William Patrick Cronin (December 26, 1902 – October 26, 1966) was an American professional baseball player and manager.
Although his career extended for 25 years (1923–46; 1949) he spent only two full seasons (1930–31) and parts of two others (1928–29) in Major League Baseball as a catcher for the Boston Braves.
He threw and batted right-handed and was listed as 5 feet 9 inches (1.75 m) tall and 167 pounds (76 kg).
Nicknamed "Crungy", Cronin was born in the village of West Newton, Massachusetts, and attended Boston College.
In 1923 and 1924, he played summer baseball for Falmouth of the Cape Cod Baseball League, batting .420 in 1923.During his MLB service with the Braves, he collected 68 hits, including 15 doubles and two triples, in 126 games played.
In 1930 and 1931, he served as the primary backup catcher to regular Al Spohrer.
For most of the rest of that decade, Cronin toiled in the top-level Pacific Coast League.
He became a player-manager in 1942, and skippered four minor league clubs over all or parts of four seasons.
Cronin died in his home city of Newton at the age of 63.