George Walborn Staller (April 1, 1916 – July 3, 1992) was an American

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 c ...

, scout and coach 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), ...

. He served as first base coach on

Earl Weaver Earl Sidney Weaver (August 14, 1930 – January 19, 2013) was an American professional baseball manager, author, and television broadcaster. After playing in minor league baseball, he retired without playing in Major League Baseball (MLB). He be ...

Baltimore Orioles The Baltimore Orioles are an American professional baseball team based in Baltimore. The Orioles compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. As one of the American League's eight charter ...

staff from July 11, 1968, through 1975, working on the Orioles' three consecutive

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 ...

championship teams (

1969 This year is notable for Apollo 11's first landing on the moon. Events January * January 4 – The Government of Spain hands over Ifni to Morocco. * January 5 **Ariana Afghan Airlines Flight 701 crashes into a house on its approach to ...

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (''Extreme''). Between 10,000 and ...

and 1971) and Baltimore's

1970 World Series The 1970 World Series was the championship series of Major League Baseball's (MLB) 1970 season. The 67th edition of the World Series, it was a best-of-seven playoff between the American League champion Baltimore Orioles (108–54 in the regula ...

champion.

Career

Born in Rutherford Heights, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, Staller threw and batted left-handed and stood (180 cm) tall and weighed 200 pounds (91 kg). He originally signed with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1937 and progressed as far as the top-level

Montreal Royals The Montreal Royals were a minor league professional baseball team in Montreal, Quebec, during 1897–1917 and 1928–1960. A member of the International League, the Royals were the top farm club (Class AAA) of the Brooklyn Dodgers from 1939; p ...

in 1940–41, where he led the International League in doubles (40) and triples (12) in 1940. But his only Major League service occurred in

1943 Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January 1 – WWII: The Soviet Union announces that 22 German divisions have been encircled at Stalingrad, with 175,000 killed and 137,650 captured. * January 4 ...

, when he was purchased by the Philadelphia Athletics from the minor league version of the Baltimore Orioles after leading the 1943 IL 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 ...

(with 98). Staller appeared in 21 games with the 1943 A's,

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 ...

.271 with 23 hits in 85 at bats, including three

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 12 RBI. He then joined the armed forces, serving as a

United States Marine The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through combi ...

in the Pacific Theater of OperationsBaseball in Wartime.com
/ref> and missing the 1944–45 seasons. Staller was a minor league

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities ...

for 14 seasons, 1948 through 1961. He began in the A's system (1948–53), then moved with Philadelphia

general manager A general manager (GM) is an executive who has overall responsibility for managing both the revenue and cost elements of a company's income statement, known as profit & loss (P&L) responsibility. A general manager usually oversees most or all of ...

Arthur Ehlers to the American League Orioles organization in its first season in Baltimore, 1954. Staller reached the Triple-A level for one season, in 1960 with the Vancouver Mounties; his career managing record was 922 wins, 1,043 losses (.469). Staller's first term as an Orioles coach came in

1962 Events January * January 1 – Western Samoa becomes independent from New Zealand. * January 3 – Pope John XXIII excommunicates Fidel Castro for preaching communism. * January 8 – Harmelen train disaster: 93 die in the wor ...

, when he served one year under skipper

Billy Hitchcock William Clyde Hitchcock (July 31, 1916 – April 9, 2006) was an American professional baseball infielder, coach, manager and scout. In Major League Baseball ( MLB), he was primarily a third baseman, second baseman and shortstop who appeared i ...

. Then, after seasons as a Baltimore scout, he rejoined the Orioles staff when Weaver was promoted from first-base coach to manager in July 1968. Staller served until his retirement from the field at the close of the 1975 season. He was listed as a scout for 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) West division. The team joined the American League as an expansion team ...

for the expansion team's inaugural American League season, 1977. George Staller died at age 76 in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

References

*Duxbury, John, ed., ''The 1969 Baseball Register.'' St. Louis:

The Sporting News The ''Sporting News'' is a website and former magazine publication owned by Sporting News Holdings, which is a U.S.-based sports media company formed in December 2020 by a private investor consortium. It was originally established in 1886 as a pr ...

, 1969.

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Staller, George 1916 births 1992 deaths Aberdeen Pheasants players United States Marine Corps personnel of World War II Baltimore Orioles coaches Baltimore Orioles scouts Baltimore Orioles (IL) players Baseball players from Pennsylvania Beatrice Blues players Dayton Ducks players Elmira Pioneers players Knoxville Smokies players Major League Baseball first base coaches Major League Baseball outfielders Martinsville A's players Minor league baseball managers Montreal Royals players Nashville Vols players People from Dauphin County, Pennsylvania Philadelphia Athletics players Portsmouth A's players Savannah Indians players Seattle Mariners scouts Sunbury A's players Williamsport A's players York White Roses players