Career
Sisler attended Colgate University. He was a journeyman left fielder and first baseman for the St. Louis Cardinals (1946–47, 1952–53), Philadelphia Phillies (1948–51) and Cincinnati Reds (1952). In an eight-season career, he hit .276 with 55 home runs and 360 RBI in 799 games. He made the National League All-Star team in 1950.
On the closing day of the 1950 season, at Ebbets Field, he hit a tenth-inning, opposite-field three-run home run against the Brooklyn Dodgers that would give the "Whiz Kids" Phillies their first National League pennant in 35 years. Had Philadelphia lost, the Phillies and Dodgers would have finished in a flatfooted tie for the NL championship and a best-of-three playoff would have resulted. The home run made Sisler world-famous; Ernest Hemingway feted him in his novel The Old Man and the Sea.
His father, George Sr., was a scout for Brooklyn in 1950. When asked after the pennant-winning game how he felt when his son beat his current team, the Dodgers, George replied, "I felt awful and terrific at the same time."
Read more about this topic: Dick Sisler
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