George Kress/pagetext
From SABR Encyclopedia
The Baltimore Orioles began its operation in 1954 and George A. "Nit" Kress Jr. never got to don that uniform.
However, while the Orioles were the St. Louis Browns, one of the American League franchise's leading prospects was Kress, who died Sunday at age 85 at Transition Gettysburg.
Kress' professional baseball career, which stretched from 1948-54, was the basis for his selection in 2002 into the second class of inductees of the Adams County Chapter of the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame.
Kress, a Littlestown native, played baseball with the Navy Seabees in 1945 in the Philippines. After World War II, he then joined the Littlestown team which won the Penn-Maryland League championship in 1948.
At the end of that season, the George A. Nit Kress Jr. played baseball for several seasons in the organization of the St. Louis Browns, a team which later became the Baltimore Orioles. (SUBMITTED PHOTO) Browns came calling and Kress began a cross country minor league journey.
Starting with the Wausau, Wisc., Browns, Kress batted .318 with 11 home runs. One year later with the Marshall, Texas, Browns, he hit .353 with 13 home runs for that league championship team.
Named to the East Texas League all-star team after that season, Kress then moved to Dayton, Ohio, in 1951, where he was named the Central League MVP despite breaking an ankle in September. He batted .312 with 17 home runs and 108 runs batted in, a Central League record, for the league champion Indians, who went 87-50.
After recovering from his injury, Kress then played for San Antonio, for the former York White Roses and for Burlington, Iowa, over the next three seasons before he retired.
Along the way, Kress either played with or against several players who would be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame, including Joe DiMaggio and Brooks Robinson.
After his retirement from baseball, Kress was a self-employed caterer and a park ranger for several years.
There will be no public viewing and a private interment will be held at St. Aloysius Catholic Cemetery in Littlestown. [1]
