William Woodrow “Bill” Hart Jr. was born on March 4, 1913 in Wiconisco, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, the son of William W. Hart Sr. (1888-1969) and Sarah Jennie [Calnon] Hart (1882-1962). Hart’s father was a machinist in the coal mines.
He began his baseball career as an infielder with the Harrisburg Senators, then of the New York-Penn League, in 1935. Up through 1942, the minor league teams he played with were associated with the St. Louis Cardinals of the National League, and from 1943 to near the end of his career, the minor league teams he played with were associated with the Brooklyn Dodgers of the National League. During World War II, he was one of many wartime replacement players in the major leagues. He was on the major league roster of the Brooklyn Dodgers of the National League in the years 1943, 1944 and 1945.
While officially listed with the Brooklyn Dodgers, a major league team, he was called up and sent down from the minor leagues. Thus, in 1943 and 1944 he also played for the New Orleans Pelicans of the Southern Association, and in 1945 he also played for the St. Paul Saints of the American Association.
An overlooked fact about the career of Bill Hart is that he was acquired by the Brooklyn Dodgers at the very same time that Branch Rickey began his service as President and General Manager of the team. Rickey, who was previously with the St. Louis Cardinals, who had won the World Series in 1942, sought to desegregate the Dodgers, a story that connects at this point with the career of Bill Hart in the development of the “farm system,” supported by Rickey. From 1947 to 1951, Hart was with Dodger-affiliated teams as a player and manager, and surely must have had reflections of those days. It is not known at the time of this writing whether pen was ever put to paper on Hart’s views on what Branch Rickey had accomplished. It must be noted though that the minor league pennant won by the Santa Barbara Dodgers in 1951 occurred after Rickey left the Dodger organization. In November 1950, Rickey was hired by the Pittsburg Pirates organization and he remained with that team until his retirement in 1955.
Hart’s major league career stats can be found at Baseball Reference.
His minor league career stats can be found at Stats Crew and also at Baseball Reference.
Bill Hart’s minor league career spanned the years 1935, when he was 22 years old, to 1952, when he was 39 years old. In the years 1950-1951, he was player-manager for Santa Barbara of the California League, and during that time his team won a pennant (1951). His last team was in Ashville, North Carolina, of the Tri-State League, where during a game he severely injured his back — which resulted in the end of his professional career.
Bill Hart died on July 29, 1968, in Lykens, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania. A Mass was celebrated for him at Our Lady Help of Christians Church in Lykens and he was buried at the Wiconisco Cemetery.
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This blog post was researched from information supplied by Lynda Wiest, of Reno, Nevada, and formerly of Wiconisco.
Photo of Bill Hart is adapted from one found on Find-a-Grave.
Corrections and additional information should be added as comments to this post.