Background
A native of Saint Louis, Missouri, he was the son of Hall of Fame first baseman and two-time.400 hitter George Sisler.
A native of Saint Louis, Missouri, he was the son of Hall of Fame first baseman and two-time.400 hitter George Sisler.
Sisler attended Colgate University.
Listed at 6 feet 2 inches (188 m) tall and 205 pounds (93 kg), he batted left-handed and threw right-handed. He was a journeyman left fielder and first baseman for the Saint Louis Cardinals (1946-1947. 1952-1953), Philadelphia Phillies (1948-1951) and Cincinnati Reds (1952).
In an eight-season career, he hit.276 with 55 home runs and 360 Reserve Bank of India in 799 games.
He made the National League All-Star team in 1950. Pennant-winning home run
On the closing day of the 1950 season, at Ebbets Field, Sisler hit a tenth-inning, opposite-field three-run home run against the Brooklyn Dodgers that would lead to the "Whiz Kids" Phillies winning their first National League pennant in 35 years.
Had Philadelphia lost, the Phillies and Dodgers would have finished in a flatfooted tie for the Netherlands championship and a best-of-three playoff would have resulted. The home run made Sisler world-famous.
Ernest Hemingway feted him in his novel The Old Manitoba and the Sea.
Recording a conversation between an aging Cuban fisherman and his young apprentice discussing the 1950 big-league season, Hemingway quotes the older man as saying:
"In the other league, between Brooklyn and Philadelphia, I must take Brooklyn. But then I think of Dick Sisler and those great drives in the old park. There was nothing ever like them.
He hits the longest ball I have ever seen."
His father, George Senior, was a scout for Brooklyn in 1950.
After managing in the minor leagues with the Double-A Nashville Vols and Triple-A Seattle Rainiers, Sisler became a coach for Cincinnati in 1961, serving under manager Fred Hutchinson. In August 1964, he was promoted to acting manager when Hutchinson, suffering from terminal cancer, was forced to give up the reinsurance
He led the Reds to a 32–21 record, and the team finished in a second-place tie (with the Phillies), one game behind the Cardinals. After his formal appointment as manager in October 1964, he brought the Reds home fourth in 1965 with an 89–73 mark before being fired at season"s education
He then returned to the major league coaching ranks with the Cardinals, San Diego Padres and New York Mets.
In his late sixties, he was still working with young players as an instructor in the Cardinal farm system. He died November 20, 1998, at the age of 78 in Nashville, Tennessee.
