George Uhle

George Ernest Uhle
(The Bull)

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 0", Weight 190 lb.
• High School Cleveland West High School
• Debut April 30, 1919
• Final Game September 22, 1936
• Born September 18, 1898 in Cleveland, OH USA
• Died February 26, 1985 in Lakewood, OH USA

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Biographical Information

George Uhle pitched 17 years in the majors, winning exactly 200. Pitching for the Cleveland Indians during most of the 1920s, he led the American League with 26 wins in 1923 and 27 wins in 1926. In spite of his efforts, in neither season was his team able to win the pennant; however, he did pitch in the 1920 World Series as a young player.

Uhle was born in Cleveland, OH and was pitching in the majors at age 20. He pitched 29 complete games in 1923. After ten seasons with the Indians, he was traded to the Detroit Tigers for whom he pitched 4+ years. In his best year with the Tigers, 1929, he went 15-11.

1933 was spent with three teams. He went 6-1 for the team where he pitched the most, the New York Yankees. The next season, 1934 he stayed with the Yankees but also was in the minors with the Toledo Mud Hens for part of the season. He came back to the majors with the Indians in 1926 to close out his major league career. In 1938 and 1939 he pitched for the Buffalo Bisons.

Although a pitcher, he finished his career with a lifetime .289 batting average. He would likely have been a successful position player, as he had some good seasonal batting averages: .344 in 1920, .361 in 1923, .343 in 1929 and .381 in 1936. While he was in 513 games as a pitcher, he had 722 total appearances in the majors, thus showing that he was used as a pinch-hitter quite regularly - he had 169 at-bats as a major league pinch-hitter, and he led the league in pinch-hit batting average in 1924 with 11 hits in 26 tries. Source: Pitchers as Pinch Hitters

Uhle easily had the best career of any Cleveland-born pitcher for the Indians.

Notable Achievements

• 2-time AL Wins Leader (1923 & 1926)
• AL Winning Percentage Leader (1926)
• 2-time AL Innings Pitched Leader (1923 & 1926)
• 2-time AL Complete Games Leader (1923 & 1926)
• AL Shutouts Leader (1922)
• 15 Wins Seasons: 5 (1921-1923, 1926 & 1929)
• 20 Wins Seasons: 3 (1922, 1923 & 1926)
• 25 Wins Seasons: 2 (1923 & 1926)
• 200 Innings Pitched Seasons: 8 (1921-1923, 1925, 1926 & 1928-1930)
• 300 Innings Pitched Seasons: 2 (1923 & 1926)
• Won a World Series with the Cleveland Indians in 1920

Related Sites

• George Uhle at the SABR Bio Project