October 2022 Newsletter

Kurt Suzuki won the inaugural Brooks Wallace Award in 2004, which then recognized the nation’s best player. Now, his playing career at all levels has come to an end.

The former Cal State Fullerton catcher officially retired on Oct. 5 where his career began — in Oakland — although Suzuki was in in the opponent dugout with the Los Angeles Angels this time. Suzuki began his major league career in 2006 with the A’s, the team that drafted him in the second round of the 2004 MLB Draft.

Suzuki started his final game, catching one pitch from Angels’ starter Michael Lorenzen before being replaced, allowing his teammates and the crowd to celebrate him one more time on the field.

“It was special,” Suzuki told MLB.com’s Rhett Bollinger. “It was a pretty cool experience with the fans, obviously. This is where I started. They’re great and they’re into it. I loved the fans and will always love the fans. It was a special moment to walk off the field for the last time and catch my last pitch. It still hasn’t really hit me.”

His final game also came on his 39th birthday, adding to the celebration, which also included a pregame ceremony on the field.

“He certainly had a great sendoff,” Angels interim manager Phil Nevin told MLB.com. “He’s a terrific human being who has done a lot for our game. And he’ll continue to do a lot for our game. You try to think of something special to do for him and hopefully it’s something he’ll remember.”

In late September, Suzuki announced his decision to retire at the end of the 2022 season, saying it was a tough decision that he had considered since Spring Training.

“Obviously it’s not an easy decision,” Suzuki told MLB.com’s Arianna Vedia. “There’s always going to be a time where you’re going to have to call it quits, and I just feel like it’s the right time.”

In his 16 seasons, Suzuki played for the A’s, the Washington Nationals, the Minnesota Twins, the Atlanta Braves and the Angels. He finished his career with a .255 batting average and played in more than 1,600 games, according to BaseballReference.com.

Now, he said he’s looking forward to a schedule that’s slightly different than a 162-game MLB season and spending time with his wife, Renee, and children.

“I didn’t even have a great year this year, but it wasn’t even that,” Suzuki told Sarah Valenzuela of the Los Angeles Times. “It was more, I still felt like I could perform at this level, it’s just my daughter’s 11, she’s in sixth grade, my two boys are eight and six. There’s nothing else to it other than I’ve always said this my whole career, family is No. 1. Family first no matter what, and that was kinda the big driving factor.”

Career Highlights:

• Sisler led Michigan to a 22-4-1 record as a sophomore in 1913. He also led the team in batting with a .445 mark.
• Pitching records weren’t kept, but a Sporting Life article written on Sisler announced that “the greatest college pitcher” wore Michigan Maize and Blue.
• In early 1914, Sisler led his Michigan team on its annual southern trip for games with Kentucky, Alabama and Georgia. Michigan went 7-1 with Sisler hitting .434 with eight stolen bases. In addition, he pitched two complete-game victories.
• After returning home, Sisler tossed a four-hitter for another win against Notre Dame. By the end of the season, the team had won handily over the best teams in the south and concluded with a two-game sweep of Penn, largely considered the best team from the East.
• Sisler finished the year with a .351 batting average to lead the team that the Michiganensian yearbook declared to be “awarded the intercollegiate championship of the United States.”
• Capped his career by hitting .451 in 1915.
• Hit safely in nine at-bats in a row until being robbed on a great catch in his final college at-bat. Also in the finale, he stole five bases. For the third time he was named to Vanity Fair’s All-American team, and for the second year in a row he was the only “westerner” on the team.
• It is believed that Sisler was saddled with only three pitching defeats in his entire college pitching career.

Getting to know George Sisler:

When Sisler was inducted in 2010, Peter Drochelman, Sisler’s grandson, sat down with National Collegiate Baseball Hall of Fame staff for a Q&A about his legendary grandfather.

What was the family’s reaction to hearing your father/grandfather was selected for the HOF?

We all thought it was great. Our grandfather’s name is not mentioned often these days, and those that are familiar with him normally think only of his professional career and not of his college days at the University of Michigan. We’re excited that he’s being remembered and honored.

What do you think he would have thought of this induction?

I’m sure he would have been grateful and flattered, but I also think he would have been eager to have attention paid to someone else as soon as possible. He was a very humble, unselfish man and didn’t cherish the limelight.

What kind of player was George?

From the stories that others have told me, he was spectacular. Aside from possibly being the best pitcher in the country from 1912 to 1915, he also led Michigan in hitting all three years of varsity play. When he wasn’t pitching, he was playing left field or first base. He was such a good athlete and so fast that Fielding Yost, the Michigan football coach, thought briefly about seeing if he would play for the football team as well. He later concluded he was too important to the Michigan baseball team to risk injury. He was supposedly once timed running from home to first in 3.35 seconds. While (Sisler) was in college, Ty Cobb came to one of his games and recommended the Detroit Tigers sign him. The owner’s son overruled his recommendation.

It’s believed he lost just three games in his career as a pitcher, but that was before records were kept. Did he talk much about that accomplishment?

He did. In his words, he said he lost only one game, but Branch Rickey (a 2009 College Baseball Hall of Fame inductee), his college coach for one year, insisted he never lost a game.

What did he feel was the most significant or memorable accomplishment in college baseball?

Because my grandfather never shared stories of his exploits with us, I can only guess that it might have been winning the National Championship for Michigan in 1914. He was voted an All-American his sophomore, junior and senior seasons, but he felt team honors were more important than individual honors, so the National Championship would be my guess.

How did his involvement with college baseball affect his life outside of the game?

My grandfather was very much a renaissance man, doing a great many things well during his life. It would make sense to me that his time in college allowed him to develop those eclectic interests. By going to college during an era when few ball players did so, he was able to develop as a well-rounded man, not one that had to scramble to make a living upon graduating from high school.

I think he also developed two very important, life-long relationships in college: his relationship with my grandmother which lasted 60 years, and his friendship with Branch Rickey. Branch and my grandfather met in college, reunited with the St. Louis Browns, continued with the Brooklyn Dodgers and the Pittsburgh Pirates, and ended with the ceremony inducting both of them into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame. During that ceremony, Mr. Rickey had a heart attack and died a few days later. It was a friendship that witnessed first-hand a great many important events in baseball history and one my grandfather valued a great deal.