Dickey, Bill

▪ American athlete

in full  William Malcolm Dickey  

born June 6, 1907, Bastrop, Louisiana, U.S.

died November 12, 1993, Little Rock, Arkansas

      professional baseball player who caught for the New York Yankees (1928–43 and 1946) of the American League. Dickey spanned two eras in Yankee history, playing at the end of Babe Ruth (Ruth, Babe)'s career and during the careers of legends Lou Gehrig (Gehrig, Lou) and Joe DiMaggio (DiMaggio, Joe). Dickey competed in eight World Series, seven of which the Yankees won.

      Dickey played sandlot ball as a boy, first as a pitcher. The Yankees signed him to a contract in 1925 and after three seasons of minor league play sent him up to the parent club in 1928. Dickey batted left-handed and had a .313 lifetime batting average. As a catcher he was consistent and durable, catching 100 games or more per season in 1929–41 and leading American League catchers in fielding for six seasons. He had a fine knowledge of batters and could catch all varieties of pitches. Dickey was at his best in big games; he caught every inning of his 38 World Series games and had a series average of .400 (.438 in the 1932 series). After retiring as a player, he was player-manager (1946), catching coach (1949; it was Dickey who coached Yogi Berra (Berra, Yogi) in the art of catching), and scout and coach (1959–60). In 1954 Dickey was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.

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