Bill Schuster, PCL Hall of Famer

"Billy Schuster was a classic. First I played against him, then he became a teammate. He later became my manager in the Western International League. Oh man, did we put it on. Whether there was any baseball played or not, we got a crowd.

When I was with the Solons, one night Bill Schuster is batting against me at Wrigley Field. I throw over to first base five times, trying to pick the base runner off. The next thing I realize, Billy is standing next to first base, with bat at the ready, waiting for me to 'pitch' the ball to first base again."

~ Bud Beasley


"Bud Beasley is pitching for Seattle, and he's going through all the gyrations that he did. Schuster, no doubt, had been hoping for the moment. Bud starts out with the pumps, working his way up his body. The first time, Bill just leans on his bat.

Beasley starts again, and while Beasley is doing all that stuff Schuster starts doing the hula. He's not going to be outdone.

He hits one back to the mound and runs out there sticks his hand out, and shakes hands with Beasley."

~ Charles "Red" Adams


"We had a pitcher who had just come down from the Major Leagues, and he had never heard of Schuster before. He was pitching to Schuster in a game at Hollywood, and Schuster hit a ground ball right back to him. He bends down to pick up the ball, and when he straightens up, here's Schuster running right at him, sliding at him. He didn't know what to do. Someone had to yell at him to throw the ball to first base. He finally did, and he came back to the bench and said, 'That man is crazy.' That's something we already knew."

~ Rugger Ardizoia


"You know, that dirty rat, when I joined the Portland club and we were in Los Angeles, I was his seventh hidden-ball-trick victim. And this was my friend! We were both from Buffalo. I hit a double, and he's talking to me about Warren Spahn and Frankie Drews and Sibby Sisti and I'm not paying attention.

All of a sudden, he's standing next to me and says, 'Hey Ed, look what I've got.' He said, 'Why don't you make a dive for it and we'll make it look good.' I said, 'Like hell.' So he hit me on top of the head. And here's Jim Turner thinking, 'This guy's been in the Major Leagues?' I could have killed Schuster that day, the dirty rat."

~ Eddie Basinski


"We picked him up for pennant insurance in '52. No telling what he was going to do. The first time I ever saw him, he scored a run, but he didn't stop. He kept running and climbed the screen behind home plate at Wrigley Field.

You've got to have guys like that on the ball club. You've got to keep a club loose.

He and I did a TV program at one of the studios in Hollywood on the afternoon before a night game, so I rode to the ballpark with him. We didn't stop at a stop light the whole trip from the studio! He cut across filling stations and everything, scared the hell out of me! He never stopped until we were in the parking lot. He gets out nonchalantly, and as we're walking to the clubhouse, I ask him, 'Do you always drive like this?' He says, 'Every day.'"

~ Chuck Stevens


"I remember one time over in San Francisco, it's a clutch situation, and Bill hits a big pop-up, straight up. He starts to run, then realizes it's going foul. Bill runs over behind the catcher with his bat. While the catcher is waiting for the ball to come down, Bill gets over behind him and--whomp . . . whomp . . . whomp--like he's hitting him over the head.

Now the catcher knows Bill's there, and he's got to concentrate on the ball and the wind blowing while all this is going on behind him.

Bill was called out on strikes at a game at Wrigley Field, and he stiffened up, as if he had been shot, and fell straight back. Well, a photographer just happened to catch the picture in mid-fall, so here's this picture of Bill falling dead backwards in the newspapers."

~ Charles "Red" Adams


"I saw him get decked one night in Hollywood. Roy Joiner was pitching. It was the first of the ninth, two outs and nobody on. We were leading and Billy Schuster tried to drag-bunt one. Joiner threw him out, and when Billy crossed the mound on the way back to his dugout, Roy was waiting for him. He busted him right in the mouth, laid him out cold!

Schuster was laying on the mound. The groundskeepers were turning out the lights. He was the only guy there."

~ Eddie Erautt


"I was there when Bill got decked. The game was over, and they turned off the lights right away. I didn't see it. But someone came into the clubhouse and said, 'Schuster's laying out there on the field.' Joiner's walking off, and Schuster ran up to him, I guess, and stopped. Schuster liked to do that. Joiner popped him!

When he came in the clubhouse that night, he looked like a guy who had just seen a ghost. His eyes were that big. He had just come to."

~ Charles "Red" Adams


"Bill said, 'I woke up and the place was dark'"

~ Marion Schuster

[Dick Dobbins, The Grand Minor League: An Oral History of the Pacific Coast League]


I must interject at this point something that should have been said earlier, and that is the fact that Bill Schuster cannot be overlooked when it comes to Coast League buffoons. I would not be at all surprised if a majority of players who were in the League during Schuster's time would say without hesitation that he had no equal in this regard. . . .

There were two reasons why I did not mention this man while on the subject of "characters." The first is that I was perhaps too young when Bill was at his best, thereby missing or not fully appreciating all his antics. . . . Secondly, I did not mention Bill earlier because I wanted you to see first and foremost Bill Schuster, the baseball player, the man I personally consider to be the best shortstop during my time. . . . According to my calculations, Bill had a lifetime batting average of .277 and four times he finished second in fielding percentage among Coast League shortstops.

Now that I have openly stated my feelings, and only if you will promise to remember Bill's exploits as a player, I will give you two quick stories on him that took place during contests involving the Angels.

Bill related some fun he had at the expense of home plate umpire "Frisco" Edwards during a game at Portland. Frisco was a former catcher and his throwing hand showed the wear and tear that all receivers experience if they stay behind the plate for too many years. It came time for Schuster to come to bat, and he worked the pitcher for a walk. Edwards pointed to what he thought was first base, but his index finger was pointing right at second base. Bill, taking the umpire at his word, cut across the pitcher's box and went into second base. He was immediately tossed out of the game by a furious and sensitive Frisco Edwards.

The second incident Bill laughingly tells about took place in old Lane Field in San Diego. He came to bat and quickly grounded out. As he turned to head back toward the dugout, he caught some abuse from a bald-headed Padre fan in the first row of the box seats. On a typical Schuster impulse, he abruptly stopped and kissed the fan right on his balding pate! Again, Bill was tossed out, this time for fraternizing with a fan. This story really grows on me. The more I reflect on it, the more I lose my composure. . . .

Again let me remind you that Bill Schuster was a super ballplayer. I am proud to have placed him on my PCL All-Star Team.

~ Ken Stadler, The Pacific Coast League: One Man's Memories, 1938 - 1957