Bill Mills

Who is Bill Mills?

William Henry Mills [Buster] is a former catcher who played in Major League Baseball during the 1944 season. Listed at 5 ft 10 in, 175 lb, he batted and threw right-handed.

Born in Boston, Massachusetts, Bill Mills was one of many ballplayers who only appeared in the major leagues during World War II.

Mills started with the Philadelphia Athletics in 1944 as an unsigned free agent out of College of the Holy Cross, where he was a member of the football and baseball squads from 1934 through 1943. In his senior season, Mills served as the captain of the Crusaders baseball team and won the batting title of the league with a huge .586 average. He was nicknamed Buster after Colonel Buster Mills, who spent nine seasons in the as a player or manager.

Mills, who had been rejected by the military draft because of a perforated ear drum, started his professional baseball career in 1944 with the Lancaster Red Roses of the Interstate League, but was promoted to the Athletics in the month of June as the draft was depleting major league rosters of first-line players. He was used primarily as a pinch-hitter in four games and caught a game, going 1-for-4 for a .250 batting average.