Known as "Three-Finger" in that cutely cruel style of the early-20th century due to a mangled pitching hand a la Mr Brown of the Mordecai version, southpaw
Wille Gisentaner had a long if relatively undistinguished NeL career from the early 1920s to mid 1930s. Almost as if operating off a checklist, Willie bounced from team to team on a seemingly annual basis, before settling down to finish his career with three seasons with the Homestead Grays. Seamheads has his career record at 44-55 with an ERA on 5 on the dot, which equates to an ERA+ of 95, while EC's MLEs allocate him 13.4 WAR - so perhaps
undistinguished is the wrong word. Let's go with
journeyman instead.
Willie joined the EL as the 8th overall pick in the 1970 Draft, selected by the Black Yankees in the 4th Round. After spending almost the entire 1971 season at AAA Harlem, where he put together a splendid 18-win / 6.7 pWAR campaign in the Stars' Championship run, Willie got the call-up to the parent club for the following Opening Day and has been there ever since, fashioning a 17-12 record. He was used in a swingman role last season, but this year has seen him promoted full-time to the rotation behind legends in the making CC Sabathia and Pat Scantlebury. Like good players usually do, he has handled each step up without problem, and was the most recent recipient of the FC Pitcher of the Month Award, going 5-0 / 1.16 for June as his New York club finally got itself going and moved into contention. Handy with bat in hand, Willie has also spent some time in RF, hitting 264 with 2 HR last year but struggling a bit in that role so far in 1973.
As always, we'll keep tabs on Willie as his EL career unfolds.