George Washington Case (November 11, 1915 – January 23, 1989) was an American

left Left may refer to: Music * ''Left'' (Hope of the States album), 2006 * ''Left'' (Monkey House album), 2016 * "Left", a song by Nickelback from the album ''Curb'', 1996 Direction * Left (direction), the relative direction opposite of right * L ...

and

right fielder A right fielder, abbreviated RF, is the outfielder in baseball or softball who plays defense in right field. Right field is the area of the outfield to the right of a person standing at home plate and facing towards the pitcher's mound. In the ...

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), ...

who played most of his career for the Washington Senators. Possibly the sport's fastest player between the 1920s and 1950s, he is the only player to lead the major leagues in

stolen base In baseball, a stolen base occurs when a runner advances to a base to which they are not entitled and the official scorer rules that the advance should be credited to the action of the runner. The umpires determine whether the runner is safe or ...

s five consecutive times (–), and his six overall league titles tied

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 las ...

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 ...

record; that mark was later broken by

Luis Aparicio Luis Ernesto Aparicio Montiel (born April 29, 1934), nicknamed "Little Louie", is a Venezuelan former professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a shortstop from 1956 to 1973 for three American League (AL) teams, m ...

. His 349 career steals ranked ninth in AL history at the end of his career, and were the most by any player from 1930 to 1960; his 321 steals with the Senators were the third most in Washington history. Born in

Trenton, New Jersey Trenton is the capital city of the U.S. state of New Jersey and the county seat of Mercer County. It was the capital of the United States from November 1 to December 24, 1784.Trenton Central High School Trenton Central High School is a four-year comprehensive public high school that serves students in ninth through twelfth grades from Trenton, in Mercer County, New Jersey, United States, operating as part of the Trenton Public Schools. As ...

and then the

Peddie School The Peddie School is a college preparatory school in Hightstown, in Mercer County, New Jersey, United States. It is a non-denominational, coeducational boarding school located on a campus, and serves students in the ninth through twelfth gr ...

in Hightstown, from which he graduated in 1936.Porter, David L
''Biographical Dictionary of American Sports: A-F''
p. 230. Greenwood Publishing Group, 2000. . Accessed August 1, 2019. "Case, George Washington, Jr.... His older half brother, William Clifford, encouraged him to participate in basketball and baseball at Trenton Central High School and Peddie School, where he graduated in 1936." He made his first appearance with the Senators in September , and in his rookie season batted .305. In 1939 he batted .302, led the Senators with 103 runs, and topped the league for the first time with 51 steals, also earning the first of four All-Star selections. In he posted career highs in runs (109),

hits Hits or H.I.T.S. may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * ''H.I.T.S.'', 1991 album by New Kids on the Block * ''...Hits'' (Phil Collins album), 1998 * ''Hits'' (compilation series), 1984–2006; 2014 - a British compilation album se ...

(192) and

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 bat ...

(56) while recording 35 steals. After having 33 stolen bases and leading the AL in assists in , he hit a career-high .320 in , again scoring over 100 runs with 44 steals. In 1943 he won his fifth straight title with 61 stolen bases, equalling the highest total in the major leagues between 1921 and 1961; he also led the AL with 102 runs, with a personal best of 36 doubles and a .294 average, as the Senators enjoyed their first winning season since 1936, finishing second in the AL to the

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Amer ...

. saw him slip to a .250 average and only 63 runs, though he finished second to

Snuffy Stirnweiss George Henry "Snuffy" Stirnweiss (October 26, 1918 – September 15, 1958) was an American professional baseball second baseman. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) between 1943 and 1952, spending most of his MLB career with the New York Ya ...

in the AL with 49 steals. saw him again finish second to Stirnweiss with 30 steals as he raised his average to .294; the Senators again finished second, only a game and a half behind the

Detroit Tigers The Detroit Tigers are an American professional baseball team based in Detroit. The Tigers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the American League (AL) Central division. One of the AL's eight charter franchises, the club was f ...

, and Case earned his last All-Star selection (though the game was cancelled due to war restrictions) and finished ninth in the

MVP In team sports, a most valuable player award, abbreviated 'MVP award', is an honor typically bestowed upon an individual (or individuals, in the instance of a tie) whose individual performance is the greatest in an entire league, for a particu ...

voting. In December 1945, he was traded to 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 F ...

for

Jeff Heath John Geoffrey Heath (April 1, 1915 – December 9, 1975) was a Canadian-born American left fielder in Major League Baseball (MLB) who played most of his career for the Cleveland Indians. He was one of the American League's most promising power ...

; in he won his last stolen base title with 28, though he only batted .225 with just 46 runs. During that season, new Indians owner

Bill Veeck William Louis Veeck Jr. ( ; February 9, 1914 – January 2, 1986), also known as "Sport Shirt Bill", was an American Major League Baseball franchise owner and promoter. Veeck was at various times the owner of the Cleveland Indians, St. Louis Br ...

staged one of his famous promotions, matching Case against

Jesse Owens James Cleveland "Jesse" Owens (September 12, 1913March 31, 1980) was an American track and field athlete who won four gold medals at the 1936 Olympic Games. Owens specialized in the sprints and the long jump and was recognized in his lifet ...

in a 100-yard race which Owens won. In March Case was traded back to the Senators, and after hitting for a .150 average in 36 games he retired due to spinal problems which had plagued him throughout his career. Over his 11-year career he batted .282 with 785 runs, 1,415 hits, 21

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 and 377 RBI in 1,226 games played. His 321 steals with the Senators placed him behind only

Clyde Milan Jesse Clyde Milan (; March 25, 1887 – March 3, 1953) was an American professional baseball player who spent his entire career as an outfielder with the Washington Senators (1907–1922). He was not a powerful batter, but was adept at getting o ...

(495) and

Sam Rice Edgar Charles "Sam" Rice (February 20, 1890 – October 13, 1974) was an American pitcher and outfielder in Major League Baseball. Although Rice made his debut as a relief pitcher, he is best known as an outfielder. Playing for the Washington Se ...

(346) in Washington history. He surpassed the .300 mark three times in the majors. In retirement, Case opened a sporting goods store in Trenton, and also coached at

Rutgers Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's College, and was a ...

from 1950 to 1960, winning the school's only

College World Series The College World Series (CWS), officially the NCAA Men's College World Series (MCWS), is an annual baseball tournament held in June in Omaha, Nebraska. The MCWS is the culmination of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Divisi ...

berth in his first year. He later coached for the expansion Senators from 1961–63, and for the

Minnesota Twins The Minnesota Twins are an American professional baseball team based in Minneapolis. The Twins compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central Division. The team is named after the Twin Cities area w ...

(the relocated original Senators) in 1968; he also managed in the

Pacific Coast League The Pacific Coast League (PCL) is a Minor League Baseball league that operates in the Western United States. Along with the International League, it is one of two leagues playing at the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A level, which is one grade bel ...

for two seasons in the 1960s. In 1969 he became a minor league instructor for the Yankees, and later had the same position with the

Seattle Mariners The Seattle Mariners are an American professional baseball team based in Seattle. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League West, West division. The team joined the American League ...

. He died of

emphysema Emphysema, or pulmonary emphysema, is a lower respiratory tract disease, characterised by air-filled spaces ( pneumatoses) in the lungs, that can vary in size and may be very large. The spaces are caused by the breakdown of the walls of the alve ...

at age 73 in Trenton.

References

Sources

{{DEFAULTSORT:Case, George 1915 births 1989 deaths American League All-Stars American League stolen base champions Baseball players from Trenton, New Jersey Cleveland Indians players Deaths from emphysema Hawaii Islanders managers Major League Baseball left fielders Major League Baseball right fielders Major League Baseball third base coaches Minnesota Twins coaches Washington Senators (1901–1960) players Washington Senators (1961–1971) coaches Washington Senators (1961–1971) scouts Minor league baseball managers Peddie School alumni Rutgers Scarlet Knights baseball coaches Trenton Central High School alumni Trenton Senators players York White Roses players Baseball coaches from New Jersey

See also

References

Sources