George Bamberger

George Irvin Bamberger (August 1, 1923 – April 4, 2004) was an American professional baseball player, pitching coach and manager. In Major League Baseball, the right-handed pitcher appeared in ten games, nine in relief, for the 1951–52 New York Giants and the 1959 Baltimore Orioles. He later spent ten seasons (1968–77) as the Orioles' pitching coach and managed the Milwaukee Brewers (1978–80; 1985–86) and New York Mets (1982–83).<ref name=":8">Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> During his playing career, he threw and batted right-handed, stood Template:Convert tall and weighed Template:Convert.

Early life

Bamberger was born on August 1, 1923, in Staten Island, New York City, New York, where he was raised.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> He attended McKee Vocational High School in Staten Island. He entered the military in February of 1943, and served in the United States Army during World War II in the Mediterranean and European theaters of operations.<ref name="baseballinwartime">Template:Cite web</ref>

Playing career

Bamberger signed with the hometown New York Giants in 1946.<ref name=":1">Template:Cite web</ref> He was assigned to the Erie Sailors of the Class C Middle Atlantic League, where he had a 13–3 record and 1.35 earned run average (ERA) with eight shutouts in 18 games started. Bamberger reached double digits in wins during four of his first five minor league seasons; he would record ten or more victories in 15 of his 18 years as a minor league pitcher, and win 213 total games during that span (1946–63), with a 3.72 ERA.<ref name=":0" />

Bamberger made the Giants' 28-man roster at the outset of the Template:Baseball year season. In his big-league debut on April 19, 1951, during a Patriots' Day doubleheader against the Boston Braves at Braves Field, he gave up three hits (including a home run to Sam Jethroe) and two earned runs in two innings pitched.<ref name="retrosheet">Template:Cite web</ref> Nine days later, he struggled again, as he surrendered a base on balls and then a two-run home run to Jackie Robinson, while recording no outs, against the Brooklyn Dodgers.<ref name="retrosheet2">Template:Cite web</ref>

Bamberger spent the rest of that season with the Triple-A Ottawa Giants of the International League.<ref name=":0" /> He pitched a no-hitter for Ottawa on Father’s Day in 1951, shortly after his daughter was born.<ref name=":7">Template:Cite web</ref>

In Template:Baseball year, Bamberger again was a member of the big-league Giants during the season's early weeks. He appeared in five more games, all as a relief pitcher, but was largely ineffective, allowing six hits, three walks, and four earned runs in four full innings of work. After June 1, he was sent to the Oakland Oaks of the top-level Pacific Coast League (PCL), going 14–6, with a 2.88 ERA. He would spend the bulk of the rest of his playing career in the PCL.<ref name=":0" /> The Oaks transferred to Vancouver, British Columbia, in 1956,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and became affiliated with the Orioles.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Bamberger remained with the renamed Vancouver Mounties for another seven years<ref name=":0" /> until the franchise moved again,Template:Citation needed to Dallas, Texas, in 1963. (The Mounties ceased playing for 1963-64.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 1963, the already existing Dallas-Fort Worth Rangers moved from the Triple-A American Association to the PCL, and Bamberger played for that team in 1963.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>) In 1958, he had a 15–11 record with a 2.45 ERA.<ref name=":0" /> That year, he had a streak of 68.2 consecutive innings without giving up a base on balls, a league record.<ref name=":7" /> Later, as a pitching coach, he emphasized the need to throw strikes.

In the midst of his PCL tenure, however, in Template:Baseball year, the 35-year-old Bamberger received his third and final major league trial with the Mounties' parent club, the Baltimore Orioles. In his American League debut on April 16, Bamberger was the starting pitcher against the defending World Champion New York Yankees at Memorial Stadium. He held the Yankees scoreless for five full innings, as Baltimore built a 2–0 lead. But in the sixth, he surrendered a two-run double to Norm Siebern, tying the game; and then, after the Orioles had gone ahead 3–2 in their half of the sixth, he gave up the lead in the seventh frame. He left after Template:Frac innings, having allowed four earned runs on four hits, with Baltimore trailing by a run. (The Orioles eventually prevailed, 7–4, with Billy O'Dell getting the win in relief.)<ref name="retrosheet3">Template:Cite web</ref>

After two relief appearances with the Orioles, Bamberger returned to the Pacific Coast League, where he went 11–7, with a 2.98 ERA.<ref name=":0" /> But that was his final chance in major league baseball, and he would spend the rest of his pitching career in the PCL, ending his career with the 1963 Dallas-Fort Worth Rangers, going 7–15, with a 4.53 ERA. He never recorded a decision in the Majors, and compiled a 9.42 earned run average with 25 hits and ten bases on balls allowed, and three strikeouts, over Template:Frac innings.<ref name=":0" />

Coaching and managerial career

File:George Bamberger 1977.jpg

Bamberger in 1977

Baltimore Orioles pitching coach

As a pitching coach, Bamberger's pitching philosophy was to throw strikes. He thought it was not rational to try and pinpoint pitches, and the key to success was changing speeds and types of pitches, while throwing down the middle.<ref name=":1" /> He also would teach his famed illegal spitball pitch, "The Staten Island Sinker".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name=":7" />

Hall of Fame pitcher Jim Palmer, who played over a decade for Bamberger in the minor and major leagues, said that Bamberger's strengths were in realizing each pitcher was unique, not overcoaching, remaining unflappable and never panicking. Bamberger's calm and level demeanor were an important counterbalance for Orioles pitchers in dealing with manager Earl Weaver's explosive and intense nature.<ref name=":5" /><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name=":6" />

In 1960–63, Bamberger served as a player-coach for the Mounties and Dallas-Fort Worth Rangers while still pitching regularly (working in 135 games, 110 as a starter).<ref name=":0" /> While in Vancouver and Dallas-Fort Worth, he coached future major league pitchers such as Denny Lemaster, Claude Raymond, Ted Abernathy, John O'Donaghue, and Lee Stange.<ref name=":2">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name=":3">Template:Cite web</ref> In 1960, the Mounties were affiliated with the Orioles, but in 1961 they changed affiliations to the Milwaukee Braves, and in 1962 to the Minnesota Twins. The 1963 Rangers were likewise affiliated with the Twins.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name=":2" /><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name=":3" /> Then, in 1964, he retired as a player and rejoined the Baltimore organization as its roving minor league pitching instructor.<ref name=":1" />

The Orioles' farm system was then among the pioneers in standardizing player instruction, with career minor leaguers like Bamberger and future Orioles Hall of Fame manager Earl Weaver<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> among those providing instruction in "the Oriole Way". Bamberger observed the Orioles looked for two things in players to join their system, talent and attitude. With Bamberger playing a key role, it was developing a corps of young pitchers that would help the club win the 1966 World Series.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 1964, the Orioles farm system included pitchers like Jim Palmer,<ref name=":5">Template:Cite web</ref> Tom Phoebus,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and Eddie Watt,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and the Orioles had already brought up young pitchers like Dave McNally,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Wally Bunker,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and Steve Barber<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> to the major league roster from its farm system; all of whom played on the 1966 world champion team.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

He earned a promotion when general manager Harry Dalton appointed him to succeed Harry Brecheen as the Orioles' pitching coach on October 3, 1967; at the same time making Weaver the Orioles new first base coach.<ref name="google">Template:Cite web</ref> Bamberger took over a pitching staff that often saw young stars quickly lose their effectiveness due to sore arms. Dave McNally and Jim Palmer, two stars who recovered under Bamberger, credited a routine of regular exercises instituted by Bamberger for reversing the trend.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>

Bamberger believed that underuse, not overuse, created sore arms, thus he had both an exercise preparation regime between starts, and had his starters pitching long innings during the season . His pitchers ran every day, including sprints, believing that leg strength would improve stamina and coordination, which would maintain a pitcher's mechanics. He also had a throwing regime between starts.<ref name=":1" /> In the Orioles three consecutive 100-plus win seasons (1969-71), reaching the World Series each year,<ref name=":4">Template:Cite web</ref> McNally threw 268.2, 296 and 224.1 innings; Mike Cuellar threw 290.2, 297.2 and 292.1 innings; Palmer threw 181 (in only 23 starts), 305, and 282 innings; and Pat Dobson threw 282.1 innings in 1971.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Serving under manager Hank Bauer and then Earl Weaver when Bauer was fired in 1968, Bamberger would remain with the ballclub through 1977 and five American League East Division championships, three American League pennants and the 1970 World Series championship.<ref name=":4" /> During that decade, he produced 18 twenty-game winners, including four for the 1971 American League champions: Jim Palmer, Mike Cuellar, Dave McNally and Pat Dobson, only the second time in baseball history a single team has had four twenty game winners in a season.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name=":6">Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

1978–80: Manager of "Bambi's Bombers" in Milwaukee

Bamberger signed a two-year $120,000 contract to succeed Alex Grammas as manager of the Milwaukee Brewers on January 20, 1978. The appointment reunited him with Dalton, who had become the Brewers' new general manager two months earlier. Dalton said Bamberger “was the only man we considered” for the position. The Milwaukee franchise never had a winning record in its first nine seasons, prior to Bamberger's arrival. Stating that a major goal was instilling a winning attitude, he added, "Last year the feeling I got was that we (the Orioles) should not lose to the Milwaukee Brewers. We felt they did not care, that they felt we were going to win."<ref>"Bamberger of Orioles Is Named To Pilot Brewers Next 2 Years," United Press International (UPI), Friday, January 20, 1978. Retrieved July 14, 2018.</ref>

In his first managerial assignment, Bamberger led the 1978 Brewers to a 26-game turnaround. His club won 93 games and finished third behind the Yankees and Boston Red Sox in the AL East.<ref name=":8" /> Bamberger's influence on his pitching staff was reflected by a 30 percent decrease in walks allowed (566 vs. 398) and a 20 percent decline in home runs allowed (136 vs. 109). Team ERA dropped from 4.32 to 3.65, and both Mike Caldwell (22–9, 2.36) and Lary Sorensen (18–12, 3.21) enjoyed standout seasons. But a spike in offense would make an even larger mark on Bamberger's team. The 1978 Brewers hit 173 home runs (48 more than in 1977) and outscored their previous year's team by 165 runs, a 26 percent rise. Seven players hit double figures in home runs, and two (Larry Hisle, signed as a free agent, and Gorman Thomas) eclipsed the 30-homer mark. The Brewers became known as "Bambi's Bombers."<ref name="nytimes">Template:Cite web</ref> The Sporting News named him its Manager of the Year.<ref name=":8" />

Then, in Template:Baseball year, Bamberger's Brewers hit 185 home runs, captured 95 victories and finished second, behind only Weaver's Orioles. However, in March 1980 during spring training, Bamberger was hospitalized with back and chest pains. He was diagnosed with a heart attack, underwent surgery and was sidelined until June 6. He re-took the reins from interim pilot Buck Rodgers, but did not finish the season, resigning on September 7 after compiling a disappointing 47–45 win–loss record. He stepped down with a 235–180 (.566) mark for his maiden managerial job, while turning Milwaukee into a contender for the American League pennant. The Brewers qualified for the playoffs in Template:Baseball year under Rodgers and won their only AL championship in Template:Baseball year with Harvey Kuenn at the helm. (The club moved to the National League Central Division in Template:Baseball year.)

1982–83: Struggles during Mets' rebuilding

Frank Cashen, another former Oriole executive, hired Bamberger as manager of the struggling New York Mets for Template:Baseball year.<ref name=":8" /> The Mets had gone only 41–62 (.398) under Joe Torre during the strike-shortened Template:Baseball year season. The 1982 Mets—still in the early stages of a rebuilding process that would produce the 1986 world championship—played at almost an identical pace (.401), led the National League in bases on balls and finished second-worst in team ERA. Then the 1983 edition started even worse. They were 16–30 (.348) on June 3 when Bamberger resigned, saying, "I've probably suffered enough."<ref name="nytimes2">Template:Cite web</ref>

1985–86: Second term in Milwaukee

A season and a half later, during the 1984–85 off-season, Dalton called Bamberger back into harness to attempt to revive the Brewers, who had plunged into the AL East basement in Template:Baseball year. But this time, Bamberger was unable to turn the club around: they won only 71 games for him in Template:Baseball year (with the team ERA climbing by 0.33 to 4.39) and 71 more the following season. The bright spot on the Brewers' staff was left-handed starting pitcher Teddy Higuera, who won 15 games as a rookie in 1985 and 20 more the following season. Bamberger retired for a final time September 25, 1986, at age 63, turning the Brewers over to coach Tom Trebelhorn with nine games left in the season. He finished his managerial career with a record of 458–478 (.489).

Death

George Bamberger died on April 4, 2004, from cancer at his home in North Redington Beach, Florida. He was 80 years old.<ref name=":8" />

See also

• Staten Island Sports Hall of Fame

External links

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