Born in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, on December 1, 1948, to George and Regina (Beale) Foster, George Arthur Foster spent his early life picking cotton and hoping, despite his small size, to be chosen for neighborhood ballgames. When he was 8 his parents separated, and he moved to Hawthorne, California, near Los Angeles, with his mother, his older brother, John, and his older sister, Mamie.

In Hawthorne Foster played in the same Little League as future major leaguer Dave Kingman. He played several sports at Leuzinger High School in Lawndale, California, but broke his leg playing basketball in his senior year and did not play baseball that spring. Instead, he established a workout routine, gained weight, and got stronger. After high school, while playing in a fall league, he was spotted by San Francisco Giants scout Jack French, and in late 1968, after playing baseball at El Camino Junior College in Torrance, California, Foster was drafted in the third round of the amateur draft by the Giants, the team of his boyhood hero, Willie Mays.

The Giants sent the 19-year-old Foster to their low-level Class A team in Medford, Oregon. The next season he advanced to Single-A Fresno, made the 1969 California League All Star team, and led his team with 14 home runs and 85 runs batted in. The 6-foot-1, 185-pound powerhouse was drawing attention, and the Giants called him up after the California League season.

Foster’s first major-league hit was an infield single to third base off the Dodgers’ Claude Osteen on September 27. The Giants and Foster repeated the process in 1970: He spent the season at Triple-A Phoenix, where he hit .308 but with less power and fewer RBIs than the season before. Again he got a late-season call-up and on September 25, he hit his first major league home run as a pinch hitter off San Diego’s Pat Dobson. In 1971 Foster made the Giants’ roster as a reserve outfielder, backing up Bobby Bonds, Willie Mays, and Ken Henderson. The reclusive Foster roomed with Bonds, who became his mentor and helped him adjust. Foster avoided the media and rarely engaged in small talk with his teammates, afraid of bothering anyone. His time on the bench, after playing every day in the minors, sent him into a batting slump as he lost 54 points off his batting average during May.

On May 29, the Giants traded Foster to the Reds for shortstop Frank Duffy and pitcher Vern Geishert. The trade turned out to be vastly one-sided in favor of Cincinnati. Duffy was traded to the Cleveland Indians after the season and Geishert never pitched again in the majors. But Foster was sorely disappointed. The day he was dealt the Giants were in first place in the National League West Division and the Reds were near the bottom. He was discouraged, but the trade proved to be a blessing for Foster, and for the Reds. Foster became the Reds’ regular center fielder (in part because his predecessor, Bobby Tolan, sat out the entire season with an Achilles tendon injury). Foster hit .241 with 13 home runs for the season, including .234 with 10 homers for the Reds. On September 16 in San Francisco he avenged himself against his old team by hitting a grand slam off Don McMahon in the eighth inning that assured the Reds victory. Still, despite flashes of excellence, Foster earned only a backup role in the Reds’ outfield in 1972 after Tolan returned to the lineup. Foster played in 59 games and hit just .200 with two home runs. His most memorable moment of the season undoubtedly was the deciding Game Five of the NLCS against the Pittsburgh Pirates when, as a pinch-runner, he scored the winning run from third base on a wild pitch by Bob Moose in the bottom of the ninth inning.

The dramatic finish to the 1972 NLCS brought Foster attention from the press but he made just two brief appearances as the Reds lost the World Series to the Oakland Athletics in seven games. And the next season he was sent back down to Triple-A Indianapolis. Sparky Anderson said, “What George needs to learn is to make contact. When he does, the ball really jumps off his bat.”2

At Indianapolis in 1973, Foster roomed with Ken Griffey, who became a friend and later a teammate on the Reds. Griffey said of Foster, “At first we had a hard time communicating because he was so upset about being sent down, but after a while we’d just have such a good time on the field just laughing that he forgot his situation and started to play ball.”3 That season was a turning point for Foster. He soon accepted the reasoning that more playing time would only help. Anderson and his staff had hoped the stint in the minors would help Foster to mature. He had the skills but needed to develop and improve his mental attitude. Foster’s friendship with Griffey and others helped him to relax, and his hitting improved. This was also a time of spiritual renewal for Foster, who came to profess a strong Christian faith. He worked to stay in shape, began to eat healthy foods and shunned alcohol and tobacco. In September the Reds brought him up to the majors, and he played in 17 games, hitting .282 with four home runs. Anderson confirmed his previous assessment of Foster’s ability, saying, “When George gets into a pitch, no one hits a ball harder than he does—not Willie Stargell, Willie McCovey, or Lee May.”4

As his hitting improved, Foster began to admire another player’s hickory stained bat and ordered one for himself. Foster’s big, black, 35 ounce, 35-inch bat was well known. Foster joked about having integrated the bat rack.

The Reds won the NL West again in 1973 but Foster had been called up too late to be eligible to play in the postseason. Even so he had impressed the Reds enough that he stuck with the team the next season. Anderson declared, “He’ll never be a loudmouth, but his new attitude will make him a better ballplayer.”5

In 1974 the Reds had outfielders Griffey, Cesar Geronimo, and Pete Rose, and Foster was still a part-time player, but this time he was mentally prepared for the role. The hitting coach, former Reds power hitter Ted Kluszewski, worked with Foster on his batting stance, focusing on the inside pitches that Foster had been avoiding. Foster hit .264 with seven homers that season, and broke through in 1975, when he became the regular left fielder after Anderson moved Rose to third base. Foster’s batting average rose to .300 and he hit 23 home runs, helping propel the Reds to a World Series victory over the Boston Red Sox, their first Series championship since 1940. In the bottom of the ninth inning during the dramatic Game Six, Foster threw out the potential winning run at the plate to keep the game going. In the twelfth, Foster actually caught and kept the Carlton Fisk home run ball after it ricocheted off the foul pole. The ball was sold at auction in 1999 for over $100,000. Foster hit .364 in the NLCS and .276 in the World Series. Anderson said, “Having George in left field made the difference in our ballclub winning the World Series.”6

The 1976 season was even better for Foster. He hit 29 home runs, had a league-leading 121 RBIs, and was voted to the National League’s starting lineup for the All Star Game in Philadelphia. He hit a two-run home run off Catfish Hunter, drove in three runs, and was named the game’s Most Valuable Player. He was named the National League’s Player of the Month in May and July, and the Player of the Year by The Sporting News. He had been in contention for the Triple Crown (home runs, RBIs, and batting average), and finished second to teammate Joe Morgan in the voting for the Most Valuable Player. After Morgan was announced as the MVP, Foster declared that he should have won the award, something he immediately regretted saying.7 The Reds swept the Philadelphia Phillies in the NLCS and the Yankees in the World Series. Foster hit .429 in the Series (6-for-14) with four RBIs.

During the season Foster smashed the seventh home run ever to be hit into Riverfront Stadium’s upper deck since the ballpark opened in 1970. In the ballpark’s 33-season existence only 35 home runs were hit there and Foster hit the most, six.

Deprived (in his mind) of the MVP in 1976, Foster responded with a better season the next year and copped the award on the strength of a .320 batting average, and being the league leader in home runs (52), RBIs (149), and runs scored (124). Once again Foster was voted to the All-Star Team (he was 1-for-3 with one RBI as the National League won). On July 14, just before the All-Star break, Foster hit three home runs in a game against Atlanta, and he wound up with 12 that month. Of his home run total that season, Foster said, “I saw the ball so well. It seemed almost any pitch would do.”8 Foster’s home run total in 1977 was the most since Willie Mays hit 52 in 1965. The fifty home run milestone not reached again until Detroit’s Cecil Fielder hit 51 in 1990.

After the 1977 season Foster combined an exhibition tour to Japan (he was voted the MVP for the tour) with a honeymoon. He married Sheila Roberts on November 3. They later had two daughters, Starrine and Shawna.

In 1978 his batting average slipped to .281, but he again led the National League in home runs (40) and RBIs (120). But over the next two seasons his production fell as he battled injuries and missed playing time. He rallied in 1981 and drove in 90 runs in 108 games in the strike-shortened season. Before the next season, on February 10, 1982, Foster was traded to the New York Mets for catcher Alex Treviño and pitchers Jim Kern and Greg Harris. His nearly 11-year run with the Big Red Machine was over.

Foster, 33 years old by this time, signed a five-year, $10 million contract with the Mets – the largest in the National League at the time – but struggled from the start. After seven straight seasons of hitting at least 20 home runs, he managed only 13 in New York, and his batting average plummeted to .247. Mets fans took to booing him.

Foster improved his home-run numbers in the next three years as the Mets vaulted into contention in 1984 after years of ineptitude. But by 1986, as the Mets were having one of their greatest seasons, the 37-year-old Foster was struggling in part-time play. A comment Foster made in August to a sportswriter appeared to accuse Mets manager Davey Johnson of favoring white players. “I’m not saying it’s a racial thing. But that seems to be the case in sports these days,” Foster was quoted as saying. “When a ballclub can, they replace a George Foster or a Mookie Wilson with a more popular white player. I think the Mets would rather promote a Gary Carter or a Keith Hernandez to the fans so parents who want to can point to them as role models for their children, rather than a Darryl Strawberry or a Dwight Gooden or a George Foster.”9 Foster told Johnson and his teammates that his comments had been taken out of context, and some of the teammates supported him, but he was released the day the article appeared.10 With a huge contract and a lackluster performance, Foster was destined to be released anyway. The Chicago White Sox picked him up and he hit a home run (the 348th and last of his career) in his first game with the team, but he was released after three weeks.

Foster was a minor-league hitting instructor for the Reds in the late 1990s and later a special instructor with the team. He has also coached in high school and college. He has spent time as a corporate speaker, and with a baseball training organization called the George Foster Baseball Clinic. In 2003, Foster was inducted into the Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame.

During Foster’s playing days he spent time with young baseball players, giving them equipment and instructing them on batting. Dayton, Ohio, sportswriter Hal McCoy who covered Foster when he was with the Reds, called him “the greatest person in baseball,” adding, “I mean as a person, not just as a player. He never raises his voice, no matter how harassed he may be by fans. I asked him once if he’d let me use his name for Building Bridges, an organization for underprivileged kids. He said, ‘No, you’ll have more than my name. I’ll be there too.’ ”11 Foster seeks to teach future ballplayers to work hard and believe in their abilities.

Last revised: May 1, 2014

This biography is included in the book “The Great Eight: The 1975 Cincinnati Reds”ere” (University of Nebraska Press, 2014), edited by Mark Armour. It is also included “The 1986 New York Mets: There Was More Than Game Six” (SABR, 2016), edited by Leslie Heaphy and Bill Nowlin.

Notes

“First, I want to achieve the plateau of 400 homers. It’ll enhance my chances of reaching 500,” the 37-year-old Foster said.2 He boldly added that he believed he could “average 30 home runs a year for the next five years,”3 even though he had not reached that mark in a season since 1979.

Unfortunately for Foster, he hit only one more home run in his career, which came in his AL debut against the Milwaukee Brewers at Comiskey Park. Foster smashed a 400-foot home run into the lower deck in left-center field in the fourth inning. That solo shot was the last of three home runs Chicago hit on August 15, but the Brewers rallied for a 4-3 win after being down to their last strike in the top of the ninth.

Foster’s journey to Chicago began on July 22, when the Mets could sense a special season was brewing and made a pair of roster moves designed to improve their chances of a World Series championship – which they won in seven games over the Boston Red Sox.

Though manager Davey Johnson declared that the plan was not “etched in stone,”4 he benched Foster – the NL’s highest-paid player with $2.8 million in compensation for 1986 – in favor of a platoon between 24-year-old rookie Kevin Mitchell and 28-year-old Danny Heep.5 Johnson also gave the full-time center-field job to 23-year-old Lenny Dykstra, who had been platooning with 30-year-old Mookie Wilson.

“I guess when you’re 13½ games up, you can experiment,” Foster said on July 23 in a precursor to remarks that led to his release and eventual transition to the White Sox. “I know I’m not swinging well, but there are other guys who haven’t been swinging well and they still get to play. … [W]ith 72 games to go … there has to be something behind this other than the fact that I’m not swinging well.”6

About two weeks and a scant 14 plate appearances later, Foster’s frustration had grown. He doubled down on his disdain, drawing the ire of team executives.7

“I’m not saying it’s a racial thing, but that seems to be the case in sports these days,” Foster said on August 5. “When a ball club can, they replace a George Foster or a Mookie Wilson with a more popular white player. I think the Mets would rather promote a Gary Carter or a Keith Hernandez to the fans, so parents who want to, can point to them as role models for their children rather than a Darryl Strawberry, a Dwight Gooden, or a George Foster. The kids don’t see color, though.”8

A day later, Foster clarified that his quote had been taken out of context because he was speaking strictly from a business and economics point of view: “I never said race had anything to do with who plays – me or Dykstra or Lee] Mazzilli or Mitchell. I even prefaced my remarks by saying I didn’t want it to be racial. How could it be construed as such when Kevin Mitchell isn’t white? I was talking from a business standpoint about promoting players, marketing players. You can take it from a business or economic standpoint: What product will sell to the public? What section of people will it attract to the ballpark?”9

Even so, it was too late.

Foster’s remarks became the final straw in what had become a contentious relationship that New York severed on August 7.10

As an aging outfielder, Foster knew his best chance to latch onto a team would come in the AL, where he could also serve as a designated hitter.11 The White Sox – holding only a sliver of hope of securing the AL West Division title12 – quickly expressed interest in Foster, who provided the right-handed power hitter Chicago lacked after trading Ron Kittle to the New York Yankees.13 Before the August 15 game against Milwaukee, the White Sox signed Foster to a prorated $60,000 league minimum contract, which cost the franchise a little less than $20,000 – a steep discount from the $10 million the Mets guaranteed him in 1982.14

And the first game of Foster’s Chicago tenure made it seem as though he would be worth it.

Daryl Boston launched his first career leadoff home run to right field in the bottom of the first inning15 to give Chicago an early lead against Milwaukee starter Bill Wegman, a 23-year-old rookie who entered with nine losses. Ron Hassey added to Chicago’s advantage with his own home run to lead off the second, making him and Boston the first players in White Sox history to lead off the first and second innings of the same game with home runs.16 Foster’s solo shot to open the fourth extended the lead to 3-0.17

“It felt good to get those hits,” said Foster, who also singled in the sixth inning for his first multihit game since June 22. “This is a talented, ambitious club, and I want to contribute.”18

Milwaukee’s Rick Manning opened the fifth with a triple and scored after Rick Cerone flied out to right, spoiling veteran Richard Dotson’s hopes of recording his first scoreless start since 1984.19 In the sixth Gorman Thomas knocked a one-out double into right and scored when Glenn Braggs hit a two-out single.

The White Sox appeared poised to win 3-2 going into the top of the ninth, but a clutch hit from future Hall of Famer Paul Molitor changed the mood of the 22,187 fans in the Friday night crowd.

Facing reliever Bill Dawley – who entered with two outs in the sixth inning and retired eight straight White Sox – Jim Gantner hit a one-out single. After Manning flied out, Dawley walked pinch-hitter Ben Oglivie, and new reliever Dave Schmidt put Molitor into a 0-and-2 count with the game on the line.

“I stepped out of the box and tried to relax and block the crowd out,” Molitor said. “I choked up on the bat and fought off the pitch.”20

Molitor looped Schmidt’s breaking ball into center field for a single that extended his hitting streak to eight games21 and evened the score at 3-3. Both he and pinch-runner Charlie Moore advanced a base on the throw home, so when Schmidt uncorked a wild pitch a few pitches later, it allowed Moore to easily cross the plate as the winning run.22

Brewers rookie reliever Dan Plesac, who had entered in the eighth, made quick work of the White Sox in the bottom of the ninth, inducing a weak Russ Morman groundout and striking out pinch hitters Luis Salazar and Jerry Hairston to collect his eighth win of the season.

Plesac, a hard-throwing, 24-year-old left-hander who had started 61 games in the minors since the Brewers selected him in the first round of the June 1983 draft, embraced his role in the bullpen. His performance against Chicago gave him three wins in his eight appearances since July 21.

“When I did have a chance to start him, I decided I couldn’t do it the way he’s been pitching,” Milwaukee manager George Bamberger said. “We probably have one of the best bullpens in baseball now with this kid and Mark] Clear.”23

Dawley, a former Houston Astro in his first season with Chicago, took the loss and dropped to 0-5.

“It’s a tough loss,” said White Sox manager Jim Fregosi, Chicago’s third skipper of the season.24 “A walk, a bloop single, and a wild pitch. Not a nice way to lose a game.”25

After winning the opening stanza of a three-game series, the strategically rebuilding Brewers (57-58) – who traded away 30-year-old starter Danny Darwin before beating the White Sox26 – climbed back to .500 the next day with a 6-5 win. Foster once again tried to do his part for the White Sox (51-63), following his sparkling AL debut with an RBI triple. He added hits in four of the next six games, but after he batted only .167 over his next seven appearances, Chicago released him on September 7.

“Part of my coming here was to showcase myself,” Foster said. “I know deep down that I can still play. Things didn’t work out like I wanted them to. I just appreciate the White Sox for giving me the opportunity that they did. I knew it was important for me to produce right away.”27

Foster never appeared in the major leagues again. He attempted to find a job during the offseason by mingling outside the winter meetings at the Diplomat Hotel in Hollywood, Florida, in December 1986 but could not secure a contract, despite “planting the seeds letting people know that I still want to play.”28

Acknowledgments

This article was fact-checked by Laura Peebles and copy-edited by Len Levin.

Photo credit: George Foster, Trading Card Database.

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted the Baseball-Reference.com, Stathead.com, and Retrosheet.org websites for pertinent statistics and the box scores noted below. He also used information obtained from the New York Times, New York Daily News, Chicago Tribune, and The Sporting News.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/CHA/CHA198608150.shtml

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1986/B08150CHA1986.htm

Notes

1 Foster debuted in 1969 with the San Francisco Giants and was traded to the Cincinnati Reds in 1971. He remained there until a 1982 offseason trade sent him to the Mets.

2 Bob Logan, “Foster Has Blast in His Sox Debut,” Chicago Tribune, August 16, 1986: 2-1.

3 Nicholas K. Geranios (Associated Press), “Foster: I Can Average 30 Home Runs a Year For Five Years,”
 Belleville (Illinois) News Democrat, August 16, 1986: 3D.

4 Howard Blatt, “Met Lineup Shakeup,” New York Daily News, July 24, 1986: 65.

5 Before his benching, Foster had highlights such as NL Player of the Week honors in June and hitting his 13th career grand slam on May 27.

6 Howard Blatt, “Foster, Mook Sit in Favor of Mitch, Len,” New York Daily News, July 24, 1986: 60.

7 Manager Davey Johnson took particular offense to Foster’s remarks: “Normally, I wouldn’t comment on something a player is quoted as saying. But this is an affront to me. He was alluding to my integrity as a baseball manager. I cannot have anybody on the club who questions my motives. George is a fine man, a good man, and he’s been a great ballplayer. But it hurts me. He put me into a corner. The only thing I can think of is he’s had a great career, and I’ve had the unfortunate task of sitting him down near the end of his career.” Joseph Durso, “Mets to Drop Foster Amid Racial Controversy,” New York Times, August 7, 1986: 1.

8 Jim Corbett, “Foster Blasts Mets’ Moves,” Journal-News (Rockland County, New York), August 6, 1986: C1.

9 Durso.

10 An official release from the Mets cited that Foster had been “ineffective as a part-time player” since his benching. Johnson reportedly wanted to release Foster in July rather than bench him, but general manager Frank Cashen refused the move, hoping Foster would provide leadership and a trusted veteran pinch-hitter during the postseason. The August 7 release cost the Mets about $1.7 million – $500,000 buyout options for 1987 and ’88, and about $700,000 remaining on his 1986 salary. Durso, and Dave Anderson, “What’s Behind Foster Furor,” New York Times, August 10, 1986: S3.

11 Associated Press, “Foster Blames Low Production on Mets,” Decatur (Illinois) Herald and Review, August 9, 1986: B4.

12 On the day the Mets released Foster, Chicago sat 10 games below .500 but were only nine games behind the division-leading California Angels.

13 On July 30 Chicago sent Kittle, Joel Skinner, and Wayne Tolleson to the Yankees for Hassey, Carlos Martínez, and a player to be named later (Bill Lindsey). After the trade, general manager Ken Harrelson explained that the team was “trying to corral the best young talent we can get,” and also seemed to have given up on the season, explaining that the difference between the Kittle trade and an offseason trade was that in December, “we thought we were in a good position to win the division.” Jerome Holtzman, “It’s Back to the Future,” Chicago Tribune, July 31, 1986: 4-3.

14 The White Sox demoted outfielder Steve Lyons, acquired from Boston earlier in the season in exchange for Tom Seaver, to the minor leagues to make room on the roster for Foster.

15 The leadoff home run marked the first one for the White Sox since Rudy Law outran an inside-the-park homer to lead off the bottom of the first inning against the Oakland Athletics on September 21, 1985. On May 3, 1987, Boston led off a game at Baltimore with a home run off Mike Boddicker, the first of six leadoff homers the White Sox hit that year.

16 According to data available since 1915 in Stathead’s batting event database as of June 10, 2024. The White Sox repeated the feat on September 22, 1999, when Mike Caruso led off a game at Yankee Stadium with a home run off Hideki Irabu and Chris Singleton led off the second inning with another homer. Chicago did it again on June 4, 2000 (Ray Durham and Singleton against Houston’s Octavio Dotel); July 2, 2002 (Kenny Lofton and José Valentín against Detroit’s Adam Bernero); August 17, 2006 (Pablo Ozuna and Jermaine Dye against Kansas City’s Odalis Pérez); and September 23, 2021 (Tim Anderson and Luis Robert against Cleveland’s Aaron Civale).

17 In 1986 the White Sox hit three home runs in a game seven times during the season. (This game marked the sixth occurrence.) It was Chicago’s lowest total of such games since the White Sox hit three or more homers in only three games during the strike-shortened 1981 season. It was the lowest full-season total since having five such games in 1980.

18 Logan.

19 Dotson last allowed no runs on August 5, 1984, with 7⅓ scoreless innings at Milwaukee. Dotson later recorded a shutout on September 5, 1986, against the Toronto Blue Jays.

20 Logan.

21 Molitor’s hitting streak continued for four more games. The following year, he garnered national attention by hitting in 39 straight games.

22 Five days earlier, Schmidt allowed a game-winning home run to Gorman Thomas in the 11th inning of a game at Milwaukee.

23 United Press International, “Brewers Dump Sox,” Streator (Illinois) Times-Press, August 16, 1986: 6.

24 Chicago opened the season with Tony La Russa as manager, but he was fired on June 19 after a 26-38 start. Hitting coach Doug Rader took on an interim role for the next two games before the White Sox pried Fregosi away from the Louisville Redbirds, the St. Louis Cardinals’ Triple-A affiliate. Fregosi had also been named as a potential manager for the Cubs after they fired Jim Frey on June 12, but they hired Gene Michael.

25 United Press International, “Brewers Dump Sox.”

26 The Brewers sent Darwin to the Houston Astros in exchange for minor-league pitcher Don August, a member of the 1984 Team USA Olympic team, and a player to be named later (Mark Knudson). Milwaukee promoted Mike Birkbeck to the major-league roster after the trade. Brewers general manager Harry Dalton said: “We are not trying to be young just to be young. We’re trying to put this team together so when we get it where we want it, it will be there for years.” Associated Press, “At 30, Darwin Too Old For Brewers,” Capital Times (Madison, Wisconsin), August 16, 1986: 21.

27 Ed Sherman, “Sox Win; Foster Released,” Chicago Tribune, September 8, 1986: 3-3.

28 Frank Dolson, “A Slugger Finds Himself Without a Job – Or His Money,” Philadelphia Inquirer, December 14, 1986: 1-E.

The Caster family had slowly worked their way across the United States. George’s great-grandfather was born in Ohio, his grandfather in Iowa, and his father in South Dakota. George Jasper Caster was the first child born to Ira Brinton Caster and Catherine (Corbett) Caster when he joined the family in Colton, California, on August 4, 1907. He would be joined later by a sister, Catherine, and a brother, John. Ira was a grocery-store proprietor. He also served occasionally as a deputy sheriff in San Bernardino County. Caster’s mother had musical talent as a singer and whistler. She was active in the society activities of the area as both a performer and a hostess. Caster attended local schools and graduated from Colton High School. He then enrolled in San Bernardino Community College and attended the University of Southern California briefly.

Colton was a major junction on the railway system in California. During the 1920s its population nearly doubled to 8,000. The community supported a wide range of baseball teams; there was a local league as well as semipro teams that toured. Caster first appeared in box scores as a 19-year-old. Early in his career he made it known that he was a workhorse and would take the hill as often as his team needed. Playing in a winter league in 1927 for a team called West Coast Theatre, he pitched in both ends of a doubleheader against teams named L.A. Nippons and Torrance Merchants. He was pulled after six innings of the first game, but watched his team come back for a 9-7 win. Then he pitched a complete-game victory in the nightcap.

The next spring, Caster pitched for the Colton Cement Dusters before joining the Colton Merchants in a winter league. By this time, news of his talent had spread throughout California and he had signed a contract to join the San Francisco Mission Reds of the Pacific Coast League in 1929. That winter he played baseball, attended college, and played basketball for an independent team. In mid-February of 1929 he left for spring training with the Mission Reds and some early tutelage from manager Wade Killefer.

Caster was a right-handed thrower and hitter. He stood 6-feet-1-inch and weighed 180 pounds. After a month with the Missions, he was farmed out to the San Bernardino Padres in the newly formed Class-D California State League. His manager, former major-league outfielder Rube Ellis, recognized Caster’s talent and made him the ace of the staff. Caster responded by leading the league in wins and winning percentage as well as strikeouts. He became a fan favorite because he “has a ‘fast’ ball and shows more zip on his twisters than any other hurler.”2

The league disbanded in mid-June with the Padres in third place. Caster was one of the players elevated to the Reds roster. In 84 innings, he posted a 5-4 mark with a 4.71 ERA. Caster earned his first PCL win on June 20, when he relieved football great Ernie Nevers. Caster got one out to close the ninth and saw his team rally to win the game. The Reds made the playoffs in 1929 for the only time in their 12-year history, but lost to the Hollywood Stars.

In the offseason, on November 6, 1929, Caster married Daisy Jeanne Herlinger. She was a native of Colorado who had moved to San Bernardino and graduated from high school there a year after Caster left Colton High School. The couple had two children, Connie (born in 1932) and Catherine (born in 1935).

In 1930, Caster got off to a shaky start, losing his first start and following that with a rocky relief appearance. He righted himself and won three straight starts before a couple of rough outings shattered his confidence. He spent about a month in relief before he was returned to the rotation in early June. Three losses and a no-decision coupled with control issues forced the Reds to option Caster to the Globe Bears in the Class-D Arizona State League on July 6.

Caster continued to be inconsistent with Globe. The Arizona Republic credited him with a 6-7 regular-season mark for the playoff-bound Bears.3 The Bears swept Phoenix in the first round as Caster tossed a complete-game victory in the second match-up. He lost the opener of the finals with the Bisbee Bees and then was hammered in a relief appearance. A scheduling disagreement led to a forfeit win for Bisbee to end the playoffs. Caster returned to the Bay Area and made six starts for the Missions, winning the last two. He closed out the season on the coast with an 8-10 mark and a 5.48 ERA.

Caster came to training camp in 1931 intent upon improving his craft. Wildness had eroded his confidence in 1930 and he worked on both his control and his mindset in tight situations. He had to learn to work out of jams, especially in late innings. He was put to an early test on March 16 in an exhibition game with the Detroit Tigers. He entered the game in the sixth and the Missions quickly put him in a hole by making two errors. Caster surrendered some runs, but kept his composure and finished the game. Mission rallied for an 8-6 win.

In 1930 Caster walked 78 in 128 innings. In 1931 he walked 79, but worked 236 innings. The Missions struggled to an 84-103 finish and just missed the cellar. Caster posted a 13-17 record. His season high points came on May 31, when he shut out Sacramento on four hits, and July 5 and September 8, when he tossed complete-game victories and hit home runs. He was scouted by the Pirates in July and the Phillies in September, but neither team made an offer.

Caster held out briefly in 1932, but reported to the Missions’ training camp in Woodland, California, in excellent shape. He pitched a March 24 exhibition against the Chicago Cubs in San Francisco which the Missions won 11-4. The Missions were destined to finish in last place with a 71-117 record despite Ox Eckhardt’s league-leading .371 batting average. Despite the positive start, Caster’s season quickly turned sour. He did not record a win until April 29. An ankle injury and a bout with a dead arm made him ineffective.

On July 5, after Caster allowed four first-inning runs and retired only one batter, the Missions released him. He was quickly signed by Los Angeles. He lasted less than two innings in his first and only start for the Angels. In July and August, he made nine relief appearances before he was released along with Fred Haney and Homer Summa on September 1. He closed out the season with a 3-9 record.

The San Francisco Chronicle wrote on January 21, 1933, that Caster had been signed by the Seattle Indians. The writer offered that Caster had the ability, but that he “works so hard that he loses his stuff. If he had better poise and learned how to conserve his strength he could win in this league.”4

The Indians opened the season poorly and were in last place at 4-10 before Caster saw much action. He got his first start on May 7 and lost to Portland. Nine days later he faced Oakland and beat the Oaks 11-5, helping his own cause with two doubles. On June 10, he blasted a three-run homer and pitched a complete-game 11-4 win over Hollywood. But the losses piled up faster than the wins. For the season, Caster went 12-19 for the Indians, who finished last in the PCL at 65-119.

The 1934 season opened on a bright note when Caster beat San Francisco 4-1, but that was his high point with the Indians. They sold him to Portland on May 5. Caster’s game came together with the Beavers. He posted his finest ERA in the Pacific Coast League at 3.40, which led the team. He surrendered 9.46 hits per nine innings, by far his lowest total in the six seasons in the PCL. Connie Mack and the Athletics came calling and Caster went east along with Jack Wilson on September 6.

Caster made his major-league debut on September 10, 1934, in Cleveland. He had gone to a no-windup delivery and used it when he faced the Tribe’s power trio of Earl Averill, Hal Trosky, and Joe Vosmik. He held the trio of .300 batters without a hit on his way to a 9-6 win. Roy Mahaffey pitched the ninth inning after Caster was touched for three runs in the eighth. At the plate, Caster poked a couple of singles and drove in two runs. Four days later he took on the Browns in St. Louis. He tossed a complete game but lost 5-2. On September 19 he went 10 innings in Chicago to beat the White Sox 5-3. He closed out his rookie season with two relief appearances, winning one and losing one. In 37 innings, Caster posted a 3.41 ERA to go with his 3-2 record. He batted .267 with 4 RBIs.

Caster’s 37 innings put him 10th on the staff in work. At 26, he was the fourth oldest pitcher on the staff. The Athletics had finished fifth in 1934 and prospects looked good for 1935. Mack returned sluggers Jimmie Foxx and Bob Johnson, kept his infield intact, and added rookie Wally Moses to the outfield. But the pitching staff took a nosedive. Only Johnny Marcum and Roy Mahaffey put up better numbers in 1935 than in 1934. Sugar Cain and Joe Cascarella went from a combined 21 wins to just one and were both dealt. Bill Dietrich’s ERA skyrocketed.

Caster took on the role of mop-up man in 1935. He appeared in 25 games and worked 63⅓ innings. Only four times did he find himself in an Athletics victory. At the close of the season he got his only start and gave up eight runs to Cleveland in a 10-0 loss. He finished 1-4 with a 6.25 ERA.

Caster returned to the Portland Beavers in 1936. There he was united with veteran catcher Earle Brucker. In their early sessions, Brucker was unimpressed with Caster’s fastball or curve. “Is that all you got?” he asked. “What do you use for a change of pace?” Caster said he had a knuckleball, but catchers did not like him using it. “You throw it,” Brucker said, “If I can’t catch it, I’ll run it down.”5

With his pitching repertoire complete, Caster went on to his finest season. He won 25 games to lead the league and led in strikeouts with 234. The Beavers finished in first place and then won eight of nine playoff games to clinch the title. Caster netted three of the playoff victories to give him 28 wins for the year. He pocketed over $3,000 in prize money. Brucker and Caster joined the Philadelphia Athletics for 1937.

Caster began 1937 by ruining the April 23 Ladies Day in Washington. Before 15,000 spectators, he tossed a nifty four-hitter and won 7-1. He followed that performance with four complete games in his next five outings and found himself the ace of the Athletics staff. He posted a 12-19 record with a 4.43 ERA. His wins and ERA were both second on the team. He completed 19 of his 33 starts and tossed three shutouts. The first of those was against Cleveland on June 27. The 10-0 win snapped a personal six-game losing streak.

The following year, 1938, Caster stepped up his performance as the Athletics fell into the cellar. He went 16-20, throwing 20 complete games. Caster’s ERA of 4.35 was more than a point below the team’s total and below the league average, too. He tossed two shutouts. Only Bobo Newsom and Red Ruffing had more complete games and only Newsom worked more innings. Caster accomplished all this for a team that managed only 53 wins. His overall WAR of 5.0 was the best on the team.

Caster earned the honor of starting on Opening Day in 1939 and responded with a four-hit shutout of Washington. That would be the high point of a season in which he was plagued with arm troubles. He missed two weeks in May and June and then was shelved from July 9 to September 11. When he came back late in the season he was relegated to relief duties. He posted a 9-9 mark.

The 1940 season proved to be an even greater struggle for Caster. He dropped his first four decisions before earning a win in relief. He proceeded to lose seven more starts before finally earning a win in a June 26 complete game. He posted two wins in July on his way to a dismal 4-19 record. His ERA ballooned to 6.56. On November 16, he was picked up on waivers by the St. Louis Browns.

Caster continued his struggles in 1941 with the Browns by winning only 3 of 10 decisions and posting an ERA of 5.00. Luke Sewell took over as Browns manager in late May. Caster was given the role of game finisher and would never start another game in the majors. The statistic of a save did not exist in the 1940s, but baseball historians have added the statistic retroactively.  Caster embraced his new role and became one of the game’s best relievers. In 1942 he had an 8-2 record with five saves. His ERA was a sparkling 2.81. He followed that up with a 6-8 mark and eight saves in 1943. His ERA of 2.12 was the second best in the league for pitchers with more than 10 innings. His eight saves tied him with Johnny Murphy for fourth.

The Browns won the pennant in 1944 and Caster played a major role. His 12 saves tied him for the league lead. He had a 6-6 record and an ERA of 2.44. Writer Frederick G. Lieb called him simply “the best relief pitcher in the majors.”6 Caster did not see any action in the World Series. In 1945 Caster struggled and was placed on waivers with a 6.89 ERA. The league-leading Detroit Tigers took a chance and claimed him on August 8. He immediately paid dividends by going 4⅓ and 4⅔ innings to earn victories on August 11 and 12. He suffered two rough outings versus the Yankees when he surrendered 10 runs in 8⅓ innings. Without those two outings, his ERA would have been 2.51; as it was, it soared to 3.86. With Detroit, he won five of six decisions and saved two games.

Caster saw action in Game Six of the World Series. With one out in the fifth, he relieved Virgil Trucks, who had surrendered four runs. He stranded two runners by getting Andy Pafko to pop up to third and striking out Bill Nicholson. The Tigers claimed the title in Game Seven and Caster added a nice bonus to his salary.

Caster had been eligible for military service throughout the war years. He was a member of the Naval Reserve and had been cleared for submarine duty. In the offseason, he worked in the Long Beach shipyards, which earned him a 2-B classification in 1944. However, he was still called for induction in 1944, but was not taken. It is unknown why he was never called to service.7

Caster returned to the Tigers in 1946. He recorded five saves and a 2-1 record, but with an ERA of 5.66 and at age 38, his career was near an end. He was released and in 1947 played for Hollywood and San Diego in the PCL. His season and career ended in a collision on a California highway. In 1950, he sued the driver and won a settlement, claiming the accident injured his pitching arm. In 1949 he was appointed manager of the Riverside Dons in the Class-C Sunset League. He was fired on September 11 after the team bus broke down 50 miles from a game in Las Vegas. Caster, in the eyes of the team president, did not do enough to get the team to the ballpark.

Caster retired from baseball and became a machinist with Douglas Aircraft. He was attending the company Christmas party on December 18, 1955, when he succumbed to a major heart attack. He was interred in the Sunnyside Mausoleum on the grounds of Forest Lawn Cemetery in Long Beach, California.

This biography is included in “20-Game Losers” (SABR, 2017), edited by Bill Nowlin and Emmet R. Nowlin.

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author also relied on Baseball-Reference.com.

Notes

1 Red Smith, “Views of Sport,” Seattle Daily Times, December 22, 1955: 25.

2 San Bernardino County Sun, May 29, 1929: 12.

3 Arizona Republic, September 2, 1930: 11.

4 “Charley Hall Sends Hurler to Missions,” San Francisco Chronicle, January 21, 1933: 12.

5 Red Smith, “Views of Sport,” Seattle Daily Times, December 22, 1955: 25.

6 Frederick G. Lieb, “Yank Jinx Big Threat to Browns,” The Sporting News, June 8, 1944: 1.

7 His military information was on his HOF questionnaire filled out by Daisy Caster.