GEORGE SISLER JR. - Inducted in 1992
Sisler was one of the driving forces behind the smooth transition from the Cardinals era of Red Wings baseball to the Orioles era. He replaced Bing Devine as the club's general manager in 1955, and began his reign with consecutive Governors' Cups in 1955 and 1956. The next year, he worked with Morrie Silver to organize the transfer of control of the ballclub from the Cardinals to Rochester Community Baseball, Inc. He remained at the helm into the 1960s, when the Red Wings began their affiliation with the Baltimore Orioles.
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This obituary originally appeared in the Rochester, NY Democrat and Chronicle and DemocratandChronicle.com on Jan. 3, 2007.
George H. Sisler Jr., who spent more than two decades of his distinguished baseball administrative career in Rochester, died Dec. 31, 2006 in Worthington, Ohio. He was 89 years old. "George was a proud member of a distinguished baseball family and contributed greatly to the sport for a long time," International League President Randy Mobley said. "He was a very classy gentleman."
Mr. Sisler, a son of baseball Hall of Fame first baseman George Sisler Jr., was hand-picked by the St. Louis Cardinals to succeed Bing Devine as general manager of the Red Wings in 1955 and retained by Rochester Community Baseball after shareholders purchased the franchise from the Cardinals in 1957. Some of his major moves as general manager of the Red Wings:
* He helped Morrie Silver engineer a smooth transition to community ownership and engineered the affiliation switch from the Cardinals to Baltimore in 1961.
* He raised the maximum age for membership in the Knot Hole Gang from 12 to 19 ("I like to think that I contributed to the development of the core of future adult fans," he said.)
* He purchased slugger Luke Easter from the Buffalo Bisons in 1959 ("In terms of box office, it was my best deal," he said.)
*He purchased first baseman Joe Altobelli from the Los Angeles Dodgers for $500 in 1963.
Mr. Sisler resigned after the 1965 season to succeed Tommy Richardson as president of the International League. For 11 years — 1966 through 1976 — he ran the league from his office in the downtown Sheraton Hotel at 111 East Avenue. He missed the competitive side of baseball and quit as IL president in November 1976 to become general manager of the new Columbus Clippers franchise, a job he held with distinction until his retirement in 1989. During his tenure, Franklin County Stadium became the first minor-league stadium to have artificial turf and rooftop suites. The Clippers also won four IL championships.
At the 1989 winter baseball meetings, he was named "King of Baseball," an annual award presented to a person for long-time dedication and service to the game. Mr. Sisler was a three-time Sporting News Minor League Executive of the Year (with Rochester in 1962 when the Red Wings led all of the minors in attendance and Columbus in 1977 and 1979) and a four-time IL Executive of the Year, and president of the Rochester Press-Radio Club in 1971. He was elected to the Columbus Baseball Hall of Fame in 1980, the Red Wings Hall of Fame in 1992 and in 1997 became a charter member of the Frontier Field Walk of Fame.
As GM of the Red Wings, Mr. Sisler often wore a 1931 Little World Series ring handed down from his Hall of Fame father, who in his final full season as a player helped the Red Wings beat American Association champion St. Paul for the Triple-A championship. Mr. Sisler, a native of St. Louis, graduated from Colgate University (where he played baseball, basketball and soccer) on the same day in 1939 that his father was inducted into the baseball Hall of Fame (his mother attended the graduation). He played in the minor leagues from 1939 to 1942, then served five years in the Army in two hitches during World War II (1942 to 1946 in the Philippines) and the Korean War (1951-52 in Japan), and achieved the rank of captain.
Mr. Sisler will be interred in Albany, Ga., where he met his late wife, Elizabeth. He was business manager of the city's team in the Georgia-Florida League and she was a secretary for the Chamber of Commerce. They lived on Pinegrove Avenue in Irondequoit, where they raised daughters Susan and Nancy. They were married for 61 years.
-Bob Matthews
Coming soon.
