Former Tiger Spiers Retires From Major League Baseball

Oct. 24, 2001

HOUSTON – The Houston Astros announced today that infielder Bill Spiers has retired following 13 Major League seasons.

Spiers, 35, hit .271 during his big league career, including 37 home runs and 388 RBI in 3,408 at-bats over 1,252 games. In six seasons with the Astros, Spiers hit .288 with 21 home runs and 199 RBI in 628 games. He hit over .300 twice in a Houston uniform, recording a .320 average in 1997 and a .301 mark in 2000. Spiers played every position except pitcher and catcher in the big leagues, spending the majority of his time at shortstop (446 games) and third base (441 games).

Spiers appeared in only four games in 2001 because of back injuries, hitting .333 (1×3) with one walk in four pinch-hit plate appearances. He underwent surgery to remove a cyst and repair a ruptured disc in his lower back on May 16. The club placed Spiers on the 15-day DL on April 16 and transferred him to the 60-day DL on June 5.

The Milwaukee Brewers originally selected Spiers in the first round (13th overall) of the June 1987 draft. Spiers spent parts of six seasons with Milwaukee, earning Brewer Rookie of the Year honors in 1989 and recording career highs in home runs (8) and RBI (54) in 1991. He spent 1995 with the New York Mets before signing with the Astros as a free agent on Dec. 2, 1996.

A letterman in both baseball and football at Clemson University, Spiers was inducted into his alma mater’s Athletic Hall of Fame on Sept. 9, 1998. He was named to The Sporting News All-America Team as shortstop in 1987.

BILL SPIERS' CAREER MAJOR LEAGUE STATISTICSYEAR CLUB     AVG     G      AB      R       H       2B      3B      HR      RBI     BB      SO      SB1989 Milwaukee  .255    114     345     44      88      9       3       4       33      21      63      101990 Milwaukee  .242    112     363     44      88      15      3       2       36      16      45      111991 Milwaukee  .283    133     414     71      117     13      6       8       54      34      55      141992 Milwaukee  .313    12      16      2       5       2       0       0       2       1       4       11993 Milwaukee  .238    113     340     43      81      8       4       2       36      29      51      91994 Milwaukee  .252    73      214     27      54      10      1       0       17      19      42      71995 NY Mets    .208    63      72      5       15      2       1       0       11      12      15      01996 Houston    .252    122     218     27      55      10      1       6       26      20      34      71997 Houston    .320    132     291     51      93      27      4       4       48      61      42      101998 Houston    .273    123     384     66      105     27      4       4       43      45      62      111999 Houston    .288    127     393     56      113     18      5       4       39      47      45      102000 Houston    .301    124     355     41      107     17      3       3       43      49      38      72001 Houston    .333    4       3       0       1       0       0       0       0       1       0       0CAREER  .271    1252    3408    477     922     158     35      37      388     355     496     97