1952

George Schmees was born on September 6, 1924, in Cincinnati. During the Second World War, he spent two years in high school and won nine letters at Woodward High in basketball, football, and baseball.

He then went into the US Navy, playing left end for the Pleasanton Naval Personnel Distribution Center Blue Jackets team in September 1943. By June 1945, when he was batting .400 at Camp Shoemaker, he was reportedly being looked at by his hometown Cincinnati Reds, to sign after the war.

After discharge from the Navy, he did sign with the Reds and was assigned to their Ogden, Utah farm club in the Class-C Pioneer League, the Ogden Reds.  In September, the Cincinnati farm club handed him his unconditional release, but he was given a bonus to sign with the Brooklyn Dodgers.

George was bumped up to Class B in 1947 and played for the Spokane Indians in the Western International League. In 1948 he was promoted again, to the Double-A Texas League, where he played for the Fort Worth Cats. Montreal was his home ball club for 1949 and the start of the 1950 season. 

He played for Montreal in 1950 with a .254 average and was moved to the Hollywood Stars. He played there with a bad arm, shoulder, and back, all injured in a collision with a ballpark wall during a game at Syracuse, just before he’d been sent west. In 1951 he made up for it all. After a terrific spring training, he just kept on going. 

During the major-league Rule 5 draft in December, he was the first player drafted, selected by the St. Louis Browns. He was hitting just .131 when St. Louis put him on waivers in June, 1952 and the Red Sox claimed him for the waiver price in July.

He went 0-for-2 in his Red Sox debut, but had a nice 2-for-4 day later. He had an opportunity to get some playing time in July after center fielder Dom DiMaggio, suffered a groin injury. He played a little first base later in the season, but never hit any better than he had with St. Louis. Come September, he was even asked to pitch. Manager Lou Boudreau took a long chance here when he chose George, an outfielder without previous major league experience as a hurler. He was a lefthander, and had been such a disappointment as a batter, that Boudreau was willing to take the pitching gamble. In early December the Red Sox sold him to the Seattle Rainiers. 

He started off the 1953 season nicely, with three home runs in an exhibition game at Palm Springs, and won a starting job for the next couple of years in 1953 and in 1954. He began the 1955 season with Seattle, but was obtained by Tulsa in early July, apparently through some arrangement with the Rainiers. At the end of September, Seattle sold his contract outright to the Nashville Volunteers.

George played two full seasons for Nashville in 1956 and 1957. Even though his contract had been sold to Havana in mid-October 1957, he was back with Nashville in 1958. In June his contract was sold to Salt Lake City (Pacific Coast League).  In January 1959 the Memphis Chicks purchased George’s contract, but he did not play with the Chicks, and retired from baseball.

He worked at Bernard Food Industries after his baseball days, finishing up his career there as food processor foreman.

George Schmees passed away, at age 74, on October 30, 1998 in San Jose, California.