MartinKilcoyne's Blog

I was sitting at my desk trying to compose tonight's TKO (The Kilcoyne Opinion) my first thought was to mock Manny Ramirez of the Dodgers.   Kind of play off Tim McCarver's comments about how Man-Ram dogged it in Boston.   Something along the lines "he's everything that's wrong with baseball".

But the better story is George Kissell.   An example of everything that is (or was) right about baseball.    He died Tuesday at the age of 88 after suffering injuries in a car accident near his home in Florida.   Kissell was a passenger in a car driven by his daughter.   If you never heard of the man, that's okay with him.  Cardinal fans may have never seen Kissell, but they certainly saw his handiwork.    He was instrumental in teaching minor league players the fundamentals of the game.   Kissell had been a member of the Cardinal organization since 1940.  Yes, 1940.    He played some ball in the minors and even coached a little in the majors, but primarily he was the fungo-hitting guru of the cardinals minor league system.

Kissell was a favorite of Tony LaRussa's.   In 2005, LaRussa made sure Kissell was part of his crew that went to the All-Star Game.   It was a special time for Kissell.  Being at The Big Show after all those years working behind the scenes.   I was in Detroit and I remember seeing him walking around.   All smiles.

Cardinals owner Bill DeWitt thanked Kissell for teaching so many players "the Cardinal way" both on and off the field.     We've all seen the game change.   More arrogance. Less fundamentals.  So it's a sad day in several ways.   Baseball needs more men like George Kissell.