George M. "Red" Trautman (January 11, 1890 – June 25, 1963) was an American

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

executive and college men's

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

coach.

Ohio State

As an undergraduate at the

Ohio State University The Ohio State University (Ohio State or OSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio, United States. A member of the University System of Ohio, it was founded in 1870. It is one ...

, Trautman was a three-sport letterwinner in football, basketball and baseball. After graduation, he became an assistant

athletic director An athletic director (commonly "athletics director" or "AD") is an administrator at many American clubs or institutions, such as colleges and universities, as well as in larger high schools and middle schools, who oversees the work of coaches a ...

under Lynn St. John. As assistant athletic director, Trautman was instrumental in helping to establish the Ohio Relays.

Basketball

When St. John gave up his basketball coaching duties, he assigned them to Trautman. Trautman held the position of men's basketball

head coach A head coach, senior coach, or manager is a professional responsible for training and developing athletes within a sports team. This role often has a higher public profile and salary than other coaching positions. In some sports, such as associat ...

for three years. In those three years he had an overall record of 29-33.

Honors

* Trautman was inducted into the

Ohio State Varsity O Hall of Fame The Ohio State Varsity "O" Hall of Fame is the athletic hall of fame for The Ohio State University. Its purpose is to recognize individuals who have contributed to the honor and fame of the university in the field of athletics. An athlete must ha ...

in 1978. * Trautman Field, named in honor of George Trautman, was the home field of the Ohio State baseball team from 1967 to 1996.

Professional baseball

In 1933 Trautman became president of the

Columbus Red Birds The Columbus Red Birds were a top-level minor league baseball team that played in Columbus, Ohio, in the American Association from 1931 through 1954. The Columbus club, a member of the Association continuously since 1902, was previously known as ...

, a

minor league baseball Minor League Baseball (MiLB) is a professional baseball organization below Major League Baseball (MLB), constituted of teams affiliated with MLB clubs. It was founded on September 5, 1901, in response to the growing dominance of the National Le ...

team. Three years later, Trautman was named president of the American Association, the league in which the Red Birds played. He held that position from 1936 through 1945. Trautman moved the office of the league from

Durham, North Carolina Durham ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of North Carolina and the county seat of Durham County, North Carolina, Durham County. Small portions of the city limits extend into Orange County, North Carolina, Orange County and Wake County, North Carol ...

Columbus, Ohio Columbus (, ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities in Ohio, most populous city of the U.S. state of Ohio. With a 2020 United States census, 2020 census population of 905,748, it is the List of United States ...

. In 1946 Trautman was named

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 ...

of 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 club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. One of the AL's eight chart ...

, succeeding

Jack Zeller John Augustus Zeller (September 11, 1883"United States World War II Draft Registration Cards, 1942", database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:939V-85H5-7?cc=1861144&wc=SPSZ-FMS%3A199086001 : 8 April 2016), 0046 ...

. After two seasons with the Tigers, Trautman was appointed as the new president of the

National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues Minor League Baseball (MiLB) is a professional baseball organization below Major League Baseball (MLB), constituted of teams affiliated with MLB clubs. It was founded on September 5, 1901, in response to the growing dominance of the National L ...

, succeeding William Bramham. Trautman held that position from until his death in 1963.

Accomplishments

Under Trautman's leadership, a new relationship was forged between the major leagues and the minor leagues. Territorial rights, which had been in dispute, were established so that if the major leagues took over a National Association city, compensation would be due to both the existing team and its league.

George M. Trautman Awards

Each year, the

Topps The Topps Company, Inc. is an American company that manufactures trading cards and other collectibles. Formerly based in New York City, Topps is best known as a leading producer of Baseball card, baseball and other sports and Non-sports tradi ...

Company, in conjunction with

Minor League Baseball Minor League Baseball (MiLB) is a professional baseball organization below Major League Baseball (MLB), constituted of teams affiliated with MLB clubs. It was founded on September 5, 1901, in response to the growing dominance of the National Le ...

, awards the ''George M. Trautman Award'' to the ''Topps Player of the Year'' in each of sixteen domestic minor leagues. ''See also'' Baseball awards#U.S. minor leagues.

Trivia

*The Ohio State

fight song A fight song is a rousing short song associated with a sports team. The term is most common in the United States and Canada. In Australia, Mexico, and New Zealand, these songs are called the team anthem, team song, or games song. First associated ...

, "

Buckeye Battle Cry "Buckeye Battle Cry", composed by vaudeville performer and songwriter Frank Crumit, is one of two fight songs of the Ohio State Buckeyes, with the other being "(Fight The Team) Across the Field". Every football game in Ohio Stadium begins with Ra ...

," was written by Trautman's brother-in-law,

Frank Crumit Frank Crumit (September 26, 1889 – September 7, 1943) was an American singer, composer, radio entertainer, and vaudeville star. He shared his radio programs with his wife, Julia Sanderson, and the two were sometimes called "the ideal coupl ...

, a musical comedy star.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Trautman, George 1890 births 1963 deaths American men's basketball coaches American men's basketball players Detroit Tigers executives Major League Baseball general managers Ohio State Buckeyes baseball players Ohio State Buckeyes football players Ohio State Buckeyes men's basketball coaches Ohio State Buckeyes men's basketball players