William Aloysius Bergen (1878 - 1943)

Born 13 Jun 1878 in North Brookfield, Worcester, Massachusetts, United States

Died 19 Dec 1943 at age 65 in Worcester, Worcester, Massachusetts, United States

Biography

William Aloysius Bergen was the son of Michael Bergen and Ann Delaney. Members of his family worked in a shoe factory.

Bill Bergen had the worst batting average in major league baseball history, at .170. He hit only two home runs in his 2,500 career at-bats. He was never hit by a pitch, however, which may indicate that his hitting stance was the reason behind his abysmal average.

He learned the skills of catching from his elder brother Marty.

Bill began his professional career in 1898 with Pawtucket of the New England League. He had a strong and accurate arm and became known for picking runners off base.

In 1900 Bill was living with his sister Margaret McEvoy and her husband. Patrick McEvoy and William Bergen were working in the shoe factory.^[1]

In 1901 the Cincinnati Reds called him up as a rookie.

He married Alice Moran in 1903.

The Reds sold him to the Brooklyn Superbas in 1904. Despite playing part-time, Bergen earned a reputation for the strongest throwing arm in the National League, so strong that his mere presence behind the plate was enough to intimidate base runners. On August 23, 1909, Bergen gunned down six St. Louis Cardinals attempting to steal. Despite catching only 941 games, Bergen still ranks in the all-time top 10 for career assists by a catcher. And while only seven catchers in the Hall of Fame (through the 2021 season) ever amassed as many as 100 assists in a single season, Bergen accomplished that feat in nine of his 11 major-league campaigns, failing only in 1903 and 1907, the two seasons he caught fewer than 60 games. He reached a high of 202 assists in 1909, making him one of only a handful of backstops ever to accumulate more than 200 in a season. And it wasn’t just in throwing that Bergen excelled. His lifetime fielding average exceeded the league average for catchers, .972 vs. .969, and he caught two no-hitters.

Bergen’s offense, however, was another story. Though it hardly seems possible, his batting actually got worse as the years went on. In 1909 he batted .139, the lowest post-1900 mark ever for a batting-title qualifier. That year Bergen also managed to go hitless in 45 consecutive at-bats, a hitless streak that was not broken until 2011.^[2]

In 1920 William P Bergen was age 40 and living in Worcester, Mass. He was a leather worker. His wife Alice was age 35, b Mass.; she was a stenographer in a department store. Alice's mother Mary C Moran was a widow, age 70, emigrated 1870, born in Ireland. Mary's nephew Allen E Moran was age 13, b Mass. Alice's uncle William Canty was age 68, b Ireland, single.^[3]

He and Alice were rooming in Worcester in 1930.^[4]

In 1940 William A Bergen was age 61. His wife Alice was age 55. No occupation was listed for William. Alice was a telephone operator at the YWCA in Worcester.^[5]

William died of arteriosclerotic heart disease in 1943.

Sources

1. ↑ "United States Census, 1900", database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M9B7-777 : 22 January 2022), William Bergen in entry for Patrick McEvoy, 1900.
2. ↑ "Bill Bergen," by Joe Dittmar, Society for American Baseball Research, https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/bill-bergen/
3. ↑ "United States Census, 1920", database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MF9B-5GP : 27 July 2023), William P Bergin, 1920.
4. ↑ "United States Census, 1930," database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XQTN-7YJ : accessed 28 July 2023), William Bergen in household of Esther Hammerstrom, Worcester, Worcester, Massachusetts, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) ED 107, sheet 6A, line 20, family 118, NARA microfilm publication T626 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2002), roll 971; FHL microfilm 2,340,706.
5. ↑ "United States Census, 1940", database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:K4KR-KM4 : Thu Jul 20 02:03:59 UTC 2023), Entry for Wm A Bergen and Alice M Bergen, 1940.

• "United States World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918", database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KZNC-5WW : 23 December 2021), William Aloyusius Bergen, 1917-1918.
• "United States World War II Draft Registration Cards, 1942," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:V12P-GMC : 13 March 2020), William A Bergen, 1942; citing NARA microfilm publication M1936, M1937, M1939, M1951, M1962, M1964, M1986, M2090, and M2097 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).
• Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/10319003/william-aloysius-bergen: accessed 27 July 2023), memorial page for William Aloysius Bergen (13 Jun 1878–19 Dec 1943), Find a Grave Memorial ID 10319003, citing Saint John's Cemetery, Worcester, Worcester County, Massachusetts, USA; Maintained by Find a Grave.