1951 Yankee of the Past: George Selkirk

THEY SHOULD HAVE PUT A TAG ON HIM
"George Selkirk, who succeeded Babe Ruth as right fielder of the New York Yankees and who now manages their Kansas City farm, was a high school catcher. He worked out with Rochester in 1927, and looked good. George Stallings signed him and sent him to join a Class D team at Cambridge, Md.
When Selkirk arrived in Cambridge, the home team was playing in Crisfield. He hurried to a dressing room. The manager said, 'So you're the new boy. I've been expecting you- get into uniform, you are playing center field today.' Too bashful to argue, George played center field for the first time in his life.
The catcher on the opposing team was the team manager. It was plainly evident he was having trouble. His ungloved hand was heavily taped. Selkirk, on his first trip to the plate, singled. On his next he doubled, and on his third he hit the ball over the fence, foul by a few feet.
The opposing catcher threw off his mask and spun Selkirk around. 'Hey!' he yelled. 'What's your name?' George told him. 'Just as I suspected,' he roared. 'You're supposed to be my catcher. Oh, ump!'
George switched teams after the game, but the manager never let him switch positions. He remained in the outfield."

-Earl Ruby in the Louisville Courier-Journal (Baseball Digest, July 1951)


BUNTING TIP: ELBOWS IN AT SIDES
"Kanas City manager George Selkirk and several of the Blues were sitting in the dugout talking about bunting, an art about which some players apparently have as much knowledge as of Byzantine sculpturing.
Selkirk was making a point about the cause and prevention of bunting bad balls.
'If a man holds his elbows in at his sides in a loose, relaxed manner, he can't bunt a bad ball,' Selkirk said. 'A batter who does this will have a range of only about a foot or a foot and a half to bunt in. The pitchers, of course, are always trying to make you bunt a bad ball, but it's impossible to do if you follow this system, unless of course you hold the bat straight up to get at one.
'A man who holds his elbows out has practically an unlimited range. He can bunt a pitch that's up around his chin or he can get down for one that's around his knees. The general result is a lot of pop-ups and bad bunts.
'When Joe Sewell was with Cleveland, his ability to bunt fascinated me,' Selkirk continued. 'I had never seen him bunt a bad ball and he seldom laid down a bad bunt. So one day I got him aside and asked him how he did it. He told me about keeping my elbows in and I found out it really works.'"

-Joe McGuff in the Kansas City Star (Baseball Digest, September 1951)


"NET" PROFIT
"'If I had a son who was going to play baseball,' George Selkirk, the Kansas City manager says, 'I'd stand him against a brick wall and throw tennis balls at him all day and make him dodge them. Once he developed the quickness and knack of getting out of the way of these tennis balls, he'd have more confidence when he went up to the plate against a hard baseball.'"

-Tommy Fitzgerald in the Lousiville Courier-Jurnal (Baseball Digest, November 1951)