George Henry Burns (January 31, 1893 – January 7, 1978), nicknamed "Tioga George", was an American
first baseman
A first baseman, abbreviated 1B, is the player on a baseball or softball team who fields the area nearest first base, the first of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. The first baseman is responsible for the majori ...
in
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...
(MLB) who played for five
American League
The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the American League (AL), is one of two leagues that make up Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western League, a minor league ...
(AL) teams from 1914 to 1929.
One of the league's top right-handed
batters
Batter or batters may refer to:
Common meanings
* Batter (cooking), thin dough that can be easily poured into a pan
* Batter (baseball), person whose turn it is to face the pitcher
* Batter (cricket), a player who is currently batting
* Batter ...
of the 1920s, he was named the AL
Most Valuable Player in 1926 with the
Cleveland Indians
The Cleveland Guardians are an American professional baseball team based in Cleveland. The Guardians compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. Since , they have played at Progressive Fi ...
after
batting Batting may refer to:
* Batting (baseball), the act of attempting to hit a ball thrown by the pitcher with a baseball bat, in order to score runs
* Batting (cricket), the act of defending one's wicket with the cricket bat while attempting to score ...
.358 and setting a major league record with 64
doubles. A career .307 hitter, he retired with 2,018
hits, then the third-highest total by an AL right-handed hitter. His 1,671 games at first base were the most by an AL right-handed player until 1940; he still ranks third in league history.
Career
Born in
Niles, Ohio
Niles is a city in southern Trumbull County, Ohio, United States, situated at the confluence of the Mahoning River and Mosquito Creek. The city's population was 18,443 at the 2020 census. It is a suburb of the Youngstown–Warren metropolitan a ...
, Burns was a
line drive
In the sports of baseball and softball, a batted ball is a pitch that has been contacted by the batter's bat. Batted balls are either fair or foul, and can be characterized as a fly ball, pop-up, line drive, or ground ball. In baseball, a fou ...
hitter and a solid defensive first baseman who hit .300 or better in all but one of his full seasons between 1918 and 1927. After four unremarkable seasons with the
Detroit Tigers (1914–17), he was acquired by the
Philadelphia Athletics in 1918. In his first season with the team he hit .352, surpassed only by the .382 of Detroit's
Ty Cobb
Tyrus Raymond Cobb (December 18, 1886 – July 17, 1961), nicknamed "the Georgia Peach", was an American Major League Baseball (MLB) center fielder. He was born in rural Narrows, Georgia. Cobb spent 22 seasons with the Detroit Tigers, the ...
, and led the AL in hits (178) and
total bases
In baseball statistics, total bases is the number of bases a player gains with hits. It is a weighted sum with values of 1 for a single, 2 for a double, 3 for a triple and 4 for a home run. For example, three singles is three total bases, whil ...
(236) while also setting a league record with 109
double plays at first base (
Earl Sheely surpassed the mark three years later). After slipping to .296 in 1919, he was sent to the Indians in May 1920.
During the 1920 regular season, Burns was stuck behind regular first baseman
Doc Johnston; but his play revived in the
World Series
The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, contested since 1903 between the champion teams of the American League (AL) and the National League (NL). The winner of the World ...
, in which he and Johnston were platooned by manager
Tris Speaker
Tristram Edgar Speaker (April 4, 1888 – December 8, 1958), nicknamed "the Gray Eagle", was an American professional baseball player. Considered one of the greatest players in the history of Major League Baseball (MLB), he compiled a career ba ...
. Burns started Game 6, and with the Indians up 3–2 in the Series and no score in the sixth inning, Burns doubled home Speaker with the only run of the game as the Indians edged the
Brooklyn Dodgers 1–0 to take a 4–2 lead in the nine-game series. Cleveland won again the next day, capturing the first Series title for the franchise.
During the season, after shortstop
Ray Chapman
Raymond Johnson Chapman (January 15, 1891 – August 17, 1920) was an American baseball player. He spent his entire career as a shortstop for the Cleveland Indians.
Chapman was hit in the head by a pitch thrown by pitcher Carl Mays and died ...
died one day after being hit by a pitch, Burns had welcomed newly acquired
Joe Sewell
Joseph Wheeler "Joe" Sewell (October 9, 1898 – March 6, 1990) was a Major League Baseball infielder for the Cleveland Indians and New York Yankees. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1977.
Sewell holds the record for the lowest s ...
by giving him one of his own bats; Sewell went on to use the same bat, which he called "Black Betsy", throughout a 14-year career in which he struck out only 114 times.
![Unassisted Triple Play by George Burns](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/20/Unassisted_Triple_Play_by_George_Burns.jpg)
After the 1921 season, in which he and Johnston again competed for playing time, he was traded to the
Boston Red Sox
The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Founded in as one of the American League's eigh ...
, and batted .306 and .328 in 1922 and 1923, finishing second in the league in doubles the latter year. He got the first hit ever in
Yankee Stadium
Yankee Stadium is a baseball stadium located in the Bronx, New York City. It is the home field of the New York Yankees of Major League Baseball, and New York City FC of Major League Soccer.
Opened in April 2009, the stadium replaced the orig ...
in 1923, and on September 14 of that year against the Indians, Burns turned an
unassisted triple play
In baseball, an unassisted triple play occurs when a defensive player makes all three outs by himself in one continuous play, without his teammates making any assists. Neal Ball was the first to achieve this in Major League Baseball (MLB) under ...
– only the fourth in major league history (third by modern-era baseball rules), and the first by a first baseman. In the second inning, he caught
Frank Brower
Francis Marion Brower (November 20, 1823 – June 4, 1874) was an American blackface performer active in the mid-19th century. Brower began performing blackface song-and-dance acts in circuses and variety shows when he was 13. He eventually intr ...
's line drive, tagged
Walt Lutzke off first base and actually ran to second base, sliding in before
Riggs Stephenson could return from third. The following January, he was traded back to the Indians – notably, in a deal which involved
Bill Wambsganss
William Adolf Wambsganss (March 19, 1894 – December 8, 1985) was a second baseman in Major League Baseball. From 1914 through 1926, Wambsganss played for the Cleveland Indians, Boston Red Sox, and Philadelphia Athletics. He is best remembered ...
, who had turned the only unassisted triple play in World Series history as Burns' teammate in 1920.
Back with Cleveland, Burns hit over .300 in each of the next four seasons and was regularly among the league leaders in doubles. In 1926 he broke Speaker's 1923 major league mark of 59 doubles; his record was broken in 1931 by
Earl Webb
William Earl Webb (September 17, 1897 – May 23, 1965) was an American right fielder in Major League Baseball, playing from 1925 to 1933. He played for five teams, including the Boston Red Sox for three years. He batted left-handed, and threw rig ...
, though Burns still retains a share of the mark for right-handed hitters, along with
Joe Medwick
Joseph Michael Medwick (November 24, 1911 – March 21, 1975), nicknamed "Ducky" and "Muscles", was an American Major League Baseball player. A left fielder with the St. Louis Cardinals during the " Gashouse Gang" era of the 1930s, he also pla ...
. Burns also led the league in hits (216) for the second time, and was second in the league in
runs batted in
A run batted in (RBI; plural RBIs ) is a statistic in baseball and softball that credits a batter for making a play that allows a run to be scored (except in certain situations such as when an error is made on the play). For example, if the ba ...
(RBIs), behind
Babe Ruth
George Herman "Babe" Ruth Jr. (February 6, 1895 – August 16, 1948) was an American professional baseball player whose career in Major League Baseball (MLB) spanned 22 seasons, from 1914 through 1935. Nicknamed "the Bambino" and "the Su ...
.
For his accomplishments that year he was named the MVP, becoming the first Cleveland player to be so honored, and in May 1927 he was presented with an automobile and a silver bat containing $1,150 during a day honoring him. In 1928 he broke
Stuffy McInnis
John Phalen "Stuffy" McInnis (September 19, 1890 – February 16, 1960) was a first baseman and manager in Major League Baseball. McInnis gained his nickname as a youngster in the Boston suburban leagues, where his spectacular playing brought ...
's AL record of 1,608 games at first base, though
Joe Judge passed him later that year; his AL mark for right-handed players was broken in 1940 by
Jimmie Foxx
James Emory Foxx (October 22, 1907 – July 21, 1967), nicknamed "Double X" and "The Beast", was an American professional baseball first baseman who played 20 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Philadelphia Athletics, Boston Red Sox, ...
, and he still trails only Foxx and
George Scott in league history.
After being sent to the
New York Yankees
The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. They are one of ...
in late 1928, Burns appeared in only 13 games for the team before rejoining the Athletics in 1929. He ended his career with an unusual pinch-hitting appearance in the
1929 World Series
The 1929 World Series featured the American League (AL) champion Philadelphia Athletics playing against the National League (NL) champion Chicago Cubs. The Athletics defeated the Cubs in five games to win the Series.
This Series featured the At ...
, in which he won his second championship. In the fourth game, he was sent in to bat for the pitcher with the Athletics down 8–3, and was retired twice in a 10-run inning that resulted in a victory. In his 16-season career, Burns hit 72
home run
In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run i ...
s with 954 RBIs in 1866
games played. With 2,018 hits, he then trailed only
Nap Lajoie
Napoléon "Nap" Lajoie (; September 5, 1874 – February 7, 1959), also known as Larry Lajoie and nicknamed "The Frenchman", was an American professional baseball second baseman and player-manager. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for t ...
(2,523) and
Harry Heilmann
Harry Edwin Heilmann (August 3, 1894 – July 9, 1951), nicknamed "Slug", was an American baseball player and radio announcer. He played professional baseball for 19 years between 1913 and 1932, including 17 seasons in Major League Baseball with ...
(2,499) in AL history among right-handed hitters; his 444 career doubles ranked eighth in major league history among right-handers, and fifth among all AL players. With 110 times being
hit by a pitch
In baseball, hit by pitch (HBP) is an event in which a batter or his clothing or equipment (other than his bat) is struck directly by a pitch from the pitcher; the batter is called a hit batsman (HB). A hit batsman is awarded first base, provided ...
, he ranked second in the AL to
Kid Elberfeld
Norman Arthur "Kid" Elberfeld (April 13, 1875 – January 13, 1944) was an American professional baseball shortstop. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Philadelphia Phillies (1898), Cincinnati Reds (1899), Detroit Tigers (1901–1 ...
.
Following his major league career he played for five seasons in the
Pacific Coast League, leading the league in RBIs in 1932, and
managed in the
minors until 1939.
He left baseball to become a
deputy sheriff in the
Seattle
Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...
area (
King County) until his retirement in 1967.
[
Burns died in early 1978 at Evergreen Hospital in Kirkland at age 84, and was buried at Calvary Cemetery in Seattle.
]
See also
* List of Major League Baseball career hits leaders
* List of Major League Baseball doubles records
Major League Baseball has various records related to doubles.
Players denoted in boldface are still actively contributing to the record noted.
(r) denotes a player's rookie season.
600 career doubles
(Through August 10, 2022)
Top 10 career dou ...
* List of Major League Baseball career doubles leaders
* List of Major League Baseball annual doubles leaders
In baseball, a doubles is recorded when the ball is hit so that the batter is able to advance to second base without an error by a defensive player. In Major League Baseball (MLB), the leader in each league (American League and National League) ...
* List of Major League Baseball career stolen bases leaders
In baseball statistics, a stolen base is credited to a baserunner when he successfully advances to the next base while the pitcher is throwing the ball to home plate. Under Rule 7.01 of Major League Baseball's (MLB) Official Rules, a runner acqu ...
*List of Major League Baseball single-game hits leaders
In baseball, a hit is credited to a batter when he reaches first base – or any subsequent base – safely after hitting a fair ball, without the benefit of an error or a fielder's choice. One hundred seventeen different players have record ...
References
External links
George Burns
at The Deadball Era
*
:
{{DEFAULTSORT:Burns, George
1893 births
1978 deaths
Major League Baseball first basemen
Cleveland Indians players
Boston Red Sox players
Detroit Tigers players
New York Yankees players
Philadelphia Athletics players
Baseball players from Ohio
People from Niles, Ohio
Ottumwa Packers players
Burlington Pathfinders players
Sioux City Packers players
Mission Reds players
Los Angeles Angels (minor league) players
Seattle Indians players
Portland Beavers players
Portland Beavers managers
American deputy sheriffs
20th-century American politicians