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

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 ...

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 catch ...

. He played in

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

(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 a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Central Division. Th ...

(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 (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Centra ...

(1938),

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

(1938),

Brooklyn Dodgers The Brooklyn Dodgers were a Major League Baseball team founded in 1883 as the Brooklyn Grays. In 1884, it became a member of the American Association as the Brooklyn Atlantics before joining the National League in 1890. They remained in Brook ...

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

(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) Am ...

(1942–1945), and

Philadelphia Athletics The Philadelphia Athletics were a Major League Baseball team that played in Philadelphia from 1901 to 1954, when they moved to Kansas City, Missouri, and became the Kansas City Athletics. Following another move in 1967, they became the Oakland ...

(1946).

Playing career

Born in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

, 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 The 1935 World Series was the championship series in Major League Baseball for the 1935 season. The 32nd edition of the World Series, it matched the Detroit Tigers and the Chicago Cubs. The Tigers won in six games for their first championship i ...

, 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 (baseball), umpire and manager (baseball), manager in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1903 to 1940. He played for the Chicago Cubs, New York High ...

, 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 the 1920 Censuses show his name as "Jay"), was an American professional baseball pitcher. During his Major League Baseball (MLB) ca ...

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

, Stainback single-handedly prevented

Carl Hubbell Carl Owen Hubbell (June 22, 1903 – November 21, 1988), nicknamed "the Meal Ticket" and "King Carl", was an American Major League Baseball player. He was a pitcher for the New York Giants of the National League from 1928 to 1943, and remained ...

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

in exchange for Gibby Brack on July 11, 1938. Stainback went on to hit .327 in 104 at bats for the remainder of that season. * 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). It has been contested since between the champion teams of the American League (AL) and the National League (NL). The winning team, determined through a best- ...

games for the Yankees in 1942 and 1943, although he only batted in the latter. He batted 3-for-17 in the

1943 World Series The 1943 World Series was the championship series in Major League Baseball for the 1943 season. The 40th edition of the World Series, it matched the defending champion St. Louis Cardinals against the New York Yankees in a rematch of the 1942 Wo ...

, which the Yankees won in five games. * After retiring as a player, Stainback helped organize the first pension system for major league ballplayers in 1947 with

Frankie Crosetti Frank Peter Joseph Crosetti (October 4, 1910 – February 11, 2002) was an American baseball shortstop. Nicknamed "the Crow", he spent his entire seventeen-year Major League Baseball playing career with the New York Yankees before becoming a coa ...

, requesting $250 from every player.

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 on November 29, 1992 at Pleasant Valley Hospital in

Camarillo, California Camarillo ( ) is a city in Ventura County, California, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 70,741, an increase of 5,540 from the 65,201 counted in the 2010 Census. Camarillo is named for brothers Juan and ...

after a stroke at age 81.

References

Sources

New York 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 20th-century American sportsmen Bisbee Bees players Los Angeles Angels (minor league) players Montreal Royals players Newark Bears (International League) players Spokane Indians players Fairfax High School (Los Angeles) alumni