Richard Allen Dick

Major League Baseball Player. He played Major League Baseball as a first baseman and outfielder for eight seasons (1946 to 1953) with the St. Louis Cardinals, Philadelphia Phillies and Cincinnati Reds. The son of Baseball Hall of Famer George Sisler , he served three years in the military during World War II before reaching the Majors in 1946 with the Cardinals. As a rookie, he appeared in 83 games, hitting .260 as the Cardinals took the National League Pennant. He wasn't a factor in the subsequent World Series against the Ted Williams-led Boston Red Sox, having only two pinch hitting at-bats. His Cardinals, though, took the baseball championship on the famous "mad dash" by Enos Slaughter in Game 7. He served in a utility role for the Baseball champs in 1947, appearing in only 46 games. Just prior to the start of the 1948 season he was traded to the Phillies, who at that time were assembling the team that would be forever known as the "Whiz Kids". Made a permanent outfielder by the Phils, he blossomed in his starting role, hitting .274 and .289 the next two years as the Phillies inched towards respectability. In 1950 he achieved his career year, hitting .296 with 13 Home Runs and 83 RBIs (in a two game stretch in May of that year he rapped out 8 hits in a row) for a young, brash Phillies team that was dubbed "The Whiz Kids" for their youth. He was selected to his only All-Star game, and got a pinch hit in the 6th inning of the eventual National League 4-3 Win. Of his 13 home runs that year, none was more dramatic then one he hit on October 1st. In the last game of the year the Phillies and Brooklyn Dodgers were tied for 1st Place in the National League, and the winner of the game would go on to the World Series. The game was tightly played through 9 innings (the 9th saw Phillies centerfielder and future Hall of Famer Richie Ashburn throw out the Dodgers' Cal Abrams at home plate in a dramatic, game-saving play), and was tied at 1-1 going into the 10th inning. With two men on and Dodgers ace Don Newcombe pitching, Dick Sisler crushed a 3-run home run that would give the Phillies their first National League title in 35 years (and the last until 1980, 30 more years). In the year 2002 it was voted as the 15th greatest home run in Baseball history by sports network ESPN. In the subsequent World Series verses the powerhouse New York Yankees, he managed only 1 hit in 17 at-bats, as the Yankees rode their pitching in a sweep of the "Whiz Kids". He had another good year with the Phillies, hitting .287 in 1951, but, as the breakup of the 1950 NL Pennant winning team was starting, he was traded with catcher Andy Seminick and two other players to the Reds for catcher Smokey Burgess , second baseman Connie Ryan and pitcher Howard Fox. His stay in Cincinnati only lasted 11 games of the 1952 season, because on May 13 he was sent back to the Cardinals with shortstop Virgil Stallcup for All-Star outfielder Wally Westlake and third baseman Eddie Kazak. Moved back to first base (which allowed Cardinals legend Stan Musial to return to the outfield) he played 119 games for the Cards in 1952, and 32 games in 1953 before retiring from the Majors. His career totals were 799 Games Played, 720 Hits, 302 Runs, 55 Home Runs, 226 RBIS and a career .276 batting average. After his playing days were over he worked as a coach for the Reds, Cardinals, San Diego Padres and New York Mets. While a coach for the Reds, he took over a as manager in August 1964 when manager Fred Hutchinson left to receive treatment for cancer (which would later claim his life that year). Dick Sisler managed them for the rest of 1964, and in 1965 (guiding them to a winning record) before being replaced by Don Heffner.