-stuart-122898|url-status=live}}</ref>
==Football career== Stuart played fullback on the Penn State football team.<ref name=pfra>{{cite web |title=Ten Dollars and Cakes |website=Professional Football Researchers Association |url=https://www.profootballresearchers.org/articles/Ten_Dollars_And_Cakes.pdf |author=PFRA Research |access-date=February 29, 2024 |archive-date=November 3, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231103050806/https://www.profootballresearchers.org/articles/Ten_Dollars_And_Cakes.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> In 1895, he played the same position for the Pittsburgh Athletic Club, one of the first football teams to pay players.<ref name=suntel/> He was known as an outstanding kicker.<ref name=pfra/>
From 1896 until 1899 he was the coach and star fullback of the Company C team of Bradford, Pennsylvania, which in its best year, 1897, won all of its 11 games by a combined score of 388 to 0.<ref>{{cite news|last=Nelson|first=Johnny Jr.|newspaper=The Bradford Era|location=Bradford, PA|date=February 12, 1934|page=6|title=Chauncey Bill Stuart|department=Out of the Past}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Scores of the Season|newspaper=The Pittsburg Times|date=November 27, 1897|page=8}}</ref>
==Later life== Stuart later became an oil operator in Oklahoma.<ref name=suntel/> Alongside his oil career, he tried his hand at managing a theater in Tulsa and running a publication called ''Baseball World''.<ref>{{cite news|newspaper=Tulsa Daily World|date=December 8, 1912|edition=Morning|page=7|title=Grand-Theatre Changes Hands|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/142437166/|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=May 24, 2024|archive-date=May 24, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240524142017/https://www.newspapers.com/article/tulsa-world/142437166/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|newspaper=Tulsa Daily World|date=January 19, 1916|edition=Morning|page=6|title=W.A. Stuart Says Baseball Is Safe|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/142435912/|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=May 24, 2024|archive-date=May 24, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240524142136/https://www.newspapers.com/article/tulsa-world/142435912/|url-status=live}}</ref> In 1922, he was shot in a hunting accident when his guide mistook him for a deer; the bullet passed through his arm and entered his hip. He was still recovering months later.<ref>{{cite news|last=McAfee|first=James M.|newspaper=The Pittsburgh Press|date=March 12, 1923|page=22|title=Skipper M'Kechnie Changes His Plans|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/142434651/|access-date=May 24, 2024|archive-date=May 24, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240524142017/https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-pittsburgh-press/142434651/|url-status=live}}</ref> He died on October 14, 1928, at age 55, in Fort Worth, Texas. His body was laid to rest in Spring Creek Presbyterian Cemetery in State College, Pennsylvania.<ref name=bref/>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== *{{Baseballstats |mlb= 122898 |br= s/stuarbi01 |fangraphs= 1012638 |brm= stuart001bil |retro= S/Pstuab101 }}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stuart, Bill}} Category:1873 births Category:1928 deaths Category:Pittsburgh Pirates players Category:New York Giants (baseball) players Category:Major League Baseball shortstops Category:Baseball players from Centre County, Pennsylvania Category:Penn State Nittany Lions baseball players Category:19th-century baseball players Category:19th-century American sportsmen Category:Scranton Indians players Category:Shenandoah Huns players Category:Franklin Braves players Category:Williamsport Demorest Bicycle Boys players Category:Toronto Canadians players Category:Albany Senators players Category:Newark Colts players Category:Richmond Giants players Category:Bradford Pirates players Category:New Haven Blues players Category:Springfield Ponies players Category:Hartford Indians players Category:Minor league baseball managers Category:Coffeyville Glassblowers players Category:Pittsburgh Athletic Club (football) players