Bill Kern

Who is Bill Kern?

William George Kern is a retired American Major League Baseball outfielder. After nine seasons in minor league baseball, Kern had an eight-game trial with the Kansas City Athletics during the 1962 season. He had signed with the team when they were still based in Philadelphia, in 1954. Kern attended Muhlenberg College, graduating in 1954.

Kern threw and batted right-handed, stood 6 feet 2 inches tall and weighed 184 pounds. He batted over .300 four times and hit 144 home runs during his minor-league career. In September 1962, at age 29, he was recalled by the Athletics after he batted .315 with 27 home runs and 97 runs batted in for the Triple-A Portland Beavers. Kern appeared in eight games played, batting 16 times with four hits. In his first MLB game, he pinch hit for Moe Drabowsky and singled off Dick Donovan of the Cleveland Indians. In his final MLB game, as the A's starting leftfielder, he hit his lone Major League home run off future Baseball Hall of Fame pitcher Jim Bunning, then with the Detroit Tigers.