Books and articles about George Kelly

Kelly flourished in an era of weak first basemen in the National League. Though his credentials for entry into the Hall of Fame may be marginal, he had respectable talents afield and at bat, and he joined Frank Frisch, Dave Bancroft, and Heinie Groh in what many consider the best Giant infield of all time.

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A nephew of outfielder Bill Lange, one of Cap Anson's Colts (later the Cubs) of the 1890s, and a brother of Ren Kelly, who pitched one game with the 1923 A's, George was shuffled about for five years before becoming the Giants' regular first baseman in 1920. Tall for his time (6'4"), he was nicknamed Highpockets and Long George by the press; to his teammates he was Kell, a reserved and even-tempered fellow.

Kelly excelled in the field, setting single-season marks for putouts, assists, double plays, and total chances, in part because shortstop Bancroft was also setting marks for assists. A righthander, he had a powerful and accurate arm. In 1921 against the Yankees, he made a brilliant first-to-third throw to nip Aaron Ward for a game-ending, Series-winning double play. He was John McGraw's preferred cutoff man, dashing into the outfield on long hits to handle the relay. Despite his size, he played a creditable second base for most of 1925, when McGraw wanted Kelly's bat in the lineup while trying young Bill Terry at first base. He even won his only game as a pitcher, beating the Phillies and Joe Oeschger in five innings of relief.

He batted over .300 for six consecutive seasons (1921-26) and was intermittently impressive as a long-ball hitter. Twice he hit three home runs in one game, the splurge in 1924 accounting for all eight Giant runs, the National League record for most RBIs in a game while batting in all the club's runs. The same year, he set another NL record by hitting seven homers in six games, with at least one in each. He also knocked in 100 or more runs four years in a row, capped by a league- and career-high 136 in 1924. Even so, his lifetime slugging average was an unspectacular .452. This evidently did not worry his manager. Over the years, McGraw said, the placid, reliable Kelly made more important hits than any player he ever had.

Displaced by Terry in 1927, Kelly was traded to the Reds for Edd Roush. Released in 1930, he returned briefly to the @KK @@ majors with the Cubs and Dodgers when Charlie Grimm and Del Bissonette were injured. When his playing days were over, he coached the Reds and Braves for 11 years and scouted for several teams. (ADS)

FROM THE BASEBALL CHRONOLOGY » March 9, 1900: Popular Buck Ewing, a .303 hitter in his 18-year career (and the only 19th-century catcher in the Hall of Fame), is named bench manager of the Giants. He'll last until July 13th when he quits the team and George Kelly takes over. » August 20, 1915: The Giants purchase the contract of George "High Pockets" Kelly from Victoria for $1200. Kelly is the nephew of Bill Lange, 1890s star of the Chicago Nationals. » July 17, 1917: The Giants waive little-used George Kelly to Pittsburgh. Kelly will return to star for New York. » October 13, 1921: Waite Hoyt and Art Nehf come back for game eight with two days rest. With two on and two outs in the first, Giants 1B George Kelly hits a grounder to short that goes through Roger Peckinpaugh, and a run scores. Not another Giant reaches 3B the rest of the day. After Aaron Ward walks in the 9th, Frank "Home Run" Baker hits a drive toward right, but 2B Johnny Rawlings spears it and throws him out while on the ground. Ward heads for 3B and is gunned down by a throw from Kelly to Frisch to end the Series. Hoyt does not allow an earned run in three complete games. The Giants are the first to lose the first two games and come back to win the Series. » April 29, 1922: The NY Giants collect 20 hits, including four inside-the-park home runs, in windswept Braves Field in Boston. George Kelly hits 2, one in the 4th and another in the 9th, and Ross Youngs and Dave Bancroft hit the others. Youngs includes the cycle in his five hits. Phil Douglas coasts to a 15–4 win. » April 26, 1923: The Giants receive their 1922 WS rings, then beat the Braves 7-3 in their home opener, despite a record-tying 5 double plays by Boston. Giants 1B George "Highpockets" Kelly ties a record, handling 22 chances in the field. » September 14, 1923: The Cubs Vic Keen stops the Giants, 7–1, cutting the National League leaders lead down to 1/2 game. The lone Giants score is a George Kelly homer. » September 17, 1923: The Giants' George Kelly sets a major-league record by homering in the 3rd, 4th, and 5th against the Cubs Vic Aldridge as New York rolls to a 13–6 win. Kelly adds a single and double to run his total bases to 15 for the game. Kelly has now hit a record six homers off cousin Aldridge this year, a mark off one pitcher that will be tied by Ted Williams (in 1941, off Johnny Rigney) and Ted Kluszewski (in 1954, off Max Surkont). Kelly is the first player to homer in three successive innings. » July 16, 1924: Giants 1B George Kelly hits his seventh HR and becomes the first to hit HRs in six consecutive games. He will finish with 21. » October 1, 1924: Another bribery scandal clouds the World Series atmosphere. Judge Landis bans Giants OF Jimmy O'Connell and coach Cozy Dolan from the World Series after they admit an attempt to bribe Phils SS Heinie Sand on the 27th to "go easy" in their season-ending series against the Giants. O'Connell implicates Frank Frisch, George Kelly, and Ross Youngs, who deny everything and are cleared by Landis. O'Connell is out of baseball at 23. American League President Ban Johnson, an enemy of the Giants John McGraw, proclaims that the World Series should be canceled because of the betting scandal, a pronouncement that the owners will ignore. Johnson, however, decides not to attend any World Series games. » October 4, 1924: For the 4th straight year, the Giants are in the Series. At 3B is Fred Lindstrom, at 18 years, 10 months, the youngest ever to play in a World Series. President Calvin Coolidge is among 35,760 who jam the DC stands in Game One as an Army band greets the two teams by playing Sidewalks of New York and Dixie. George Kelly drops a home run into the temporary bleachers in the 2nd, and Terry does the same in the 4th for a 2–0 New York lead. Art Nehf (14-4) gives up one in the 6th. In the last of the 9th, the Senators score to send the game into extra innings. The Giants net two runs in the 12th. In the last of the 12th, Washington scores one, but the rally falls a run short, and Walter Johnson (23-7) loses his World Series debut. Johnson strikes out 12 in the loss. Nehf becomes the 5th pitcher to get three hits in a World Series game, a feat that will not be repeated until Orel Hershiser does it in 1988. » June 12, 1925: Against the Pirates, the Giants make a triple play that goes from SS Travis Jackson to C Hank Gowdy to 3B Heinie Groh to RF Ross Youngs to 2B George Kelly to 1B Terry. In the first inning, with Max Carey on 3B and Johnny Rawlings on 2B, Kiki Cuyler taps a slow roller to SS that gets away from Jackson for a few seconds. Carey starts home and is caught, Jackson to Gowdy to 3B Groh. Rawlings, on his way to 3B, heads back to 2B and is run down. Cuyler tries for 2B and gets caught in a rundown. » December 9, 1925: Cards' player-manager Rogers Hornsby is named the MVP in the National League, gathering 73 out of a possible 80 votes. Hornsby was runnerup in 1924 to Dazzy Vance. Other strong contenders are Kiki Cuyler, the Pirates top hitter at .357; the Giants' George Kelly; Pirates' SS Glenn Wright; Brooklyn's Dazzy Vance; and Dave Bancroft, who hit .319 and topped NL shortstops in fielding average while managing the 5th-place Braves. » February 9, 1927: The Giants send versatile George Kelly, along with cash, to the Reds for truculent holdout OF Edd Roush. The Giants sent Roush to the Reds in 1916. » May 20, 1927: At Philadelphia, the Reds win the opener, 6–3, behind Pete Donohue's mastery of the Phils. George Kelly provides a grand slam. The Phils roll to a 15–2 win in the nitecap as Cy Williams belts three home runs and a triple, collecting six RBIs and scoring four times. Williams ties Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig for the ML lead with nine homers. » September 1, 1928: Sheriff Blake is red hot for the Cubs, allowing just one hit, in besting the Reds Ray Kolp, 1–0. The lone Reds hit is a 5th inning double by Long George Kelly. » October 3, 1929: At St. Louis, the Browns General Crowder tops the Indians, 3–2, in 10 innings. Accounting for the Indians scoring is Earl Averill's 2-run home run, his 18th of the year and his 5th off the general. Only George Kelly's six off Vic Aldridge in 1923 (and later on, Williams in 1941, off Rigney, and Kluszewski in 1954, off Surkont) will top Earl's 5, according to homer historian Dave Vincent. » August 29, 1930: In the Cubs' 2nd successive extra-inning game, Pat Malone beats Burleigh Grimes 9–8 in 13 innings to halt the Cardinals' 9-game win streak. With captain Charlie Grimm out of the lineup with a spike wound, the Cubs sign George Kelly, released a month earlier by Reds. » August 31, 1930: With a chance to pick up a game and a half on the leading Cubs, the Giants edge the Braves 4–3 in the opener a doubleheader before 40,000 fans at the Polo Grounds. In the 2nd game, Mel Ott hits a double and three consecutive home runs to drive in six runs, but the Braves counter with a homer by George Sisler and two by slugging rookie Wally Berger among their 18 hits. Ott is the 4th major leaguer to hit three straight homers, joining Goose Goslin (August 19, 1930) Carl Reynolds (July 2, 1930), George Kelly (September 17, 1923), and Cap Anson (August 6, 1884). The final score is Boston 14, New York, 10. » May 13, 1940: In a replay of their washed-out game of April 23rd called on account of darkness, the Reds and the Cards neglect to inform the league office, and no umpires are assigned to Crosley Field. Coach Jimmy Wilson and P Lon Warneke are pressed into service as umpires before umpire Larry Goetz, at home in Cincinnati on a day off, arrives to officiate. Warneke will later become a full-time umpire, while Wilson will return to active duty at the end of the year and star in the World Series. Johnny Mize of the St. Louis Cardinals hits three home runs, and the Reds Bill Werber has five hits and collects four doubles in a 14-inning, 8–8 tie with the Reds. Mize's is his 3rd 3-homer game, breaking the tie for the National League record he shared with George Kelly. After 1910, there will be only five games this century in which active players umpire: Besides today these are: 1912: Ham Hyatt (Pit-N) and Ed Phelps (Bro-N); 1935: Jocko Conlan (Chi-A); 1941: Johnny Cooney (Bos-N) and Freddie Fitzsimmons (Bro-N); and 1978: Don Leppert (coach, Tor-A) and Jerry Zimmerman (coach, Min-A). (as noted by historian Wayne McElreavy) » June 28, 1947: Walker Cooper of the Giants hits a HR in his sixth consecutive game to tie a record set by George Kelly in 1924. Cooper had two HRs in the first game of the streak, and his shot today helps his brother Mort win 14-6 over the Phils. » January 28, 1973: The Hall of Fame Special Veterans Committee selects 19th-century players Mickey Welch and George Kelly, plus umpire Billy Evans, for enshrinement.