Billy Sample

William Amos Sample (born April 2, 1955), is an American former professional baseball outfielder. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Texas Rangers, New York Yankees, and Atlanta Braves in parts of nine seasons spanning 1978–1986.

Early life A native of Roanoke, Virginia, Sample grew up in Salem, Virginia and graduated from Salem's Andrew Lewis High School in 1973. While at school, Sample was a three-sport standout in football, basketball, and baseball. As a junior wide receiver on the football team, Sample scored the winning touchdown in a 1971 state AAA quarterfinal game. A victory later, Andrew Lewis advanced to the state championship, where Sample's team lost to T. C. Williams High School - a game dramatized with historical liberties in the motion picture Remember The Titans. After that, Sample attended Madison College (now James Madison University) for three years, before being drafted by the Rangers in 1976.

Major League Baseball career Sample singled on his first major league pitch in 1978, made the Topps All Rookie Team in 1979, had his longest hitting streak (19 games) in 1981, reached base in 37 consecutive games in 1983, was fifth in the American League in steals (44 of 52) in 1983, sixth in power-speed numbers and was the 10th toughest to strike out in the league, with only teammate Buddy Bell having hit more home runs of the preceding nine. Sample finished with a career .272 average. He retired in 1986 with the Atlanta Braves. It was also the Single-A minor league home of the Pittsburgh Pirates, Salem Buccaneers; and where Sample watched many future major leaguers in the earlier stages of their professional careers including future teammate Mario Mendoza.