George Case

George Washington Case Jr. (November 11, 1915 – January 23, 1989) was an American professional baseball outfielder and manager who played for the Washington Senators for most of his eleven-year career from 1937 to 1947. During his playing career, Case was widely considered the fastest man in the sport and set numerous records for stolen bases, leading the major leagues in steals for a record five consecutive seasons before his career was cut short by injuries. He was also the head coach of the Rutgers Scarlet Knights from 1950 to 1960, leading the team to its only College World Series appearance and retiring as the winningest head coach in school history.

As of his retirement as a player in 1947, Case ranked ninth in American League history and third in Senators history with 349 career stolen bases, and he had the most stolen bases of any player between 1930 and 1960. As of 2026, he is the only player in history to lead both major leagues in stolen bases for five consecutive seasons and tied Ty Cobb with six American League stolen base titles, a record later broken by Luis Aparicio.

Early life and education George Washington Case Jr. was born on November 11, 1915 in Trenton, New Jersey to George and Clara (née McIntyre) Case. George Sr. was a butcher and successful businessman who had popularized pork roll through his store Case's, which he founded in 1874. He had also been a noted sprinter as a young man.

After attending Gregory Elementary School and Junior High Three in Trenton, Case graduated from Trenton Central High School in 1934, where he was first-team all-New Jersey in both baseball and basketball. He earned the nicknamed "Casey" after his penchant for reciting Casey at the Bat to teammates and relatives and played in a 1934 exhibition game with Philadelphia Athletics star Jimmie Foxx, who became a personal friend and would visit the Case family in Trenton. After graduating from Trenton High, Case weighed whether to accept a scholarship to Brown University or go professional; he attended the Peddie School from 1934 to 1936 while continuing to try out for major league teams. As a head coach, Case encouraged a small ball style similar to his own; their home field had a very long left-field line, making it very difficult to hit home runs and leading the team to emphasize contact and speed to score. During his first year as a coach, the team finished the regular season 17-4-1 and qualified for the College World Series. In their opening game, they rallied to defeat Texas, the defending national champions, 4-2. However, in the winners' bracket final, Rutgers lost in extra innings to Washington State and ultimately finished third after losing to Texas, who repeated as champions. As of 2020, this was the only College World Series appearance in Rutgers history. Case's son, George III, played for Rutgers during his final season as head coach. He also hosted a daily radio show on WTTM from 1958 to 1960.