THE GEORGE SISLER COLLECTION

A sharp batting eye and extraordinary fielding ability at first base led Ty Cobb to call George Sisler the nearest thing he knew to a perfect ballplayer. The owner of an engineering degree, Sisler was one of baseball’s most intelligent and graceful players, starring predominantly for the St. Louis Browns. He won two batting titles, hitting over .400 both times, and amassed an astounding total of 257 hits in 1920, a record that stood for 84 years until surpassed by Ichiro Suzuki in 2004. He had a 41-game hitting streak in 1922, hit .300 or better 13 times and had a sizzling .340 lifetime batting average. After his playing career, George Sisler was hired by Branch Rickey as a special assignment scout and front office aide with the St. Louis Cardinals, Brooklyn Dodgers and Pittsburgh Pirates. George Sisler’s sons Dick and Dave were also major league players in the 1950s. Sisler was a Dodgers scout in 1950 when his son Dick hit a game-winning home run against Brooklyn to clinch the pennant for the Phillies and eliminate the second-place Dodgers. When asked after the pennant winning game how he felt when his son beat his current team, the Dodgers, George replied, “I felt awful and terrific at the same time.” Another son, George Jr., was a renowned minor league executive with the New York Yankees and served as the president of the International League. George Sisler died in Richmond Heights, Missouri, in 1973, while still employed as a scout for the Pirates.

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