Bill Herring

:"Not to be confused with Bill "Smoke" Herring who played with the Federal League Brooklyn Tip-Tops."

Bill Herring (born c. 1913) was a minor league baseball pitcher, player-manager and General Manager.

Herring graduated with a law degree from Wake Forest but decided to pursue a baseball career. He began with three seasons in the Piedmont League with Portsmouth. While there, Herring went 28-26 on the mound and had a .281 batting average at the plate.

The next two seasons were spent in the Coastal Plain League. 1938 saw Herring in Ayden, and in 1939, he pitched for Kinston. In Kinston, Herring was called on to take over as player-manager for Snake Henry who had been suspended for a year after an ugly onfield altercation with an umpire. He rose to the challenge by leading the Eagles to a 43-29 record after he took over, and he helped himself out by going 22-11 with a 1.94 ERA. When he took over, Herring's team was in last place. At the end of the year, they advanced to the championship round of the playoffs only to lose to Williamston.

1940 turned out to be a disappointing campaign for Herring who went 3-7 for Milwaukee Brewers and Montreal. The next two seasons were spent in Wilson where he compiled a 32-7 record with an ERA under 3.00 as a player-manager, helping Wilson achieve a Coastal Plain League championship. Hinting at his future career path in the front office, Herring also held the position of President of the club.

After an 8-5 season with Portland of the Pacific Coast League and some service in the Navy during World War II, Herring returned for another stint in the Coastal Plain League. This time he played for Goldsboro and had the last three great seasons of his playing career going 54-24 with an ERA under 2.50. He also served as Goldsboro's General Manager.

Herring finished up his playing career with seasons in Pensacola, Wilson, Panama City, and St. Petersburg. He ended his career with 187 minor league wins.

Herring became the General Manager for the Western League Lincoln Chiefs in 1954.

References

* [http://marian.creighton.edu/~besser/baseball/lincoln1954.html Lincoln page]
* The Professional Baseball Players Database 5.0
*cite book |author=Gaunt, Robert|title=We Would Have Played Forever: The Story of the Coastal Plain Baseball League |publisher=Baseball America, Inc. |year=1997 |id=ISBN 0-945-16402-5
* [http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/history/top100.jsp?idx=82 Minor League Baseball: History: TOP 100 TEAMS]