# Billy Sorrell

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**Billy Lee Sorrell** (October 14, 1940 – July 22, 2008) was an American professional [baseball](/source/Baseball) player who appeared in 85 [games](/source/Games_played) over parts of three seasons in [Major League Baseball](/source/Major_League_Baseball) ([MLB](/source/MLB)) for the [Philadelphia Phillies](/source/Philadelphia_Phillies) (), [San Francisco Giants](/source/San_Francisco_Giants) () and [Kansas City Royals](/source/Kansas_City_Royals) (). Primarily a [third baseman](/source/Third_baseman), Sorrell batted left-handed, threw right-handed, and was listed as 6 feet (1.8 m) tall and 190 pounds (86 kg). He was born in [Morehead, Kentucky](/source/Morehead,_Kentucky).

## Baseball career

Sorrell signed with the Phillies in 1960 and was recalled to Philadelphia late in the campaign. He [singled](/source/Single_(baseball)) as a [pinch hitter](/source/Pinch_hitter) in his MLB debut September 2 off San Francisco [relief pitcher](/source/Relief_pitcher) [Frank Linzy](/source/Frank_Linzy),[1] and [batted](/source/Batting_average_(baseball)) .385 with five [hits](/source/Hit_(baseball)) overall in his only trial with the Phillies. Then, in 1966, he was sent to [Triple-A](/source/Triple-A_(baseball)) [San Diego](/source/San_Diego_Padres_(PCL)), where he hit 20 [home runs](/source/Home_runs). When he was left unprotected by the Phillies after the season, the Giants selected Sorrell in the 1966 [Rule 5 Draft](/source/Rule_5_Draft). He played sparingly for the Giants, getting into only 18 games with 21 [plate appearances](/source/Plate_appearance) through June 18, before being returned to the Philadelphia organization. He spent two seasons in the [New York Mets](/source/New_York_Mets)' system, beginning in 1968, before his contract was purchased by the Royals, an [expansion team](/source/Expansion_team) in its first season, in August 1969. The Royals then gave Sorrell his most extended trial in the majors: 57 games and 145 plate appearances during between June 2 and the end of that season.

Sorrell played in Triple-A through the end of 1971, then spent two years in [Nippon Professional Baseball](/source/Nippon_Professional_Baseball) with the [Hankyu Braves](/source/Hankyu_Braves), retiring in 1973. In the majors, Sorrell batted .267 lifetime; his 44 hits included three [doubles](/source/Double_(baseball)) and five home runs, and he was credited with 17 [runs batted in](/source/Runs_batted_in). In Japan, he hit .278 with 20 home runs and 75 RBI in 183 games. Sorrell died at age 67 in [Rancho Bernardo, California](/source/Rancho_Bernardo,_California).

## 10,000th MLB player

Sorrell was the 10,000th player in MLB history. [Baseball Reference](/source/Baseball_Reference) lists Sorrell, [Darrell Osteen](/source/Darrell_Osteen), [Bud Harrelson](/source/Bud_Harrelson) and [Dick Selma](/source/Dick_Selma)—all of whom made their major league debuts on September 2, 1965—as the major leagues' 9,998th player. The same source notes that Harrelson (9,998) and Selma (9,999) made their debut for the Mets in a game that ended at 4:56 PM; Sorrell (10,000) made his debut as the next-to-last batter in a game in Philadelphia that ended at 6:19 PM; and Osteen (10,001) made his debut for the [Cincinnati Reds](/source/Cincinnati_Reds) in a contest that started at 8:05.More recently baseball-reference.com noted that they found six players without known start dates that were added prior to Billy Sorrell's debut so he is now player 10,006. According to baseball-reference.com [Andy Kosco](/source/Andy_Kosco), who debuted in August 1965, is player 10,000[2]

## References

1. [Retrosheet](/source/Retrosheet) [box score: 1965-09-02](https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1965/B09022PHI1965.htm)

1. ["1965 Major League Baseball New Debuts"](https://www.baseball-reference.cohttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Copyright_violationsm/leagues/MLB/1965-debuts.shtml). *[baseball-reference.com](/source/Baseball-reference.com)*. Sports Reference LLC. 2019. Retrieved April 8, 2019.

## External links

- [Billy Sorrell](https://www.baseball-almanac.com/players/player.php?p=Sorrebi01) at Baseball Almanac

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Billy Sorrell](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_Sorrell) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_Sorrell?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.