Brooklyn’s Bill Hohman Earned a Trip to the Show in Philly in 1927
Brooklyn, Maryland’s Only Documented Major Leaguer Became a Welder with Maryland Drydock
Baltimore has been the hometown for many major league ball players, including Hall of Famers Babe Ruth and Al Kaline. The Baseball Almanac lists 141 ball players from Baltimore, but only one major leaguer on record has ever hailed specifically from Brooklyn, Maryland: William “Bill” Hohman.
Hohman had a successful minor league career in baseball, playing for many teams including the late-1910s Dead Ball Era International League Baltimore Orioles. Those were wild times for baseball players. They would jump from team to team every season looking to improve their skills and standing in an effort to play in the majors. By the time Hohman was 21 years old, he was playing for International League teams in Baltimore, Richmond, Va., Easton, Md., and Buffalo, N.Y.
He started as a pitcher, but switched to the outfield so he could play every day. After that he usually played left field, but the six-foot 175-pound right-hander was flexible and athletic enough to do more. He was the opening day pitcher for the 1924 Brooklyn Athletic Association — Maryland’s Brooklyn A’s, a “high minor” league team. He won that game 8–3, the first of an opening day doubleheader. He recorded 11 strikeouts and notched a double and a triple in five at-bats to lead his team to the win. He also went four-for-five in the nightcap as his hometown A’s swept the twin bill.
His daughter, June Danza, who still lives in nearby Severn, Md., said that he was well liked everywhere he played, and he made a name for himself with his athleticism. He got his major league break in 1927 when he earned a spot on the Philadelphia Phillies roster. He only played in seven games that year, and got five hits in 18 at-bats for a respectable .278 average.
His career was sadly cut short by a low inside pitch that fractured his leg. Players didn’t wear shin guards or other body armor back then, so injuries were fairly common. Danza said her father couldn’t run the same after that injury and it ended his baseball career. It left him heart-broken for a long time, she said.
The Phillies traded Hohman and two other players to New Haven (Conn.) for Baltimore-born catcher Walt Lerian in March 1928. It was an inconsequential deal. Hohman never played again after that and Lerian batted .272 for the eighth-place Phillies in 1928, and just .223 in 1929 in his last year in the majors.
Meanwhile, a dejected Hohman returned to Baltimore and needed to support his family. He took a job as a welder in the Curtis Bay Coast Guard Yard, where he worked for 17 years. He was a member in Local 31, Industrial Union of Marine Shipbuilding Workers of America. In 1954 he would take his welding skills to the Maryland Drydock and Shipbuilding Company. As he had in baseball, he excelled at his craft. Danza said his friends would remember that “his welds on the Baltimore Harbor Tunnel were the only ones that didn’t leak.” He moved to Glen Burnie around 1940 according the U.S. Census, but returned to his native Brooklyn where he and his wife, Ruth I. Aten Hohman, lived at 5702 Pope Street. He was a member of St. John’s Evangelical Lutheran Church in Brooklyn. Hohman passed away in 1968 at the age of 64, just one month before his scheduled retirement.
Editor’s Note: It is possible there are other Major League Baseball players who hailed from Brooklyn, Maryland. Some may be recognized from “Baltimore,” which would certainly be correct. But Hohman is the only player recognized as born in Brooklyn. We welcome anyone would would like identify others and we will update the story.
