Grave Story: Oscar Georgy (1916-1999)

Oscar Georgy had a relatively short playing career that was beset by injuries. However, the Louisiana native did reach the major leagues for a single inning with the New York Giants in 1938.

Oscar John Georgy was born in New Orleans on November 25, 1916. His parents were Oscar E. and Louise Georgy. The elder Oscar was born in Germany, came to the United States in 1905 and became a naturalized citizen in 1917. According to the 1920 U.S. Census, he worked as a laborer on the riverfront. Later in life, he became an inspector for the United States Customs Service.

The Georgy family mausoleum at Greenwood Cemetery in New Orleans.

The route that the younger Georgy took to baseball isn’t exactly clear. Crescent City Sports reports that he played baseball at Fortier High School. He is presumably the “Georgy” who appears in a game recap between Longino & Colling and the Bunkie Barons, which made the front page of The Bunkie Record on September 6, 1935. “The visitors used two of as good twirlers as have ever appeared on the local diamond, Georgy and Margavio. Georgy was especially good, and had a ball that it took our bunch a long time to fathom,” the paper stated. The right-handed pitcher made the transition from amateur ball to the professional world in 1936, when he tried out for the Jacksonville Jax of the East Texas League. He stumbled to a 2-12 record and a 5.71 ERA before being released by the ballclub in July. In 97-2/3 innings, Georgy allowed 100 hits, walked 72 batters, hit an additional 15 and struck out 44. Despite that setback, he joined the Crookston (MN) Pirates of the Northern League in 1937. Like Jacksonville, the team was part of the St. Louis Cardinals organization, but Crookston got a very different Georgy. He won 10 of his first 11 appearances, establishing himself as one of the top pitchers in the league. He threw a 2-hit shutout against Wausau on August 6, striking out 14 batters in the process. He ended the year with a 14-7 record and 2.91 ERA in nearly 200 innings pitched. The Cardinals assigned him to Cedar Rapids for 1938, and that proved to be problematic.

The Cardinals had developed one of the most advanced farm systems in baseball to that point. The Cedar Rapids team, run by Harry Johnson, had working agreements with four Class-D teams: Mitchell of the Nebraska State League, Crookston of the Northern League, Fayetteville of the Arkansas-Missouri League and Newport of the Northeast Arkansas League. Every team but Newport sent players to Cedar Rapids for 1938. The reasoning, as Johnson explained to the Sporting News in the November 25, 1937, issue, was that the parent club could meet deficits through the development and sale of young players. Additionally, fans would rather see hustling, younger players than faded veterans. However, baseball commissioner Kenesaw Landis saw it differently. Citing “irregular relations” between the Cardinals and its farm clubs, Landis declared 73 of the team’s minor leaguers to be free agents, including the entire Cedar Rapids roster. Thirteen of the 27 new free agents re-signed with the team, but Georgy decided to take advantage of his opportunity. He signed with Jersey City, a team in the New York Giants organization. As related by the Bayonne Times on March 25, 1938:

“Georgy, who received no less than eight offers, was ready to pack his bags yesterday but Jack Cook, secretary of the Jerseys, pointed out to Oscar the advantages of remaining with the club. ‘You know,’ said Cook, ‘that you are passing up an opportunity of playing in New York if you leave the Jerseys. The road from here leads right into the Polo Grounds. Do you know the New York Giants very often get into the world series?’ And so for some four hours genial Jack hammered away at the youngster, finally getting Georgy to O.K. a contract.”

The article also included this line at the end: “The youngster has been bothered with a growth on the elbow and the Jersey City club is willing to pay for the operation.” Jersey City apparently followed through on the promise, as Georgy was operated upon by a Dr. Speed. The operation was enough of a success that the Giants brought him to the majors on May 28, evidently without him having thrown a single pitch in the minors. He replaced pitcher Hy Vandenberg, who was sent Jersey City, but it did not appear that the Giants had big plans for the rookie right-hander. A report in the Daily News stated that Georgy would be used to throw batting practice during an upcoming western road trip.

The Giants made it out west to Cincinnati on June 4,1938, when circumstances led to Georgy making his only major-league appearance. The Giants started Carl Hubbell, who was 6-1 to that point in the season after winning 20 or more games in 1936 and ’37. The Reds jumped all over the ace pitcher, scoring 4 runs off him in the bottom of the third inning – 3 on a home run by Ival Goodman. Dick Coffman reliever Hubbell and gave up 4 runs in 4 innings of work. In the bottom of the eighth inning, with the Reds leading 8-1, Georgy was summoned to the mound. He gave up a single to Alex Kampouris but got the next batter, Lee Gamble, to fly out to center. Goodman walked, and Frank McCormick hit an infield single that scored Kampouris and got Goodman to third base. Ernie Lombardi then hit a sacrifice fly to bring in the second run of the inning, and Harry Craft hit a popup to the catcher to end the inning. On June 28, the Giants optioned Georgy to Richmond of the Piedmont League, ending his time in the majors.

The pitching staff of the 1940 Clinton Giants team. Oscar Georgy is the one in the red box. Source: *The Davenport Democrat and Leader*, April 28, 1940.

Georgy does not have any further statistics on Baseball Reference for 1938, but he definitely pitched for Richmond, albeit not very well. He threw a complete game against Charlotte on August 9 but gave up 13 hits and lost 14-1. He joined the Clinton Giants of the Three-I League in 1939 and was a little erratic but managed a 7-2 record and 4.30 ERA. He remained in Clinton for 1940 and won 5 games while losing 10. For his second victory of the year, on July 17 against Springfield, he threw a 14-inning complete game, walking 6 and striking out 6. He was brought into a game against Cedar Rapids on August 8 to get the last two outs of a win, but he allowed the tying run to score on a single and the winning run on a bases-loaded walk. Georgy’s ERA for the season was 5.27, and he walked 79 batters in 123 innings. In his final season of pro ball, he turned in a 6-12 record and 5.75 ERA for Fort Smith of the Western League. That December, he was added to the voluntarily retired list. According to Baseball Digest, a chipped elbow brought about his retirement at the age of 24.

Georgy’s only major-league outing resulted in an 18.00 ERA in 1 inning, with 2 hits and a walk. In 5 minor-league seasons, he had a 34-43 record and a 4.58 ERA.

After baseball, it seems that Georgy returned to the New Orleans riverfront where his father had worked. A 1952 city directory lists him as a clerk for Ryan Stevedoring, and in 1960 he was a supervisor for the Waterman Steamship Co., one of the largest shipping companies in the country at the time. Georgy married New Orleans native Rosemary Fazzio in October 1940, and the two were married for 41 years until her death on March 7, 1982. They had two adult children, Dianne and Oscar Jr. They may have also had a daughter, Frances, who died in infancy. Oscar Georgy died at 10:10 PM on January 15, 1999. He was 82 years old. He is buried in Greenwood Cemetery in New Orleans.