George Lovington Winter, nicknamed "Sassafrass" (April 27, 1878 – May 26, 1951), was a

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 leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Modern professional ...

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

. Winter played eight seasons 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), ...

, from 1901 through 1908, for the Boston Americans/Red Sox (1901–08) and the Detroit Tigers (1908). Listed at and 155 pounds, Winter batted and threw right-handed.

Playing career

Amateur career

Winter attended

Gettysburg College Gettysburg College is a private liberal arts college in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1832, the campus is adjacent to the Gettysburg Battlefield. Gettysburg College has about 2,600 students, with roughly equal numbers of men and women. ...

, where he was a teammate of future Hall of Famer

Eddie Plank Edward Stewart Plank (August 31, 1875 – February 24, 1926), nicknamed "Gettysburg Eddie", was an American professional baseball player. A pitcher, Plank played in Major League Baseball for the Philadelphia Athletics from 1901 through 1914, t ...

Professional career

Winter was a member of the original Boston

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 ...

team, which joined the league in 1901 when it became a major league. The Philadelphia Athletics passed on signing him because their owner and manager,

Connie Mack Cornelius McGillicuddy (December 22, 1862 – February 8, 1956), better known as Connie Mack, was an American professional baseball catcher, manager, and team owner. The longest-serving manager in Major League Baseball history, he holds untoucha ...

, believed he was too small to pitch in the major leagues. For the second-place Americans in his first season, he won 16 games.The following year, he won 11 games. Late in the season he became seriously ill with

typhoid fever Typhoid fever, also known as typhoid, is a disease caused by '' Salmonella'' serotype Typhi bacteria. Symptoms vary from mild to severe, and usually begin six to 30 days after exposure. Often there is a gradual onset of a high fever over several ...

, which was nearly fatal. Winter was chosen to start on Opening Day of the 1903 season, defeating

Rube Waddell George Edward Waddell (October 13, 1876 – April 1, 1914) was an American pitcher in Major League Baseball (MLB). A left-hander, he played for 13 years, with the Louisville Colonels, Pittsburgh Pirates, and Chicago Orphans in the National ...

and the Philadelphia Athletics, 9–4, at Huntington Avenue Grounds. He also wound up pitching in the game in which the Americans clinched the pennant, although he did not play in the

1903 World Series The 1903 World Series was the first modern World Series to be played in Major League Baseball. It matched the American League (AL) champion Boston Americans against the National League (NL) champion Pittsburgh Pirates in a best-of-nine series, wi ...

as Boston used only

Cy Young Denton True "Cy" Young (March 29, 1867 – November 4, 1955) was an American Major League Baseball (MLB) pitcher. Born in Gilmore, Ohio, he worked on his family's farm as a youth before starting his professional baseball career. Young entered th ...

Bill Dinneen William Henry Dinneen, alternately spelled Dineen (April 5, 1876 – January 13, 1955), was an American right-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball who followed his 12-year career from 1898 to 1909 with a highly regarded tenure as an American L ...

and Long Tom Hughes. Winter worked as a ticket taker during the series. He was intermittently effective during the 1903 season, which the 1904 ''Reach Guide'' attributed to not being fully recovered from his illness. In 1904, Winter slipped down to the Americans' fifth starter behind Young, Dinneen,

Jesse Tannehill Jesse Niles Tannehill (July 14, 1874 – September 22, 1956) was a dead-ball era left-handed pitcher for the Cincinnati Reds, Pittsburgh Pirates, New York Highlanders, Boston Red Sox, and the Washington Senators. Tannehill was among the best pit ...

and Norwood Gibson. He appeared in 20 games, going 8–4. In 1905, he equaled his career high, winning 16 games while losing 17. He had perhaps the best game of his career that year in a losing effort. Against the Washington Senators, he pitched a one-hitter but lost the game, 1–0. In 1906, Winter's record slipped to 6–18 for the last-place Americans, with a career-worst 4.12

earned run average In baseball statistics, earned run average (ERA) is the average of earned runs allowed by a pitcher per nine innings pitched (i.e. the traditional length of a game). It is determined by dividing the number of earned runs allowed by the number ...

. He bounced back in 1907 to win 12 games and have a career-best 2.07 ERA. In 1908, Winter was the only member of the 1901 team to remain with the team, which was now known as the "Red Sox". However, he would not last the season in Boston, as he was claimed off waivers by the Tigers on July 26. After not appearing in the 1903 World Series, Winter made his last major league appearance in

1908 Events January * January 1 – The British ''Nimrod'' Expedition led by Ernest Shackleton sets sail from New Zealand on the ''Nimrod'' for Antarctica. * January 3 – A total solar eclipse is visible in the Pacific Ocean, and is the 4 ...

with Detroit, when he pitched one scoreless inning of

relief Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces are bonded to a solid background of the same material. The term '' relief'' is from the Latin verb ''relevo'', to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that th ...

in Game Four. The Tigers lost to the Chicago Cubs, four games to one. Winter played two seasons of minor league baseball with the

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 ...

before retiring after the 1910 season.

Overview

In an eight-season career, Winter posted an 83–102 record with 568 strikeouts and a 2.87

ERA An era is a span of time defined for the purposes of chronology or historiography, as in the regnal eras in the history of a given monarchy, a calendar era used for a given calendar, or the geological eras defined for the history of Earth. Comp ...

in 220 appearances, including 182 starts, 146 complete games, nine

shutout In team sports, a shutout ( US) or clean sheet ( UK) is a game in which one team prevents the other from scoring any points. While possible in most major sports, they are highly improbable in some sports, such as basketball. Shutouts are usuall ...

s, 36

games finished In baseball statistics, a relief pitcher is credited with a game finished (denoted by GF) if he is the last pitcher to pitch for his team in a game. A starting pitcher is not credited with a GF for pitching a complete game. Mariano Rivera is th ...

, four saves, and 1656 innings pitched. He helped himself with the bat, hitting .193 with one

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 ...

and 20 RBI. He pitched 200 or more innings five times. In 2007, Winter was ranked at #94 in a list of the Top 100 Red Sox by a group of Red Sox bloggers.

Death

Winter died in

Franklin Lakes, New Jersey Franklin Lakes is a borough in Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the borough's population was 11,079, an increase of 489 (+4.6%) from the 2010 census count of 10,590, which in turn reflected a ...

at age 73 and was interred at Riverview Cemetery in Wilmington, Delaware.

Notes

External links

Retrosheet1903 Boston Americans season log
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Winter, George Major League Baseball pitchers Boston Americans players Boston Red Sox players Burials in New Castle County, Delaware Detroit Tigers players Montreal Royals players Gettysburg Bullets baseball players Baseball players from Pennsylvania 1878 births 1951 deaths Sportspeople from Lancaster County, Pennsylvania