John W. “Bill” Dornbusch, who played outfield and third base for the old International League Orioles during the 1940s and later became a successful pharmaceutical salesman, died of chronic heart disease Sept. 18 at Gilchrist Center Towson.

The Phoenix, Baltimore County, resident was 98.

John William Dornbusch, son of Harry Dornbusch, a Baltimore Sun carrier, and Violet Irwin Dornbusch, a homemaker, was born in Baltimore and raised in the city’s Brooklyn neighborhood.

Mr. Dornbusch’s prowess as a baseball player began in his youth when he played sandlot ball under the watchful eye of Father Philip J. Brown, a baseball enthusiast who had played semipro ball and was curate of St. Rose of Lima Parish in Brooklyn.

Mr. Dornbusch continued playing baseball while a student at Polytechnic Institute, where he “became known as one of the best all-around baseball players in Maryland,” according to a biographical profile written by his daughter, Pamela Dorgan, of Woodbury, Connecticut.

“He helped Poly beat rival City College for the championship, hitting a home run that bounced off the old Oriole Park scoreboard,” she wrote. While in high school, he played semipro ball for Bloomingdale, which was coached by the legendary John Walter Youse, who for “60 years was the backbone of amateur baseball in Maryland” and later became an Orioles scout, according to his 2002 obituary in The Sun.

“Mr. Youse told Bill’s coach at Poly, Willie O’Keefe, ‘We could be looking at the next Joe DiMaggio,'” his daughter said.

In 1942, Mr. Dornbusch was drafted by the International League Orioles, even though he was just 17 years old and still had half a year of school to complete.

His mentor, Father Brown, negotiated his contract for $190 a month.

Mr. Dornbusch’s baseball career was interrupted when he enlisted in the Navy in 1943, where he served in the Pacific Theater as a gunner’s mate aboard PT boats.

He was discharged in 1945. When Mr. Dornbusch returned to Baltimore, he was assigned to the newly formed Orioles farm team, the Centreville Orioles of the Eastern Shore League, which was owned by Jack Dunn III, whose grandfather had owned the International League Orioles and whose son, Jack Dunn Jr., had played for the Orioles.

Mr. Dornbusch and two other veterans led the team to the 1946 championship.

Mr. Dornbusch played seven seasons of professional baseball with a career batting average of .275, 474 hits and a slugging percentage of .385.

In interviews with his son, John W. Dornbusch Jr., of Bel Air, the elder Mr. Dornbusch said he “disappointed a lot of people by not making it to the majors,” but “his time in World War II, not unlike other baseball players returning home after the war, had dampened his desire and perhaps his skills.”

After ending his baseball career, he attended the University of Maryland, College Park on the GI Bill and earned a bachelor’s degree.

In 1955, he launched his career as a pharmaceutical salesman for Merrill-Dow, where he worked for 32 years until retiring in 1987.

He also started playing golf that year and joined the Country Club of Maryland, where he became a perennial club champion.

As an active member of the Maryland Professional Baseball Association, he organized its annual golf tournament and developed a close friendship with Colts legend Johnny Unitas, his daughter said.

At the age of 91, Mr. Dornbusch received a call from the Orioles inviting him to throw out the first pitch at Camden Yards on May 23, 2017.

“You have regular days, and then you have days that live in your mind forever,” he told his son. “This is one of those days.”

He remained a devoted Orioles fan until his death.

Mr. Dornbusch lived in his home until a week before his death and continued playing bridge at the Cockeysville Senior Center. His wife of 70 years, Betty Ann Deuterman, a homemaker, died in 2018.

Plans for a celebration of the couple, to be held this fall, are incomplete, family members said.

In addition to his son and daughter, he is survived by three grandchildren and many nieces and nephews.