George McBride was the epitome of the “good-field, no-hit” shortstop. In fact, he owns the record for lowest career Batting Average for an player with more than 5,000 At Bats (.218). Because of his lack of hitting ability, it took a while for him to secure a starting job. Once he did so, he took the job and ran with it. From 1901 to 1907, he bounced around between 6 different Minor League teams, along with the St. Louis Cardinals and Pittsburgh Pirates.
In 1908 as a twenty-seven-year-old, McBride was finally given a chance to play full-time by the Washington Senators. He played 155 games at shortstop and turned in a Defensive WAR of 2.6, which was good for 2nd in the American League. Of course, WAR wasn’t a stat in use by any teams back then. However, McBride’s defensive prowess was such that the team didn’t need stats to recognize it. In 1909, he was named Captain of the Senators, a position he held for his entire tenure with the club*.
1908 was the beginning of a decade of unprecedented defensive wizardry from McBride. From 1908 to 1916, there was only one season in which he wasn’t in the Top 3 on the American League Defensive WAR leaderboard**. He placed 2nd in 1908 as well as 1910-11, then 1st in 1912-15. In 1916, his last season as a full-time player, he finished 3rd in the A.L. in Defensive WAR.
McBride’s glove was so valuable that it catapulted him into the Top Ten in WAR for Position Players in the A.L. twice, in spite of his bat. In 1908, his 4.5 WAR was good for 8th in the A.L. despite his paltry .232 Batting Average and .566 OPS. In 1910, his 4.9 WAR placed 7th in the A.L. His offensive output was similarly uninspiring in that season, a .230 Batting Average to go with a .609 OPS.
In 1917, he was replaced at shortstop by Howard Shanks and skipper Clark Griffith began to groom McBride as his successor. McBride played 50 games in 1917, and then less than 20 in 1918-20. In 1921, Griffith stepped away from his on-field duties and named McBride the new manager of the Washington Senators.
Sadly, he only managed one season (1921). He was injured when a baseball thrown by Earl Smith hit him in the head during pre-game warmups on July 27th. He wasn’t able to leave his bed for a week and continued to feel the effects of the injury. At the time, it wasn’t diagnosed as such, but he likely suffered a severe concussion. On December 6th 1921, he resigned as manager. Griffith offered him a job as a scout, but McBride turned it down for health reasons.
In 1925, he returned to baseball and served as Ty Cobb’s bench coach with the Detroit Tigers. In 1929, he retired from baseball at the relatively young age of 48. He made a complete recovery from the head injury and eventually passed away at the age of 92 in 1973.
*McBride played his final game with the Senators in 1920
**1909 was a bit of down year defensively for McBride. He didn’t even crack the Top 10 of Defensive WAR.
Sources:
-https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/bb22ca0e
-https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/m/mcbrige01.shtml
Both graphics are courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com