George Stovall

George Thomas Stovall
(Firebrand)

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 2", Weight 180 lb.

• Debut July 4, 1904
• Final Game October 3, 1915
• Born November 23, 1877 in Leeds, MO USA
• Died November 5, 1951 in Burlington, IA USA

BR page

Biographical Information

Stovall (left) speaks with Vince DiMaggio at a California shipyard during WW2 in a gov't propaganda photo.

Stovall during WW2

George Stovall played twelve years in the majors during the dead-ball era and was also a player-manager during five of those years.

He primarily played first base, although early in his career he filled in quite a bit at other infield positions and occasionally in the outfield.

Not a great hitter, his best year with the bat was 1908 when he was seventh in the league in both batting average and slugging percentage.

Reputed to have a hot temper, he was nevertheless a very popular player in Cleveland. The fans were sorry to see him go to St. Louis, where he was player-manager for a couple years but left under a cloud of controversy. While with the Federal League he was successful in luring quite a few major leaguers over to the new league.

The most similar player is his contemporary Kitty Bransfield.

George's brother Jesse Stovall pitched for the Cleveland Naps with a record of 5-1 in 1903, the year before George came up. In 1904, George made his debut with Cleveland, but Jesse was now with the Detroit Tigers. On October 7th, George hit the first home run of his career against his brother, who was pitching the final game of his career.

George played for the Toledo Iron Men in 1916 and managed the Vernon Tigers in 1917. He then worked in the shipyards during World War I. He managed the Jacksonville Indians in 1922. Afterwards he managed semi-pro teams in California and was a coach at Loyola Marymount University. He then scouted for Pittsburgh and later again worked in the shipyards, building Liberty ships in the California shipyards during World War II (as shown in the picture above).

One main source: The Cleveland Indians Encyclopedia.

Preceded by Deacon McGuire

Cleveland Indians Manager 1911

Succeeded by Harry Davis

Preceded by Bobby Wallace

St. Louis Browns Manager 1912-1913

Succeeded by Jimmy Austin

Year-By-Year Managerial Record

Year	Team	League	Record	Finish	Organization	Playoffs	Notes
1904	Burlington River Rats	Iowa State League		--	none		replaced F.L. Sullivan May 30, replaced by Bob Black July 2.
1911	Cleveland Naps	American League	74-62	3rd	Cleveland Naps		replaced Deacon McGuire (6-11) on May 3
1912	St. Louis Browns	American League	41-74	7th	St. Louis Browns		replaced Bobby Wallace (12-27) on June 2
1913	St. Louis Browns	American League	50-84	--	St. Louis Browns		replaced by Jimmy Austin on September 7
1914	Kansas City Packers	Federal League	67-84	6th	Kansas City Packers
1915	Kansas City Packers	Federal League	81-72	4th	Kansas City Packers
1917	Vernon Tigers	Pacific Coast League	84-128	6th	none
1922	Jacksonville Indians	Florida State League			none

Related Sites

• George Stovall at the SABR Bio Project
• BR Manager page