Cardinals Coaching Legend, George Kissell, Killed in Car Accident

[Migrant Redbird]

Baseball legend George Kissell critically injured in crash

PINELLAS PARK — The joy of playoff baseball in October took a blow Tuesday as one of the game’s enduring figures died from injuries he sustained in a car crash in Pinellas Park.

George Kissell, a longtime instructor and minor league manager with the St. Louis Cardinals, suffered life-threatening injuries in the crash, which occurred about 7:45 p.m. Monday on U.S. 19.

Mr. Kissell, 88, was taken to Northside Hospital, then on Tuesday morning was transferred to Tampa General Hospital, where he died, hospital spokesman John Dunn said.

Mr. Kissell, who lived in the Mainlands in Pinellas Park, may not have been a household name to the general public, but he was well known to baseball insiders and die-hard fans.

He had worked for the Cardinals organization since the 1940s, which is believed to be the longest current affiliation a person has had with a single club.

Although he never played in the major leagues, he held almost every other on-the-field job in baseball. He has mentored players from Joe Torre, now the manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers, to Cardinals slugger Albert Pujols.

A 1997 profile about Mr. Kissell in the St. Petersburg Times said “the word that describes him best is teacher,” earning him the nickname “the Professor.”

... Mr. Kissell was injured when the 2002 Chevrolet in which he was a passenger collided with a 2005 Pontiac at U.S. 19 N and 110th Avenue N.

... The Pontiac, driven by Stacy L. Lehart of St. Petersburg, was going about 40-45 mph, said Pinellas Park police spokesman Sandy Forseth.

... Both doors on the left side of the Chevrolet were crushed. Firefighters spent 15 minutes cutting off the doors to get Mr. Kissell out.

His heart stopped at one point, but paramedics revived him.

... the investigation is continuing and no charges have been filed, though... the early information indicates Kidwell may have run a red light.

Sad! I never had the pleasure of meeting Kissell, but he was renowned among long time Cardinals fans for his coaching acumen. I would not be surprised if the Cardinals dedicate the 2009 season to his memory.

[Migrant Redbird]

I should expand upon one point. Kissell was a passenger in the back seat of a car being driven by his daughter. The daughter is the one who apparently ran the red light.

St. Louis Post Dispatch article

For nearly seven decades, Kissell was a creator and curator of what manager Tony La Russa calls the "Cardinal Way."

He joined the organization in 1940, signed by Branch Rickey after a tryout in New York, and served the club in almost every capacity. He managed in the minors, coached in the majors, taught minor-leaguers how to play like major-leaguers and taught major-leaguers how to play new positions. The past several years he had served as the Cardinals' senior field coordinator for player development.

This spring training was his 68th in 69 years as a Cardinal.

"George Kissell should be in the Baseball Hall of Fame," former Cardinals general manager Walt Jocketty told Post-Dispatch columnist Bernie Miklasz in 2000. "He's a treasure in this game. Think of the difference he made in all of those careers, how he's influenced the game of baseball. There's no way to measure his true value."

Virginia Kissell's health problems had limited her husband's attendance at spring training. Where once he would spend days working on bunting with players, Kissell could only make cameo appearances in recent years. La Russa was thrilled to have Kissell on his coaching staff during the 2005 All-Star Game in Detroit. He called it "an absolute dream."

"Nobody deserves it more," La Russa said that night.

Such honors only began to define his influence.

In 1993, Kissell received the "King of Baseball" award, given by minor-league baseball for service to the game. Those in attendance gave him an eight-minute standing ovation. In 2003, he was inducted into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame. That same year, Baseball America gave him the Roland Hemond award for a lifetime commitment to baseball. Another ovation. The players were already standing that February morning in 2005 when he was the last to come out of the clubhouse.

Once the clapping calmed, Cardinals Chairman Bill DeWitt Jr. revealed a plaque that had been affixed to the clubhouse at the team's Jupiter, Fla., campus. It renamed the clubhouse for Kissell.

The plaque read, in part: "Every player in the Cardinals' Organization since 1940 has had contact with George Kissell and they have all been better for it. ... Well known for his emphasis on fundamentals, George taught several generations of Redbirds how to play baseball."

He turned a pitcher named Ken Boyer into a third baseman who went on to win an MVP award. Kissell taught Andy Van Slyke to play the outfield and John Mabry to play the infield, and he shepherded Joe Torre in his shift from catcher to third base. He once told a young Anthony "Tony" La Russa that he was better suited to be a major-league manager than a major-league player. In 1989, Kissell was featured in a Sports Illustrated article titled "The College of Cardinals." He was described as the dean.

Hall of Fame manager Sparky Anderson, a protégé of Kissell's, once described Kissell as "the greatest baseball fundamentalist I have ever known."

He also described him as the "smartest man in baseball."

"I learned more baseball from George Kissell than from anyone else in my life," Torre told the St. Petersburg Times in 1997. Torre won four World Series titles as manager of the New York Yankees, and in his autobiography he called Kissell his greatest teacher. He told the paper: "A lot of people can play the game, but not as many people can teach the game. And George, to me, was the ultimate. Is the ultimate."

To teach Torre how to play third, Kissell had Torre stand a body's length away from the outfield wall and face it. Kissell would then stand behind Torre and fire baseballs at the wall. Torre improved his reaction by fielding the ricochets. Mabry tells a similar story of what he called "Kissell drills." Kissell, almost half the size of his pupils but twice as intense, ambled out to Mabry at third base and took away the infielder's glove.

He then told Mabry to get on his knees to field grounders.

"Basically, he just took me out there and beat me to death with a fungo," Mabry joked. "I'd be on my knees just looking at the ball coming off the bat — with no glove."

[Migrant Redbird]

Guest Book for George "The Professor" Kissell at the St. Petersburg Times.

Many of the signers so far are either family members or coworkers of the daughter who was driving the car.

[backwardsk]

I feel so, so, bad for his wife and daughter. How sad.