CHAPTER 1

George Who?

In St. Louis in the summer, baseball's Cardinals often compete with thehumidity to determine which is hotter. Such was the case in 2001. On June17, Cardinals fans gathered at Busch Stadium for a Sunday afternoon ofinterleague play with the Chicago White Sox. Their club was embroiledin a tight pennant race. Those who arrived early to enjoy the still balmyweather and check out batting practice were probably puzzled by the sightof a small group of men and women standing together outside the stadiumon the walkway at the north end, surrounding a bronze statue of a baseballplayer. For those few taking the time to stop for a closer look, merepuzzlement quickly turned to disbelief. The player whose statue wasabout to take its place alongside Cardinals heroes such as Rogers Hornsby,Stan "The Man" Musial, and Bob Gibson never played a single game forthe Cardinals, and seldom set foot inside Busch Stadium. In fact, heplayed the vast majority of his career for a team extinct since 1953. Suchis the legacy of George Sisler, longtime first baseman for the St. LouisBrowns.

Those in attendance for this strange tribute, appropriately scheduled onFather's Day, included members of the Sisler family, various executivesfrom Cardinals management such as owner Bill DeWitt, the artist HarryWeber, and a handful of members of the St. Louis Browns Historical Society,at whose urging the Cardinals arranged for the honor. Prior to the unveilingitself, Bob Broeg, former writer and sports editor of the St. LouisPost-Dispatch and a member of the Baseball Writers Hall of Fame, gave ashort speech briefly detailing the honoree's career. Broeg, in his early eighties,has seen a lot of baseball and baseball players pass through the citywith the famous arch. He told the small gathering he regards the man hecalls "The Sizzler" as "just about the least appreciated player in history andmaybe the best."

Earlier that day, in its Sunday edition, Broeg's old newspaper weighedin with a similar opinion, telling readers Sisler "might be the best playermost baseball fans don't know about" and admitting he is "largely forgotteneven in St. Louis, where he played 12 seasons in his 15-year Hall-of Famecareer." The article mentioned that Sisler is overshadowed by hisAmerican League contemporaries Ty Cobb, who once called Sisler "thenearest thing to a perfect ballplayer," Babe Ruth, and even in his own cityby the Cardinals' Hornsby.

So how does a Hall of Fame baseball player with a .340 lifetime battingaverage who twice hit better than .400, ranks among the best defensivefirst basemen in history, and still holds the major-league record of 257 hitsin a single season land in a heap on baseball's back porch? That is not aparticularly easy question to answer, but the road to relative obscuritymay have all started in 1922 just as George, or Sis to his admirers, reachedthe pinnacle of his success. However, starting this story in 1922 would notwork well, since it is the middle of the tale. And any story that starts inthe middle ignores the beginning. In George Sisler's case, the beginning isparticularly instructive.

The Sisler saga unfolds in the tiny Ohio town of Manchester, in northeasternOhio, twelve miles south of Akron and ten miles north of Massillon.In the 1700s this land was Iroquois country. The Indian tribe was firmlyentrenched in the area by 1740. The first permanent white settler did notarrive until 1814. The town itself was founded by residents of Manchester,England.

The land around Manchester was blessed with rich, fertile soil. The TuscarawasRiver runs through the region, and there are numerous swampsand marshes. The discovery of large pockets of bituminous coal broughtmining to the area. Most of the mines were closed by 1940 due to the adventof gas heat.

By 1891 local property owners included several with the last name ofSisler, believed to be of Swiss or German extraction. It is uncertain whetherthe addition of George Harold Sisler on March 24, 1893, raised the populationof Manchester to five hundred or sent it over the top.

Trivia buffs will question why birth records list Nimisila, a mere blip ona railroad map, as George's birthplace. The explanation rests with the U.S.Postal Service. At the time there was a second, larger Manchester locatedin southwestern Ohio. Thus, the tiny farming community was designatedNimisila (Indian for "beautiful water") for mailing purposes.

The Manchester where Cassius Clay Sisler and Mary Whipple Sisler,she of the Scottish McFarland clan, lived with their eldest son Efbert J.and younger son Cassius Carl consisted of four streets aptly named North,South, East, and West. North Street was the north line of the road runningbetween Akron and Massillon, with South Street the south line of said road.West and East Streets respectively were the dissecting roads running betweenthe small towns of Clinton, three miles to the west, and Greensburg,several miles to the east. In its way, Manchester was...