A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Career of a World War II-Era All-Star

I was recently contacted by George Case III, who happens to be the son of former American League All-Star George Case Jr. and who has a fantastic product he’s offering baseball fans.

If you’re not familiar with George Case, the elder, it’s probably because he played in the shadows of fellow outfielders Ted Williams, Joe Dimaggio, Charlie Keller, and “Indian Bob” Johnson in the American League, and Mel Ott and Bill Nicholson in the National.  But Case was the preeminent base thief of the era and was one of the fastest men in baseball history, once circling the bases in 13.5 seconds, which was only .3 seconds slower than the unofficial record set by Evar Swanson in 1931.

Case batted over .300 three times, including a career-high .320 in 1942, and finished with a career average of .282.  But he made his real mark on the bases, leading the A.L. in steals six times in nine full seasons, copping the stolen base crown five straight years from 1939-1943, and again in 1946.  In 1944-1945, Case finished second both times, missing two more crowns by a total of nine stolen bases.  In 11 seasons, Case stole 349 bases, 342 of which came between 1938-1946, far eclipsing the next closest base thief, Wally Moses, who stole “only” 139 bags over that same nine-year span.

Playing all but one season with the Washington Senators, Case made his first All-Star team in 1939 at the age of 23 and earned three votes in MVP balloting after batting .302 with 51 steals and 103 runs scored.  In 1940, he led the league in plate appearances with 720, scored a career-high 109 runs, hit .293 and stole 35 bases.  In 1941, he paced the league in plate appearances again with 708 and copped his third straight stolen base crown with 33 steals.  In 1942, he batted .320 with 44 steals in 50 attempts, scored 101 times, and finished 13th in MVP voting just ahead of Keller, but failed to crack an All-Star squad that boasted Williams, two DiMaggios (Joe and Dom), Johnson, Tommy Henrich, and Stan Spence.

But from 1943-1945, Case made the team all three times and earned MVP votes in ’43 and ’45.  In 1943, he led the league in steals with 61 and runs with 102, and led off for the A.L. All-Stars, going 0-for-2 with a walk and a run scored.  He also grounded into a double play, something he did only once every 93.6 at-bats during his career.  He finished 12th in MVP voting, again just ahead of Keller and just behind Detroit hurler Dizzy Trout.  Case batted only .250 in 1944 but pilfered 49 more bases and made his second straight All-Star squad.  He rebounded in 1945 to hit .294, made the All-Star team again (no game was played due to WWII, but teams were still selected), and finished ninth in MVP balloting behind Cleveland shortstop Lou Boudreau.

Case was traded after the season to Cleveland in exchange for Jeff Heath and led the league in steals one last time with 28, but batted only .225.  He was traded back to the Senators in 1947 and batted only .150 in part-time duty before playing his final game on August 3.

Besides being a major league baseball player and master base thief, Case also liked to dabble in film and shot several minutes of home movies in color.  What’s fascinating about these movies, though, is that he shot footage of his playing career, then in his later years sat down and narrated the film so future generations could easily identify the players and locations he was capturing through his camera lens.

According to his son, George III, “this is a ‘behind-the-scenes’ look at major league baseball through the eyes of a big leaguer – not a commercially produced documentary!”  George III has transferred the film to DVD and is offering it for $32.95 plus shipping.  It’s 40 minutes long, in color, and includes his father’s narration.  Here’s a description from George’s web site of what the DVD includes:

“Featured in this DVD – President Roosevelt ‘throwing out the first ball’ at Griffith Stadium in 1939 and 1940 – it was Roosevelt’s ‘Green Light’ letter that kept major league baseball alive during WWII; approximately 15 future Hall of Famers in their prime including Joe DiMaggio, Ted Williams, Jimmie Foxx, Hank Greenberg, Bill Dickey, Luke Appling and many others; some of the original ballparks including Griffith Stadium, Briggs Stadium, Sportsman’s Park, Comiskey and Fenway (before the Green Monster); and many other scenes of life in the major leagues from a ballplayer’s perspective.”

If you’re interested in purchasing a copy, please drop me an e-mail and I’ll put you in touch with George.  I’ll be ordering my own copy soon and will post a review of it when I get a chance.