Bill Staples is an accomplished teacher, performer, and raconteur. He has been acting in local and major productions, playing athletics, and digesting voluminous amounts of sports and entertainment news since growing up in Phillipsburg, New Jersey in the 1960s and '70s.

Billy Baseball, as some of his friends call him, has lived and breathed the nation's pastime for the past 35 years like few others in America. Learning about the great Yankees teams of the '30s and '40s on his grandfather's knee, Bill started following the Bronx Bombers in 1970, as a distraction from his parents' divorce. His hero was Bobby Murcer, whose baseball card followed Bill to school, baseball practice, and under his pillow at night. A response letter he received from Murcer in 1971 was the highlight of his young life. In 1974, armed with charm, innocence, and a resourceful mind, Bill Staples made his way into his first Major League locker room. There, on Old Timer's Day at Shea Stadium, he met Joe D., Yogi, Mickey, and Whitey, but lit up like a Christmas tree when he came face to face with Bobby Murcer. By 1981, Staples had collected thousands of baseball photographs on fields, in clubhouses, and at Hall of Fame induction ceremonies.

The 1980s found Bill out west in Hollywood, where he polished his acting skills. His film credits include "Hairspray" with Ricki Lake and the news reporter in "Gremlins II" with Phoebe Cates. In 1991, Bill left a national corporate sales position to pursue a career in teaching. Since graduating Phi Beta Kappa from East Stroudsburg University, Pennsylvania in 1993, Bill Staples has developed a unique style of teaching that has helped him win him several awards, including 1999 and 2002 Who's Who Teacher of the Year, and 1998-2000 nominations for Disney's National Teacher of the Year. In September 2003, CNN did a five-part series on Staples and two former students–Victor Nivar and Danny Hernandez. "Stapes," as he is affectionately known in class, is often called years later by numerous former students seeking his advice on college, careers, and family life.

By the 1990s, Bill's baseball obsession had grown in splendorous ways. He had become a personal friend to dozens of Major Leaguers, visiting their homes and keeping correspondence, whether they had one at bat after being called up in late September or 400 career home runs. In the process, Staples became a personal historian, of whom many ball players remarked: "You know more about me than me." Stapes has an encyclopedic knowledge of baseball history and statistics, especially covering his formative years - the 1960s through '80s. His personal history is sometimes hard to separate from the game which Ron Blomberg became the first designated hitter or the World Series that Reggie Jackson launched home runs on four consecutive swings.

As a high school baseball player, Bill was selected to the New Jersey state all-star game. As an educator, he has coached two high school championship baseball teams – one in 1993 and another in 1994. As a coach, he emphasized the importance of loyalty and unity and tried to relate the pure joy of the game, Bobby Murcer conveyed to him many years before. Completing the circle, Staples has taken his students to meet many of the same baseball superstars who inspired him years earlier.