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 New Hampshire Baseball Quiz QUESTION 10: What popular New Hampshire major league catcher and manager was known as Birdie? ANSWER: George Tebbetts George "Birdie" Tebbetts was born in 1912 in Vermont but was raised in Nashua, NH. After graduating from Providence College, Birdie played minor league baseball for three seasons before being brought up to the major leagues by the Detroit Tigers late in 1936. For several seasons, Tebbetts backed up the great Tiger catcher Mickey Cochrane and then became the starting catcher in 1939. His career was interrupted by three years of military service, after which he was traded by the Tigers to the Boston Red Sox in 1947, where he would establish himself as the team's regular catcher. In 1948, Tebbetts and Yogi Berra shared All-Star honors. After the 1950 season, Birdie was traded to Cleveland where he backed up Jim Hegan for two years before retiring. In 1953, Tebbetts managed the Cincinnati farm team in Indianapolis and then was promoted to manager of the Redlegs in 1954. He remained in that capacity until he was fired in 1958. Tebbetts became the field general of the Milwaukee Braves in 1961 and 1962, and then moved on to manage the Cleveland Indians from 1963 to 1966. Over the next 25 years, Birdie served as a scout for several major league teams and then retired to Florida.  |
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