George Elder (baseball)

Elder was a running back for the Fordham University football team. He considered attending the University of Notre Dame, where his brother Jack had been a running back. Elder, who ran the 100-yard dash in 9.9 seconds, said that he chose Fordham to avoid comparisons to his brother.[1] Elder ended up playing for the freshman team in 1941 and the varsity team in 1942.[1][2] In October 1942, he sustained a broken foot in a game against West Virginia University.[3]

In the summer of 1943, Fordham shut down its football program.[4] Elder went to Dartmouth College that fall as part of the V-12 Navy College Training Program. When he arrived at Dartmouth, he was described as dealing with some chronic injuries, and he elected to play baseball instead of football.[5] Elder later played baseball at UCLA.[6]

In 1947 and 1948, Elder appeared with the Toledo Mud Hens, a minor league affiliate of the St. Louis Browns.[7] In the spring of 1948, he was also named to the UCLA baseball coaching staff.[8] He played for several other minor league teams before making his major league debut in July 1949.[7]

In Elder's lone major league season, he only started seven games and only appeared on defense in ten games (all in left field). He was used as a pinch hitter 22 times, and he appeared as a pinch runner 11 times.[9] Elder spent only one more season in professional baseball. He played for the Wichita Indians, a Browns affiliate, in 1950, hitting .284 in 144 games.[7]

• Career statistics and player information from Baseball-Reference, or Baseball-Reference (Minors)