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Willliam Howard Dillman
Baltimore Orioles
Pitcher
Born: May 25, 1945, Trenton, NJ
Drafted: Drafted by the Baltimore Orioles in the 6th round of the 1965 amateur draft, June 8, 1965
Major League Teams: Baltimore Orioles 1967; Montreal Expos 1970
A former Wake Forest Demon Deacon baseball player, Bill Dillman was drafted by the Orioles in 1965 and made his big league debut in 1967. In 32 games with the Orioles that season, he was 5-9 with a 4.35 ERA, making 15 starts. Dillman threw two complete games, including a shortened 6 2/3 inning shutout against the Indians on July 2nd. He also saved three games that season. Dillman spent the entire 1968 and 1969 seasons in the minors, and after a brief stay in the Cardinals' organization to start the 1970 season, he was traded to the Expos on May 5, 1970 for Carroll Sembera (#351). Dillman's final 18 big league appearances, all in relief, came with the Expos that year. He'd pitch in two more minor league seasons before retiring in 1972. In 50 major league games, Dillman was 7-12 with a 4.54 ERA and 86 strikeouts in 154 2/3 innings pitched.
September 21, 2025 from The Philly Show (America's Pastime)
On Sunday morning, September 21st, I made the hour-long drive to the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center in Oaks, Pennsylvania for the latest installment of the Philadelphia Sports Card & Memorabilia Show, known to its friends as The Philly Show. The show has a legitimate official sponsor (eBay) and the advertisement for the event notes the show is in its 50th year. I hadn't attended a baseball card show since the last Philly Show in December, and I was flying solo to this one as our oldest son is in his first month of college at Villanova. I posted a full summary of the show over at The Phillies Room.
I made stops at six tables at the show, all yielding needed cards for our 1969 Topps set, and I left the show with just 16 more cards to go for my version of a complete set. My second stop was the aptly named Vintage Sports table. I always appreciate a dealer with clear signage explaining their pricing method, and Vintage Sports had a marker in their selection of 1969 Topps cards laying out that cards without a sleeve were $1 and cards with a sleeve were $2. I had one "high number" in a sleeve, and that was a whopping $4.
I found 28 commons needed before moving on to my third stop. This was the 4th of 28 total cards bought from Vintage Sports, and the 40th of 91 cards for the set added overall on the day. Unsleeved, this card cost less than $1 after a dealer discount.
The Card / Orioles Team Set / Accuracy Index +3
Topps must have felt good about Dillman's chances of making the Orioles out of spring training in 1969, even though he had spent all of 1968 in the minor leagues. The back of the card references how his demotion the prior year was for Dillman to learn a new pitch to go along with his fastball and curve.
Accuracy Index: Dillman earns a +5 for the accurate Orioles uniform, but loses two points as he didn't pitch with the club during the season.
1969 Season
With the Triple-A Rochester Red Wings, Dillman was 5-6 with a 4.95 ERA in 41 appearances, including six starts. He had eight saves on the season. On December 5th, his contract was sold to the Cardinals.
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First Mainstream Card: 1967 Topps #558
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (4): 1967-70
Most Recent Mainstream Card: 2019 Topps Heritage Real One Autographs #ROA-BD
Total Non-Parallel Baseball Cards: 14 in the Beckett online database as of 11/17/25.
Sources:
Baseball Reference / Wikipedia
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