George Korince

There are many stories of famous pitchers, like Satchel Paige or Bob Feller, who began in their youth by throwing rocks or other objects at targets. George Korince’s path to becoming a big-league baseball pitcher began the same way. “I was about 9 or 10 years old. I happened to be throwing stones in a pond. My mother saw me and suggested that I go out for baseball. So I did. …”1 With early success in his native Canada, he became a much acclaimed professional prospect. Korince’s major-league career lasted only parts of two seasons with just 11 appearances. Nevertheless, he came away with one big-league victory, success in the minors, and some great memories of playing professional baseball. Years later he reminisced, “[T]hose were probably the best five years of my life, the camaraderie between the guys and the people that I met.”2

George Korince, the son of George Sr. and Simone Korince, was born on January 10, 1946, in Ottawa, Ontario, one of five children. His father was an autoworker. He moved at an early age with his family to St. Catharines, Ontario. In his formative years Korince became a much-heralded local athlete, except in hockey. “I tried to skate a couple of times. I didn’t care for it much, weak ankles.”3

In youth sports there is often someone who dominates because he is bigger than the rest of the kids. In baseball, that person is frequently the pitcher, who throws harder than his peers. Parents of opposing players may question his age. George Korince was likely that person. He became known as Moose. His hometown paper labeled him as “husky.”4 By the age of 18 Korince was an imposing athlete at 6-feet-2 and 200 pounds. His pitching helped his youth teams win four provincial baseball championships between 1958 and 1962. Former batboy Pat Leahy recalled “[H]e would strike out 11-14 without even thinking about it.”5 At Merritton High School, George was also on the track and basketball teams. He held district records in shot put and javelin.

Korince’s moment of outside discovery came in the summer of 1964. Bob Prentice, a Detroit Tigers scout, was in the stands at a tournament game in Toronto between the Merritton Juniors and the Toronto Columbus Boys Club. Korince hurled a no-hitter for Merritton. Impressed, Prentice began to follow him. Within a few months, Korince signed with the Tigers for a $1,500 bonus.

In 1965, when Korince reported to the Tigers for spring training, professional baseball players from Canada were still somewhat of a novelty. Korince’s beginning journey generated a lot of attention in his home country. A Canadian Broadcasting Company TV special that followed his first steps in professional baseball, titled The Tigers That Bloom in the Spring, was broadcast in April of that year.6 The Tigers assigned Korince to Jamestown in the Class-A New York-Pennsylvania League. He struggled at the start of the season, going 0-5. Then on May 25 he earned his first professional win, pitching a four-hitter against Geneva. That season Korince worked as both a starter and a reliever. He appeared in 35 games with 13 starts, finishing the season with a 7-11 record and a 3.38 ERA. Most impressive were his 151 strikeouts in 133 innings pitched. At the same time, he exhibited control issues with 96 walks and 13 wild pitches.

One of Korince’s catchers that season was future major-league manager Jim Leyland. The two became friends and were known for their playful antics off the field. In the 1960s the path from Canada to the major leagues was challenging. It was generally acknowledged that Canadian prospects were about two years behind their US counterparts, in terms of coaching and skill development. Korince and future Tigers star pitcher John Hiller, a fellow Canadian, discussed the disadvantage in a 1967 Calgary Herald interview. Korince confirmed, “I always thought I could throw a curve when I was at home. Hell I didn’t even know how to hold the ball.”7 Hiller added, “I remember my coaches … always somebody’s father, a nice guy. … But all they could tell you, really, was to pick up the ball and throw it. … The first time I pitched on a mound was after I turned pro. We had no mound in our park at home.”8

Given these handicaps, the progress of the 20-year-old Korince was remarkable. In the spring of 1966, Tigers manager Charlie Dressen was already interested in him.9 At the end of spring training Korince was moved up to Double-A Montgomery. There he again dominated batters, leading the Southern League with 183 strikeouts in 182 innings pitched. He also improved his control, issuing fewer bases on balls, 69. By midseason he had already been given a “can’t miss” label. Detroit chief scout Ed Katalinas said, “Korince is one of those guys who can make it all the way overnight. He’s just a big boy who can throw hard.”10 By September of 1966 Korince was in the big leagues. As a late-season call-up, he made his first major-league appearance pitching the eighth inning on September 10 in a 5-0 loss to the Kansas City Athletics. He struck out the first batter he faced, Phil Roof. After retiring the next batter on a groundout, he hit Bert Campaneris, who then stole second and third. Korince then retired Jim Gosger on a fly ball for a scoreless inning. He made one more appearance on September 24, pitching two scoreless innings in a 12-4 loss to the Twins. He gave up only one hit but walked three batters.

After the season Korince pitched in the Florida Instructional League. There his 3-3 record included a no-hitter. He finished with an ERA of 2.90 while striking out 57 in 59 innings. At same time, he was tutored on throwing the slider. Tigers pitching coach Johnny Sain commented, “He picked up a breaking ball pretty fast. … I was impressed the way Korince put spin on the ball.”11

In the spring of 1967 Detroit was looking to improve its bullpen. Manager Mayo Smith told reporters, “I have good reports on a number of young pitchers in our farm system and I am eager to look at them, particularly George Korince and Pat Dobson.”12 The Detroit Free Press referred to Korince as “the golden boy of the organization.”13 Korince did not disappoint. He put together multiple strings of scoreless relief appearances while finishing spring training with a 1.21 ERA.

That performance vaulted Korince onto the Opening Day major-league roster. At the start of the 1967 season, the 21-year-old Korince was the youngest player on the Tigers team. He was thrilled to be in the majors. “I just can’t believe that I am here pitching now,” he said. “There’s a lot of tension, but I just try to pitch.”14

A parallel thrill for a young rookie is to appear on a baseball card. In Korince’s case this did not happen as expected. He initially appeared on a 1967 Topps Tigers Rookie Stars card with  Tommy Matchick. But Topps erroneously put a photo of another Tiger, Ike Brown, on the card instead of Korince. The difference received additional attention in that Korince was Caucasian and Brown was African American. Topps corrected this error by issuing another Tigers Rookie Stars card with Korince’s correct picture alongside a different player, Pat Dobson.

Korince started the 1967 season strong. In his first two appearances, he yielded no runs and no hits with four strikeouts over three innings. Then on May 13 at Fenway Park, with the Tigers trailing the Red Sox, 5-4, Korince was called upon to pitch the eighth inning. “We were losing at the time so I knew they were going to bring me in to get more experience,” he said in a 2012 interview.15 He issued a walk but held Boston scoreless. Then in the top of the ninth, Detroit rallied to score six runs. The Red Sox retaliated with three runs against Dave Wickersham in the bottom of the inning, but the Tigers held on to post a 10-8 victory. Korince was the winning pitcher in what would be his only big-league decision. No one thought of giving him a game ball. In 2012 Korince recalled, “There was nothing like that then.”16

The next day, May 14, the teams played a doubleheader and Korince was called from the bullpen in each game. In the opener he retired one batter in an 8-5 loss. This appearance stretched his hitless and scoreless streak to four games and 4⅓ innings. But in the second game, summoned from the bullpen in the second inning, he pitched into the fifth, leaving the game after yielding five hits, five runs, and three walks in a 13-9 loss to the Red Sox.

After this setback, Korince pitched in four more games with mixed results. There were two scoreless appearances. Then, in his last two games he gave up three runs, three hits, and three walks in 2⅓ innings.

On May 28, the day after his last appearance, Korince was optioned to Triple-A Toledo. The second-place Tigers were in a tight pennant race that was not decided until the last game of the season. In 14 innings Korince had an ERA of 5.14, and Detroit did not have the luxury of being patient with a young pitcher who, with a 1.50 WHIP (walks plus hits per innings pitched), was struggling with his control.

At Toledo, Korince reverted to being a starter. He won his first game, allowing two runs in six innings, with six walks and six strikeouts. In his next 10 games, Korince went 1-5. With continued control issues, he was demoted to Montgomery. He finished the season there, improving his control and posting a 2.41 ERA in 41 innings with 39 strikeouts.

But Korince’s own season was not finished. He again played in the Florida Instructional League, and there he seemed to find himself. He finished with a 5-0 record, a 1.62 ERA, and 55 strikeouts in 50 innings. Toledo manager Jack Tighe observed that Korince had “improved his curve 100 percent.”17 The Florida Tigers roster included 15 players who would later reach the majors. They captured the Florida Instructional League championship.

At the beginning of 1968, Korince found himself on the Detroit 40-man roster and was given a good chance to make the team. A poor bullpen in 1967 was seen as one of the chief culprits in the team’s failure to win the pennant that year. The competition among several young prospects to fill open bullpen slots for 1968 was intense. In the end, Korince did not go north with the team, but was assigned to Toledo. But after appearing in only four games as a reliever while posting a 9.00 ERA with three walks and four strikeouts in two innings, it was again back to Montgomery.

Within a few hours of reporting to the team, Korince picked up a win after 1⅔ innings of scoreless relief. He once more found Double-A ball to his liking. He had another stellar season, primarily as a starter, posting a 13-7 record with a 3.18 ERA. He captured his second Southern League strikeout crown (146 K’s in 161 innings) and also was the league leader in complete games. Korince’s control also improved; he walked only 58 batters.

Korince also managed a two-day honeymoon after marrying his wife, Gail, with Jim Leyland as his best man. On his return to the team, he threw a 6-0 shutout.

Entering the 1969 season, Korince was still on the 40-man major-league roster. However, he did not last long in spring training; in fact, he was the first player cut. He began the year back at Toledo, and this time he stayed for the season. Used mostly as a reliever, he went 1-4 with a 4.74 ERA. His control remained an issue, with 57 walks in 57 innings.

The 1970 season was Korince’s last as a professional. He began once again with Toledo. He started well, with three scoreless appearances, but then arm problems struck. His ERA skyrocketed to 10.80 after five more outings. He was then picked up by the Montreal-affiliated last-place Buffalo Bisons. There Korince pitched in only three games to end his time as a professional player. At the young age of 24, his career was finished. Years later he said, “I had chips in my elbow and my arm was hurting really bad.”18

Korince’s career was brief but not without its accomplishments. Only 10 percent of all who play in the minors ultimately make it to the big leagues. He recorded a major-league victory. He had the opportunity to face future Hall of Famers Mickey Mantle and Carl Yastrzemski. He was a strikeout phenom who led his league twice in that category. Across all levels of play, he averaged an impressive 8.7 strikeouts per nine innings. Finally, as noted earlier, Korince would look back at this time as “probably the best five years of my life.”19

After baseball, Korince worked in the professional cleaning business and for General Motors. In 2012 he was inducted into the St. Catharines Sports Hall of Fame. As of 2022 he was retired and living in North Fort Myers, Florida.

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author used Baseball-Reference.com.

Photo credit: George Korince, courtesy of the Detroit Tigers.

Notes

1 “Korince Is Happy to Be in Majors,” Beckley (West Virginia) Post-Herald, May 4, 1967: 2.

2 Bernie Puchalski, “Merritton’s Moose Joins St. Catharine’s Sport Hall,” St. Catharine’s Standard, May 4, 2012: B2.

3 George Cantor, “Baseball Gold Up in Canada,” Detroit Free Press, February 20, 1966: Section E.

4 Puchalski.

5 Pat Leahy, telephone interview, February 7, 2022.

6 “The TV Journal,” Ottawa Journal, April 17, 1965: 15.

7 Paul Rimstead, “In Big League Ball, the American Kid Has a Two-Year Break,” Calgary Herald, April 29, 1967: 27.

8 Rimstead.

9 “Tigers Open Training Camp,” Sault Sainte Marie (Michigan) Evening News, February 16, 1966: 8.

10 George Cantor, “Crop Is Thin on Tiger Farms,” Detroit Free Press, July 1, 1966: 36.

11 Watson Spoelstra, “Tigers Turn to Home Remedies to Obtain Some Bull-Pen Relief,” The Sporting News, December 31, 1966: 33.

12 “95 Victories Enough for Mayo Kayo,” Oneonta (New York) Star, March 30, 1967: 15.

13 “4 Rookie Hurlers Rate Tiger Shot,” Detroit Free Press, February 22, 1967: 3-D.

14 “Korince Hopes He Can Stick,” Port Huron (Michigan) Herald, May 2, 1967: B-6.

15 Puchalski, “Merritton’s Moose Joins St. Catharine’s Sport Hall.”

16 Puchalski.

17 Watson Spoelstra, “Gladding’s Departure Saddens Lolich,” The Sporting News, December 9, 1967: 36.

18 Puchalski.

19 Puchalski.