Snuffy Stirnweiss Obituary

Baseball Almanac presents the actual word-for-word transcript from the obituary of Snuffy Stirnweiss, taken from The Star Ledger.

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"On the morning of the last day of the 1945 season, Chicago's Tony Cuccinello led the AL with a .308 BA; Stirnweiss was at .306. The White Sox were rained out. Stirnweiss had two hits and was given a third when the New York official scorer reversed an error ruling, to win the batting title at .3085 to Cuccinello's .3077." - Author Norman L. Macht on BaseballLibrary.com

Snuffy Stirnweiss Obituary

Image Courtesy of The New York Times (09-16-1958)

Appeared in The Star Ledger on September 16, 1958 / Obituaries / Snuffy Stirnweiss

Biographical Sketches of Dead and Missing Passengers in Bayonne Wreck
George H. Stirnweiss

A former New York Yankee infielder, George (Snuffy) Stirnweiss was seen to board one of the front cars of the train just as it pulled out of the Red Bank Station.

Mr. Stirnweiss, a foreign freight agent, was expected in New York about noon to keep a luncheon appointment for his company, Caldwell & Co., of 50 Broad Street. He failed to appear and has not been heard from since, either at his office or at his home at 140 Maple Street, Red Bank.

The son of a New York policeman, Mr. Stirnweiss was one of the fastest baserunners in the American League while playing second base for the Yankees between 1943 and 1950. He was married and the father of six children, aged 17 months to 15 years.

In his eight years with the Yankees, Mr. Stirnweiss became so proficient at his infield post that many forgot he also had been an All-American halfback at the University of North Carolina.

After being graduated in 1940, he was drafted by the Chicago Cardinals of the National Football League. However, he cast his lot with baseball and signed with the Yankees' organization.

He began his baseball career with Norfolk in the Piedmont League that summer, then was promoted to Newark in the International League before the season's end. He stayed there until 1942.

In 1945, his third year in the majors, Mr. Stirnweiss won the American League batting championship with an average of .309. He also was a prolific base-stealer, leading the league with fifty-five in 1944 and with thirty-three in 1945.

He was in three world series' and was a member of the 1946 All-Star team. Twice he led the league in triples and in fielding average for a second baseman. In 1948, with only five errors tallied against him, he set a major league fielding record with a .993 average.

The Yankees traded him to the St. Louis Browns in 1950, and the following year he was sold to the Cleveland Indians.

In 1956, after managing minor league teams in Scheneetady and Binghamton, Mr. Stirnweiss entered the banking field as solicitor of new accounts for the Federation Bank and Trust Company. A heart attack in June, 1957, forced him into temporary retirement.

Recently, however, he returned to baseball by taking charge of the sandlot program for The New York Journal-American.

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The train crash Snuffy Stirnweiss died in was covererd on the front page of most major newspapers nation wide. The headline in New Jersey read "40 FEARED DEAD AS TRAIN DIVES OFF OPEN NEWARK BAY BRIDGE; SUNKEN CARS TRAP COMMUTERS" and a close-up of a semi-submerged Central Railroad car appears below:

Image Courtesy of The Star Ledger (09-16-1958)

The three World Series contests mentioned in the obituary were the 1943 World Series, 1947 World Series and 1949 World Series — all three victories by the New York Yankees.

Did you know that Snuffy Stirnweiss tied the still standing American League record held by Bill Bradley (1903) and Birdie Cree (1911) for triples in a season with twenty-two in 1945?