Dinneen, "Bill" (William H.)
Baseball
b. April 5, 1876, Syracuse, NY
d. Jan. 13, 1955
A right-handed pitcher, Dinneen starred for the Boston Pilgrims (now the Red Sox) in the first World Series in 1903, winning 3 games while losing 1 as Boston beat the Pittsburgh Pirates five out of eight games. Dinneen had 2 shutouts and a 2.01 ERA in the Series.
Nicknamed "Big Bill," the 6-foot-1, 190-pound Dinneen entered the majors with the National League's Washington team in 1898 and was traded to the Boston NL team in 1900, when he had a 20-14 record. He jumped to the AL in 1902, when he was 21-21, and he had a 21-13 record to help lead Boston to the 1903 pennant.
Dinneen set a twentieth-century major league record in 1904 by pitching 37 consecutive complete games in 37 starts, compiling a 23-14 record. Quite possibly because of that streak, he was bothered by arm problems for the rest of his career. He ended his playing career with the St. Louis Browns, who released him in late August of 1909.
Before the season ended, Dinneen was working as an American League umpire, and he became known as one of the best in the business at calling balls and strikes. He retired from umpiring in 1937, having worked in eight World Series.
Dinneen pitched a no-hitter on September 27, 1905, and umpired six no-hitters during his career. As an umpire, he's a character in W. P. Kinsella's novel Shoeless Joe, on which the movie "Field of Dreams" was based.