Willie Royster

American baseball player
The basics

Quick Facts

IntroAmerican baseball player
A.K.A.Willie Arthur Royster
A.K.A.Willie Arthur Royster
PlacesUnited States of America
wasAthlete Baseball player
Work fieldSports
Gender
Male
Birth11 April 1954, Clarksville, Halifax County, Virginia, USA
Death23 November 2015Ocean View, Dennis Township, Cape May County, USA (aged 61 years)
Star signAries
Education
Howard UniversityWashington, D.C., District of Columbia, USA
Spingarn High SchoolWashington, D.C., District of Columbia, USA
Sports Teams
Baltimore Orioles (USA)
Rochester Red Wings (USA)
The details

Biography

Willie Arthur Royster (April 11, 1954 – November 23, 2015) was an American professional baseball player. The catcher spent eleven seasons in minor league baseball, with a brief, four-game Major League trial for the 1981 Baltimore Orioles. He threw and batted right-handed, stood 5 feet 11 inches (1.80 m) tall and weighed 180 pounds (82 kg).

Royster was chosen by the Orioles in the 22nd round of the 1972 Major League Baseball Draft. He played in the minors from 1972 to 1976 and 1978–1981 — missing the entire 1977 season — until a breakout season with the 1981 Charlotte O's of the Double-A Southern League saw him hit 31 home runs and drive in 88 runs batted in, both career highs. Baltimore recalled him after the September 1 roster expansion.

In Royster's four MLB games played, he appeared as a late-inning defensive replacement and pinch hitter. In his four big-league at bats, he struck out twice and grounded out twice.

He returned to the minors in 1982, and his pro career ended after the 1983 season. He played all but 66 of his 961 minor-league games in the Orioles' organization. Willie died at his home in the Ocean View section of Dennis Township, New Jersey, on November 23, 2015, at the age of 61.

The contents of this page are sourced from Wikipedia article on 03 Jun 2024. The contents are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license.