George Tucker Stainback (August 4, 1911 – November 29, 1992) was an American

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in baseball league, leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Mod ...

outfielder An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder. As an outfielder, their duty is to cat ...

. He played 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) for 13 seasons with the

Chicago Cubs The Chicago Cubs are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The Cubs compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as part of the National League (NL) Central division. The club plays its home games at Wrigley Field, which is located ...

(1934–1937),

St. Louis Cardinals The St. Louis Cardinals are an American professional baseball team based in St. Louis. The Cardinals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Since the 2006 season, the Cardinals ha ...

(1938),

Philadelphia Phillies The Philadelphia Phillies are an American professional baseball team based in Philadelphia. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) National League East, East division. Since 2004, the team's home sta ...

(1938), Brooklyn Dodgers (1938–1939),

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 ...

(1940–1941),

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 ...

(1942–1945), and Philadelphia Athletics (1946).

Playing career

Born in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

, Stainback played in 817 games, 629 in the outfield. For his career, he had a .259 batting average with 17 home runs and 204 RBIs. An unusual statistic from his career was that his career errors (48) outnumbered his home runs and stolen bases combined (44).

Career highlights

* As a rookie outfielder with the

in 1934, he batted .306. * In the 1935 World Series, Stainback was on the bench for the

when he began riding umpire

George Moriarty George Joseph Moriarty (July 7, 1884 – April 8, 1964) was an American third baseman, umpire and manager in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1903 to 1940. He played for the Chicago Cubs, New York Highlanders, Detroit Tigers, and Chicago Wh ...

, leading to the entire Cubs' dugout being cleared. Stainback was ejected. He did not make an appearance in the 1935 World Series. * In April 1938, after four seasons with the Cubs, Stainback was traded to the

in a deal for pitcher

Dizzy Dean Jay Hanna "Dizzy" Dean (January 16, 1910 – July 17, 1974), also known as Jerome Herman Dean (both the 1910 and 1920 Censuses show his name as "Jay"), was an American professional baseball pitcher. During his Major League Baseball (MLB) career ...

. * On May 28, 1938, after being selected off waivers by the

, Stainback single-handedly prevented Carl Hubbell from pitching a perfect game. Stainback was the only Phillies baserunner, as he had both a walk and a single off Hubbell

* Traded to the Brooklyn Dodgers on July 30, 1940, Stainback hit .327 in 104 at bats for the Dodgers. * Stainback played four seasons for the

from 1942 to 1945. He played in seven

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 ...

games for the Yankees in 1942 and 1943, helping the Yankees to win the 1943 World Series. * After retiring as a player, Stainback helped organize the first pension system for major league ballplayers in 1947.

Dodger executive career

After the Dodgers moved to Los Angeles in 1958, Stainback, who had settled in the area after retiring from baseball, approached the Dodgers' Red Patterson with his idea to develop ticket sales to fraternal and civic organizations. He developed group ticket sales over a 20-year career as a Dodger executive and supervised the club's Knothole program, which treated children to free games.

Death

Stainback died in 1992 after suffering a stroke in Camarillo, California, at age 81.

References

Sources

New York Times Obituary

Los Angeles Times Obituary
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Stainback, Tuck 1911 births 1992 deaths Baseball players from Los Angeles Major League Baseball outfielders Chicago Cubs players St. Louis Cardinals players Philadelphia Phillies players Brooklyn Dodgers players Detroit Tigers players New York Yankees players Philadelphia Athletics players Bisbee Bees players Los Angeles Angels (minor league) players Montreal Royals players Newark Bears (IL) players Spokane Indians players Fairfax High School (Los Angeles) alumni