finalyear bats death_date death_place birth_place debutyear finaldate statvalue position finalteam statlabel debutdate birth_date article_title debutteam name throws
1963 left 3 december 2006 sarasota , florida fox lake , illinois 1952 may 12 .249 626 357 shortstop / third baseman philadelphia phillies batting average hits runs april 16 9 december 1928 billy klaus
 boston braves billy klaus right
billy klaus

william joseph klaus -lrb- december 9 , 1928 -- december 3 , 2006 -rrb- was a shortstop and third baseman in major league baseball who played with the boston & milwaukee braves -lrb- 1952 -- 53 -rrb- , boston red sox -lrb- 1955 -- 58 -rrb- , baltimore orioles -lrb- 1959 -- 60 -rrb- , washington senators -lrb- 1961 -rrb- and philadelphia phillies -lrb- 1962 -- 63 -rrb- .
he played the end of the 1963 season in japan for the chunichi dragons .
born in fox lake , illinois , he batted left-handed and threw right-handed .
he is the older brother of infielder bobby klaus who played in 1964 and 1965 for the cincinnati reds and new york mets .
a master defensively , klaus had good range , a strong and secure arm , and an ability to throw across his body quickly .
a modest hitter , his greatest offensive contribution came via the bunt and the hit-and-run , but his defense was good enough by itself to keep him in the majors a while .
in his 1955 rookie season with the red sox , klaus had a career-high .283 batting average with seven home runs and 60 rbi -lrb- also a career-high -rrb- , and finished second in american league rookie of the year voting behind herb score .
a year later , he put almost identical numbers -lrb- .271 , 7 , 59 -rrb- , and in 1957 he belted a high-career 10 home runs .
in an 11-season career , klaus was a .249 hitter with 40 home runs and 250 rbi in 821 games .
he had 626 hits in 2513 at bats .
