Billy Goodman is remembered for being extraordinarily versatile, a trait that originated from his very early years. He played every position on his Concord, North Carolina, high-school team and in his senior year he was part of a so-called “reversible battery” with a teammate, pitching one day and catching the next.

Billy reported to in March 1947 for spring training with the Red Sox. They had an AL championship team returning, so nobody expected to see much from him that spring.

When the season opened, Billy was on the bench. He played in just 12 games with two hits, before being optioned in June to the Triple-A Louisville farm club, where he batted .340

His successful season at Louisville brought him back to Sarasota for spring training in 1948, but when the season opened, Billy was once again perched on the bench. He saw little action at the start, except for occasional fill-in work for Bobby Doerr and Johnny Pesky.

He eventually took over at first base for the slumping Jake Jones, remained there for the rest of the season, batting a solid .310 and was declared the club’s "Rookie of the Year" by the Boston baseball writers.

In spite of his exceptional rookie year, rookie Walt Dropo became the starting first baseman in 1949, and Billy was riding the bench again. When Dropo slumped to start the season, Billy got his job back.

Though the club lost the pennant on the season’s final day to the Yankees, Billy had another good season, batting .298. He finally had first base locked up going into the 1950 season, but he sustained a chip fracture to his ankle in a collision with a baserunner and was batting .333 at the time. Dropo was called up from Louisville and performed phenomenally well, crushing home runs at a steady pace and hitting for average. So when Billy returned after a few weeks, he had lost his first-base job.

In May, he began substituting for Bobby Doerr and played so well there that he remained in the lineup after Doerr had recovered. When third baseman Johnny Pesky went down, Billy filled in equally well. By June,he had already played all four infield position as each regular dropped out because of injury.

Then in July, Ted Williams fractured his elbow in the All-Star Game. Billy filled in, had a sensational run and appeared to be made for the left-field job. In one stretch of eight games he banged out for 32 hits at a .531 pace.

In August, Dropo was knocked out of the lineup and he took over back at first. When Dropo returned in four days, Billy, who was batting .354 returned to left field.

Remarkably, Billy was the league’s leading hitter in 1950 and naturally people began to wonder why he wasn't playing regularly at one position. He went on to win the American League batting title with a .354 average and is recognized as the only major-league player ever to win a batting title as a utility player.

In 1951, Billy’s bat cooled off and he batted only .297 in 141 games. The next season, he was leading the American League with a .342 BA. in July. At year's end, he had played three infield positions, mostly at second base, had 513 at bats which was more than any other member of the Red Sox and was second on the club with a .306 batting average for 1952.

Billy finally became the full-time second baseman in 1953 when Bobby Doerr retired. This was the first time in the major leagues that he could call a position his own. In May, he got embroiled in an argument with an umpire over a close call and was so enraged that he had to be restrained by Jimmy Piersall, who wrapped his arms around him and physically had to carry him off the field. As a result of Piersall's bear hug, Billy had injured his ribs and was out for a month.

Billy (.354 BA) was leading the American League batting race with seven straight hits in the mid-June Detroit series. Then against the Browns, he got three hits in four times up, to extend a 15-game hitting streak. In 17 times at bat, he had reached safely 15 times.

He led the team with 161 hits and batted .313 in 1953, in spite of his injuries, tying Minnie Minoso for the batting crown at the end of the season.

Billy played on mediocre Red Sox teams from 1954 to 1956 that finished fourth each year. He was second in the team in batting to Ted Williams with a .303 BA over 127 games in 1954. He was second only to Ted again in 1955, with a .294 BA and led the team with 100 runs scored and 176 hits.

In 1957 he was being used sparingly and the Red Sox traded him to the Baltimore Orioles for pitcher Mike Fornieles.

Billy Goodman had a .300 lifetime batting average. He played in two All-Star games and one World Series and became a member of the Red Sox Hall of Fame in 2004.