George Pipgras

George Pipgras
Pitcher
Born: (1899-12-20)December 20, 1899 Ida Grove, Iowa, U.S.
Died: October 19, 1986(1986-10-19) (aged 86) Gainesville, Florida, U.S.
Batted: Right Threw: Right
MLB debut
June 9, 1923, for the New York Yankees
Last MLB appearance
June 2, 1935, for the Boston Red Sox
MLB statistics
Win–loss record	102–73
Earned run average	4.09
Strikeouts	714
Teams
New York Yankees (1923–1924, 1927–1933) Boston Red Sox (1933–1935)
Career highlights and awards
4× World Series champion (1923, 1927, 1928, 1932) AL wins leader (1928)

George William Pipgras (December 20, 1899 – October 19, 1986) was an American right-handed starting pitcher and umpire in Major League Baseball.

Known as "The Danish Viking", he spent most of his playing career with the

After ending his 11-year career with the Boston Red Sox, he became an AL umpire from 1938 to 1946, and was the umpire behind the plate in one of baseball's most dramatic wins ever: on September 30, 1945, at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis, when Hank Greenberg hit a ninth-inning grand slam, after Pipgras suggested to Greenberg the game should be called on account of darkness. However, Greenberg convinced him he could still see the ball, so the game proceeded. The next pitch was hit over the fence and the Detroit Tigers went on to win the pennant and eventually the 1945 World Series over the Chicago Cubs 4–3 in 7 games.

His younger brother Ed pitched briefly for the 1932 Brooklyn Dodgers.

Pitching career

Pipgras was born in Ida Grove, Iowa, and served in World War I with the 25th Army Engineers.

He started his major league career with the Yankees in the

Pipgras died in Gainesville, Florida at the age of 86. He was survived by his wife, Mattie Mae, who died in 2013 at the age of 99.

See also

• List of Major League Baseball annual wins leaders

Further reading

• Honig, Donald (1975) Baseball When the Grass Was Real: Baseball from the Twenties to the Forties Told by the Men Who Played It. New York: Coward, McGann & Geoghegan. pp. 126–133.
  SBN 698-10660-1
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• Career statistics and player information from Baseball Reference, or Baseball Reference (Minors), or Retrosheet
• George Pipgras at the SABR Baseball Biography Project
• Tampa Tribune obituary at The Deadball Era
• George Pipgras at Find a Grave