Bill Rariden
William Angel Rariden, was an American professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball as a catcher from 1909 to 1920 for the Boston Doves/Rustlers/Braves, Indianapolis Hoosiers/Newark Pepper, New [York Giants (NL)|New York Giants], and Cincinnati Reds.
Major League career
A light-hitting defensive specialist, Rariden set the major league record for most assists by a catcher in a single season with 215 while playing for the Newark Pepper of the Federal League in. He broke his own record the following season when he had 238 in. Major League status was retroactively applied to the Federal League in.Before Rariden's career, most catchers were large, slow-footed players. Rariden's small size and agility helped him become one of the best catchers in major league baseball. In the Deadball Era during which Rariden played, catchers played a huge defensive role, given the large number of bunts and stolen base attempts, therefore catchers of his era usually accumulated higher assist totals than did those of subsequent eras.
Rariden had his best year offensively with the New York Giants in 1917 [New York Giants season|1917] when he posted a.271 batting average in 101 games as, the Giants won the National League pennant before being defeated by the Chicago White Sox season|Chicago White Sox] in the 1917 [World Series]. Rariden was also a member of the 1919 [Cincinnati Reds season|1919 Cincinnati Reds] team which won the scandal-plagued 1919 World Series against the 1919 Chicago [White Sox season|Chicago White Sox].