Player #40: William M. "Bill" Shipke. "Muskrat Bill". "Skipper Bill". Third baseman for the Washington Senators in 1907-1909. 110 hits in 4 MLB seasons. Debuted with the Cleveland Naps in 1906. His best season was 1908 for the Washington Senators as he scored 40 runs and stole 15 bases in 410 plate appearances.
Shipke was the starting third baseman for the 1908 Senators and fielded .932, average for the 1908 AL at the hot corner. He hit .208/.297/.276; as it was the heart of the Deadball Era, his OPS+ was a perfectly respectable 93. He stole 15 bases, hit 8 triples and laid down 26 sacrifice hits. An old Senators fan convinced Bill to paste a piece of paper with "magical properties" to his bat and Shipke had a great month after starting the experiment. After Bob Unglaub joined the Senators, Shipke wound up on the bench. Bill went 2 for 16 with the 1909 Senators to conclude his big-league career with a .199/.280/.261 batting line and an 81 OPS+. Al Pepper notes that "He left the majors with more nicknames than career home runs."
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