[GeoPoto]

Player #164B: George W. Case. Outfielder for the Washington Senators in 1937-1945 and 1947. 1,415 hits and 349 stolen bases in 11 MLB seasons. 4-time All-Star. 6-time AL stolen base leader. Only player to ever lead MLB in stolen bases for five consecutive years (1939-1943). His best season was probably 1942 for Washington as he posted a .377 OBP with 101 runs scored and 44 stolen bases in 563 plate appearances.

We go to Case's SABR biography to follow his remarkable career: George Case was a four-time major-league All-Star who devoted almost 50 years of his life to the game he loved. His playing career, cut short by injuries, spanned 11 years (1937-47), ten years with the Washington Senators and one with the Cleveland Indians. . . .

A natural athlete in his youth, George Case had one remarkable talent that separated him from his peers: his blazing speed. He wasn’t just fast. George Case could run like the wind. This extraordinary ability became his ticket into professional baseball; and once he made it to the majors, he fine-tuned his skills and emerged as the premier base stealer of his generation. According to author Mark Stang: “His raw speed and ability to read pitchers and catchers made him the most feared base stealer in either league.” . . . .

. . . As a pitcher and second baseman with terrific foot speed, George Case was noticed by local scouts. Before long the talented teenager came to the attention of Philadelphia Athletics owner-manager Connie Mack. Observing young George in a tryout Mack suggested a switch to the outfield, where his speed would be a valuable asset. George accepted Mack’s advice and developed into an exceptional defensive outfielder. He remained an outfielder for the rest of his career except for three games as a pitcher in the minors.

Since the A’s were stocked with outfielders at the time, Mack advised his friend Clark Griffith of the Washington Senators to take a look at the young speedster. In 1936 Washington scout Joe Cambria, who signed many of the Senators’ best players during the 1930s and ’40s, inked George to his first professional contract. . . .

With word of his extraordinary speed spreading throughout the Washington organization, the parent club called Case up for a “look-see” in September 1937. The 6-foot, 183-pound right-handed-hitting outfielder made an inauspicious big-league debut on September 8 in a game at Philadelphia’s Shibe Park. He went 0-for-4 against Athletics pitcher George Caster in a 2-0 Washington loss in the first game of a doubleheader. In the second game he was also hitless in four at-bats. He recovered from this temporary setback and finished the season strong, hitting .289 in 93 at-bats. 1938 Case hit .305 in 107 games. His breakout year came in 1939, when he hit.302, led the Senators in runs (103), and topped the American League in steals (51). For the next seven years Case was baseball’s most feared and most successful base stealer. After he was traded to the Cleveland Indians in 1946, his new manager. Lou Boudreau jokingly remarked that he was relieved he no longer had to worry about “that pest” George Case on the bases. (We will return here when Case next surfaces.)