George Uhle George Ernest Uhle Bats Right Throws Right Height 6' Weight 190 Born September 18, 1898 Cleveland, OH Died February 26, 1985 Lakewood, OH

Pitching  

 Year Ag Tm    W   L  PCT.  SV   G  GS  CG SHO    IP     H    R   ER   BB   SO  HR  ERA  lgERA ERA+
+-----------+---+---+-----+---+---+---+---+---+------+----+----+----+----+----+---+-----+-----+----+
 1928 29 PAW  18   9  .667   0  29  29  20      221.1            103   81   98      4.19  4.08   97  
 1929 30 PAW  16   7  .696   0  30  30  16      258.2             63   70   65      2.19  3.64  166  
 1930    PAW  11  14  .440   0  25  25   6      187.2            101   86   85      4.84  4.27   88  
 1930    MON   4   4  .500   1  16       3       51.1             45   26   17      7.89  4.27   54  
 1930 31 TOT  15  18  .455   1  41  25   9      239.0            146  112  102      5.50  4.27   78  
 1931 32 MON   8  10  .444   6  58   0   0   0  109.1  144   77   70   38   41      5.76  3.62   63  
 1932 33 MON   2   5  .286   0  16   0   0   0   36.2   38   21   19   31    6      4.66  3.20   69  
+-----------+---+---+-----+---+---+---+---+---+------+----+----+----+----+----+---+-----+-----+----+
  5 Seasons   59  49  .546   7 174  84  45   0  865.0  182  410  401  332  312   0  4.17  3.87   93 
+-----------+---+---+-----+---+---+---+---+---+------+----+----+----+----+----+---+-----+-----+----+
 154 Gm  Avg  15  12  .546   2  44  21  11   0  218.0       103  101   84   79      4.17 
 Career High  18  18  .696   6  58  30  20   0  258.2  144  146  146  112  102   0  2.19            
+-----------+---+---+-----+---+---+---+---+---+------+----+----+----+----+----+---+-----+-----+----+
 3 Yrs.  PAW  45  30  .600   0  84  84  42      667.2       267  267  237  248      3.60  3.86  107  
 3 Yrs.  MON  14  19  .424   7  90   0   3   0  197.1  182  143  134   95   64      6.11  3.53   58  
+-----------+---+---+-----+---+---+---+---+---+------+----+----+----+----+----+---+-----+-----+----+
 Year Ag Tm    W   L  PCT.  SV   G  GS  CG SHO    IP     H    R   ER   BB   SO  HR  ERA  lgERA ERA+

Shaded Text indicates partial season results.

Postseason Pitching

 
 Year Tm  OPP WLser   W   L  PCT.  SV   G  GS  CG SHO    IP    H    R   ER   BB   SO  HR   ERA  
+------------------+---+---+-----+---+---+---+---+---+-----+----+----+----+----+----+---+-----+
 1929 PAW MON   L     1   1  .500   0   2   2   1   0  18.0   11    5    4    4    6   0  2.00
 1931 MON HAR   L     0   0  .000   0   1   0   0   0   1.0    1    1    1    0    0   1  9.00
+------------------+---+---+-----+---+---+---+---+---+-----+----+----+----+----+----+---+-----+
               0-2    1   1  .500   0   3   2   1   0  19.0   12    6    5    4    6   1  2.34
+------------------+---+---+-----+---+---+---+---+---+-----+----+----+----+----+----+---+-----+

WLser shows whether the player's team Won or Lost the series.

Appearances on Leaderboards and Awards  

Stats are Year-Value-Rank

All-Star 1929

ERA 1929-2.17-2

Wins 1928-18-4 1929-16-5 1930-15-7

Strikeouts 1928-98-7

Innings Pitched 1929-258.2-1 1930-239.0-5

Complete Games 1928-20-3 1929-16-1 1930-9-9

Losses 1930-18-1

Walks 1930-112-5

Player of the Week, Week 2, 1929.
Pitcher of the Month, April 1929.
Pitcher of the Month, June 1929.

Transactions January 1, 1928: Drafted 28th round (215th overall) by Pawtucket. August 4, 1930: Traded by Pawtucket with Rogers Hornsby to Montgomery for Ray Benge and Lyn Lary.

Biography "Ruth could never hit me," George Uhle told biographer Richard Bak in Cobb Would Have Caught It. Indeed, many hitters had difficulty with this excellent right-hander for seventeen seasons. Uhle was born on September 18, 1898 in Cleveland, Ohio; the son of an engineer on the New York Central. In baseball-mad Cleveland of the early 20th century, Uhle got his first break playing on a semipro team upon graduation from high school. A teammate, ex-major leaguer Glenn Liebhardt, referred this kid Uhle to his old friend, Indians manager Tris Speaker. Speaker and the Indians signed Uhle and he broke into the big leagues in 1919, where he won ten games and lost five in a spot-starting role. He earned the nickname "The Bull" for both his tenacity on the mound, as well as at the plate. He batted .302 his rookie year, the first of nine .300+ seasons in his career. Uhle was such a prolific hitter that he still holds the record for hits in a single-season by a pitcher, 52, and highest average, .361, both in 1923. He won twenty games for the first time in 1922, finishing at 22-16. He was among the earliest practitioners of the slider, a pitch known at the time as a "sailer." Uhle was to the slider what Carl Hubbell was to the screwball, or Walter Johnson was to the fastball. As an encore, Uhle used his sailer to fashion an awesome 1923 season. In addition to his hitting skills, Uhle won 26 games, pitched in 29 complete games, and logged a phenomenal 357.2 innings pitched, a number that would not be equaled until Bob Feller toiled for 371 innings in 1946. According to Total Baseball, had a pitching award equivalent to the Cy Young Award existed in 1923, Uhle would have been the hands-down recipient. However, all of those innings took their toll, and Uhle had off-seasons in 1924 and 1925. He rebounded with another 20-win season in 1926, winning a career-high 27 contests. He complimented this with a career best ERA of 2.83. Again, if a Cy Young existed, Uhle would have had his second award for his trophy case. During the winter of 1928, Uhle was traded to the Detroit Tigers for shortstop Jackie Tavener and pitcher Ken Holloway. Tiger owner Frank Navin likened George to the great Christy Mathewson in the respect that both made pitching look so easy. However, years of overwork, pitching in pain, and playing on non-pitching days, began to take their toll. Uhle was consistently used by his managers in games against the Athletics and/or Yankees whenever possible, and he demanded to pitch the whole game. George had a history of adhesions and other problems where he was pitching in considerable agony. And is bat was so valuable that it mandated he appear as a pinch-hitter or sometimes, an outfielder. In fact, Uhle was such a "gamer", that he went behind the plate in a game, donning the "tools of ignorance" for the Indians in 1921. Uhle never won more than 15 games in his years in Detroit, but he was more valuable to the team as the "elder statesman," who helped bring along young pitchers such as Tommy Bridges, Schoolboy Rowe, Eldon Auker and Chief Hogsett. He returned to the Indians for his final season in 1936, where he retired with 200 wins, 3119.2 innings pitched, 513 games and a 3.99 ERA. His lifetime batting average of .288 is the highest ever by a pitcher. After retirement from the game, Uhle stayed on as a scout for the Indians until 1942 when he quit baseball altogether and became a manufacturer's representative for the Arrow Aluminum Casting Company. George Uhle died on February 26, 1985 in Lakewood, Ohio.