| George Strickland | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Shortstop /Manager | |
| Born:(1926-01-10)January 10, 1926 New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S. | |
| Died: February 21, 2010(2010-02-21) (aged 84) New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S. | |
Batted: Right Threw: Right | |
| MLB debut | |
| May 7, 1950, for the Pittsburgh Pirates | |
| Last MLB appearance | |
| July 23, 1960, for the Cleveland Indians | |
| MLB statistics | |
| Batting average | .224 |
| Home runs | 36 |
| Runs batted in | 284 |
| Managerial record | 48–63 |
| Winning % | .432 |
Stats atBaseball Reference  | |
| Teams | |
| As player As manager | |
George Bevan "Bo"Strickland (January 10, 1926 – February 21, 2010) was an American professionalbaseball player andmanager who spent ten seasons from 1950 to 1960 as aninfielder inMajor League Baseball (MLB) with thePittsburgh Pirates andCleveland Indians. He served as the Indians' interimmanager twice in the 1960s.[1] He was also a cousin ofHal Bevan.[2]
Strickland was born inNew Orleans, Louisiana on January 10, 1926.[3] He was a starshortstop at the city'sS.J. Peters High School,[4] where one of his teammates wasMel Parnell.[1] Strickland also played for the Southwest Sectional champions representing his hometown at theAmerican Legion Baseball World Series inMiles City, Montana in 1943.[3][5] Immediately after the tournament, he signed with theNew Orleans Pelicans, aBrooklyn Dodgersfarm team at the time, and made his professional debut on September 5, 1943. He appeared in only three games that season, all as athird baseman, and collected twosingles in eightat bats.[3][6]
Strickland's baseball career was interrupted when he wasdrafted into theUnited States Navy in March 1944. He was stationed as a SpecialistMailman for 16 months inSaipan after American forces hadcaptured the island from theImperial Japanese Army in July of the same year. He was given hishonorable discharge in May 1946.[3]
He returned to the Pelicans, which had become aBoston Red Sox affiliate prior to the 1946 campaign, and played the latter half of the schedule at third base. After spending a little more than a season with theScranton Red Sox, he was assigned to theLouisville Colonels in 1948, becoming a full-time shortstop. His best year in theminors was in 1949 when he batted .261 in 128 games with theBirmingham Barons.[6]
Strickland was selected by Pittsburgh in theRule 5 draft on November 17, 1949.[2] He made his Major League debut on May 7, 1950, in a 3–2 loss to the Dodgers atForbes Field.[7] During his three years with the team, the Pirates were relegated to the bottom two positions in theNational League standings.[8] His only season as its starting shortstop was1951 when he batted .216 in 138 contests and committed a major-league-high 37errors.[9][10] He was traded withTed Wilks to the Indians forJohn Beradino,Charlie Ripple and $50,000 on August 18, 1952.[2]
Upon his arrival in Cleveland, Strickland supplantedRay Boone to become the starting shortstop through1955.[11] Strickland's first full season with the team in1953 was also his best at theplate as he hit .284 in 123 matches.[2] His .976 fielding percentage in1955 led all regular shortstops in the majors during that campaign.[10] In his eight years with the ballclub, the Indians finished no lower than second place in theAmerican League (AL) five times.[12]
He was a key member of the1954 AL Champions who ended theNew York Yankees' run of five straightpennants and whose 111 regular-season victories established a junior circuit record that lasted until the Yankees won 114 games in1998, a mark surpassed when theSeattle Mariners won 116 in2001.[4][13] TheWorld Series that year, in which the Indians were swept in four games by theNew York Giants, was Strickland's only postseason experience. He went hitless in nine at-bats in the first three contests.[14] In the top half of the opening inning of the 6–2 defeat in Game 3 atCleveland Stadium, he committed a throwing error attempting to complete adouble play, leading to the Giants' first run of the match.[15] He was replaced bySam Dente in the series-ending 7–4 loss in Game 4.[16]
Cleveland's acquisition ofChico Carrasquel after the 1955 season reduced Strickland's role toutility infielder.[17] After stepping away from the sport for a year, he returned to the Indians in1959 and made 122 starts, 72 at third base.[2] His final game as a player was the Indians' 4–2 triumph over the Red Sox atFenway Park on July 23, 1960. He entered the contest with one out in the Boston eighth as a substitute at third base forBubba Phillips, who was sent toleft field to replaceJimmy Piersall, who had been ejected for arguing with home plateumpireEd Hurley over his distraction of batterTed Williams.[18] Strickland's playing career ended when he was released on August 3.[2]
Strickland worked as ascout for the Indians in1961.[3] He spent the following year onSam Mele'scoaching staff with aMinnesota Twins team that finished in second place, five games behind theeventual World Series Champion Yankees.[19] He returned to Cleveland to serve as third-base coach under three managers (Birdie Tebbetts,Joe Adcock andAlvin Dark) from1963 to1969.[1][12]
He became the Indians' interim manager at the beginning of the1964 campaign when Tebbetts suffered aheart attack near the end ofspring training on April 1.[20] Strickland's managerial debut was a 7–6 loss at home to the Twins in the season opener on April 14. The ballclub made it to the top of the AL standings by the end of the month and would spend thirteen days in that position, the latest being on May 16. His stint ended with the team on a six-game losing streak, culminating in a 9–1 defeat on the road to theDetroit Tigers on July 2. The Indians were in eighth place with a 33–39 record and thirteen games behind the league-leadingBaltimore Orioles by the time Tebbetts returned to the club the next day.[21]
Strickland was called upon to lead the ballclub on an interim basis again after Tebbetts was dismissed on August 19, 1966, with the 66–57 team in third place and trailing theeventual World Series Champion Orioles by fourteen games.[20] Going 15–24 under Strickland, the Indians ended the campaign in fifth place at 81–81, seventeen games off the pace. The final contest he managed was a 2–0 loss to theCalifornia Angels in the season finale atAnaheim Stadium on October 2. His career record as a Major League manager was 48–63 (.432).[22]Tommy John recalled that people thought Strickland would make a good manager. "But the thing was, when he talked, you couldn't understand what he was saying. He'd get very deep, and you'd lose his point."[23]
When Strickland joined theKansas City Royals coaching staff in1970,[24] he was reunited with former Indians teammateBob Lemon, who would be promoted to manager in early June.[25] The most successful of the three years he spent in Kansas City was1971 when the Royals vaulted into second place in theAL Western Division with an 85–76 record in only thefranchise's third season of existence.[26] Stricklandretired from baseball in1972 after a fourth-place finish with a 76–78 mark cost Lemon his job.[3]
| Team | Year | Regular season | Postseason | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Games | Won | Lost | Win % | Finish | Won | Lost | Win % | Result | ||
| CLE | 1964 | 72 | 33 | 39 | .458 | Interim | – | – | – | |
| CLE | 1966 | 39 | 15 | 24 | .385 | Interim | – | – | – | |
| Total[27] | 111 | 48 | 63 | .432 | 0 | 0 | – | |||
Strickland was once theparimutuels manager atFair Grounds Race Course.[28] He was interested in psychology and philosophy; John recalled him reading books byThomas Aquinas,Friedrich Nietzsche, andJean-Paul Sartre.[23] He was inducted into theGreater New Orleans Sports Hall of Fame in 1981 and theLouisiana Sports Hall of Fame in 2006.[1] He died at age 84 in New Orleans on February 21, 2010.[29]
· Baseball Almanac