Bill Bruton, as a 27-year-old rookie, started his major league career in 1953 with the
Milwaukee Braves. The team had just moved from
Boston to
Milwaukee. Bruton had replaced former
National League's 1950
Rookie of the Year winner and first
African-American player on the Braves,
Sam Jethroe, on the roster. Jethroe, at the age of 35, had been demoted to the minor leagues. He had led the NL in stolen bases his first two seasons. On April 14, 1953, his 10th-inning home run gave the Braves a 3–2 victory over the
St. Louis Cardinals in Milwaukee's first major league game. Bruton played in Milwaukee for eight seasons; he was a member of the
1957 Braves and
1958 Braves, who both played in the
World Series against the
New York Yankees. Bruton did not play in the
1957 World Series, which the Braves won in seven games, due to a knee injury sustained earlier in the season. In the
1958 World Series, which the Braves lost in seven games, Bruton hit a game-winning single in the tenth inning of Game 1. He played in all seven games of the Series, batting 7-for-17 (.412) with a home run and two RBIs. On August 2, 1959, Bruton hit two bases-loaded
triples in one game. The feat had only been accomplished once before (
Elmer Valo, 1949) and has only been accomplished once since (
Duane Kuiper, 1978). In December 1960, Bruton was traded to the
Detroit Tigers, along with
Dick Brown,
Chuck Cottier and
Terry Fox for a player to be named later and
Frank Bolling. The Detroit Tigers sent
Neil Chrisley (January 17, 1961) to the Milwaukee Braves to complete the trade. He spent four seasons with Detroit before retiring after the 1964 season. In his last game at Tiger Stadium, Bruton hit a drive off the facing of the third deck, near where the retired Tiger numbers were painted, that bounced back onto the field. The ball was still rising when it hit just below the base of the right field light tower.
Statistics In his twelve-year major league career, Bruton posted an overall .273
batting average with 94
home runs and 545
run batted in in 1,610
games. He finished his career with a .981
fielding percentage. A line-drive hitter and a fleet-footed runner, Bruton led the
National League in stolen bases for three consecutive seasons (1953 through 1955), twice in
triples (1956 and 1960), and once in
runs scored (1960). He led off a game with a home run twelve times. Bruton's
minor league milestones include; • tied for the
Northern League lead in games played (124), and led the league in at-bats (545), runs (126), and batting average (.325) while playing for the
Eau Claire Bears in 1950 • led the
Western League with 27 triples while playing for the
Denver Bears in 1951 • tied for the
American Association lead in games played (154), at-bats (650), runs (130), hits (211), and outfield assists (22) while playing for the
Milwaukee Brewers in 1952 ==Personal life==