Approaching another year of Hall of Fame results in January 2014, a Fox Sports columnist made a Cooperstown argument not for a player or a manager, but for a coach, longtime Cardinals system coach George Kissell.
The columnist wrote how Kissell was largely responsible for "The Cardinals Way," and he'd been singled out for praise by two Hall of Famers, Tony La Russa and Joe Torre and he'd been behind some of the top Cardinals hitters, especially switch-hitters like Tom Herr.
"He truly was the biggest influence on me as far as teaching me the correct way to play the game," Herr told the Fox Sports columnist in an email. "Baseball is a game of repetition and he understood the importance of creating perfect habits through perfect practice. He was also great at imparting his knowledge of game situations and the correct way to defend them. He left no stone un-turned."
By the time he was done, Kissell had spent more than 60 years in the game, starting out briefly as a player, then turning to coaching and managing.
Kissell's long career in the game began in 1940, signed by the Cardinals as a player out of Evans Mills High School and Ithaca College.
Kissell started with the Cardinals at Class D Hamilton. He played three seasons before joining the military during World War II. He returned home in 1946, and took his first managerial job while still playing, at Class B Lawrence.
"I know we have a fine team and I like youth," Kissell told The Winston-Salem Journal to start the 1950 season as team manager. "The boys will average about 21 years of age and they hustle every day of the month, not the 15th and 30th and that's the kind of a club I like and I believe you will like."
He continued largely managing in the minors with the Cardinals through 1968. In 1950, he managed at Class B Winston-Salem.
For 1969, Kissell moved up to St. Louis as first base coach. He continued in that role through 1975. He got a new role for 1976, special field assistant with the general manager.
He spoke to The St. Louis Post-Dispatch that March in 1976 about his new role, and thoughts on his time in the majors. Kissell turned to fundamentals, how to play the team game.
"That is, to take a shot going to right field with a man on first or first and second with none out," Kissell told The Post-Dispatch. "That's what I call winning ball."
He later took the title as roving fundamentals instructor. In 1990, he was listed as field coordinator on his Johnson City card, after apparently having been in town for picture day.
Kissell continued with the Cardinals through 2004. He passed away in 2008 at the age of 88 after being injured in a car accident.
In 1997, as Kissell continued to work with Cardinals players, The Post-Dispatch featured him in an article headlined "Mr. Baseball."
"He's everything that is good and fundamental and right about baseball," Cardinals player John Mabry told The Post-Dispatch then about Kissell. "To me, everything in the Cardinals organization is him. One real reason to respect the 'birds on the bat' on the uniform is that's what he is. Respect him, you respect the Cardinals."
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- Winston-Salem Journal, April 12, 1950: 'We'll Be Out There Fighting for Pennant,' Kissell Tells 200 at 'Welcome Cards' Dinner
- St. Louis Post-Dispatch, March 26, 1976: Prof. Kissell, Baseball Ph.D.
- St. Louis Post-Dispatch, March 30, 1997: Mr. Baseball
- Fox Sports, Jan. 7, 2014: Legendary Cardinals instructor George Kissell deserves a spot in the Hall of Fame
Made the Majors:1,422-32.1-X
Never Made Majors:3,008-67.9%
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