Heinie Heltzel

William Wade "Heinie" Heltzel (December 21, 1913 – May 1, 1998) was an American third baseman in Major League Baseball who was born and died in York, Pennsylvania.

Playing career[]

Heltzel played in 40 major league games as an infielder for the Boston Braves (1943) and Philadelphia Phillies (1944). He debuted with the Braves on July 27, 1943 and played his last game with the Phillies on August 6, 1944. He had a career batting average of .157 with 17 hits and 5 RBIs. His career fielding percentage in 29 games at third base was .880 – 68 points below the league average of .948 for third basemen during the years he played.

Major league Heinies[]

"Heinie" was a popular nickname for German baseball players in the early part of the 20th century. Heltzel was one of 22 major league Heinies in the first half of the century. Others include: Heinie Beckendorf 1909–1910; Heinie Berger 1907–1910; Heinie Elder 1913–1913; Heinie Groh 1912–1927; Heinie Heitmuller 1909–1910; Heinie Jantzen 1912–1912; Heinie Kappel 1887–1889; Heinie Manush 1923–1939 – the only Hall of Fame "Heinie"; Heinie Meine 1922–1934; Heinie Mueller 1920–1935; Heinie Mueller 1938–1941; Heinie Odom 1925–1925; Heinie Peitz 1892–1913; Heinie Reitz 1893–1899 Heinie Sand 1923–1928 Heinie Scheer 1922–1923 Heinie Schuble 1927–1936 Heinie Smith 1897–1903 Heinie Stafford 1916–1916 Heinie Wagner 1902–1918 Heinie Zimmerman 1907–1919 – implicated in the Chicago "Black Sox" scandal.

External links[]

• Career statistics and player information from Baseball-Reference
• Heinie Heltzel at Find a Grave