George Gore

George F. Gore (May 3 1857 - September 16  1933) was an American center fielder in Major League Baseball who played fourteen seasons for the Chicago White Stockings (1879-1886), New York Giants (1887-89, 1891-1892), and St. Louis Browns (1892) in the National League, and the New York Giants of the Players League (1890). Born in Saccarappa, Maine|Westbrook, Maine|Saccarappa, Maine, Gore won the National League batting title in 1880 while playing for Chicago. He died at age 76 in Utica, New York.

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 * Team(s) = Chicago White Stockings (1879-1886), New York Giants (1887-1889, 1891-1892), New York Giants (PL) (1890), St. Louis Browns (1892)

Background
Gore played with Chicago from 1879 to 1886, and after he was sold by the club after the 1886 season, for drinking, longtime writer Henry Chadwick said Gore "cannot play in harmony with Captain and Manager Anson, and Mr. Spalding has wisely released a discontented player whose skill as a fielder, batter, and base runner was offset by his unpleasant relations with the team captain."

Weeks after Gore's contract was sold to the New York Giants, Chicago writer Harry Palmer wrote that whenever Gore "failed to play ball for all he was worth, Anson has reprimanded him." Socially, Palmer added, Anson says “Gore is all right. As an instance of their friendly relations, Anson says Gore applied to him for work this Winter, and the big Chicago captain promised him employment on the toboggan slides at the White Stocking Park whenever he wanted it."

In 1888, after seeing him in street clothes during a home game, the New York Star called him "'Budweiser' Gore."

In 1894, a judge granted a divorce to his wife. Married since 1882, she had accused him of living in 1891 and into 1892 with a Florence "Florilla" Sinclaire "as his wife, and that they [Gore and Sinclaire] lived as man and wife in One Hundred and Twenty-ninth street" in New York City. Gore denied his wife’s charge of having had intimate relations with Sinclaire.

In his 1900 book A Ball Player's Career, Anson said Gore was a good player. Also, "Women and wine brought about his downfall, however, and the last time that I saw him in New York he was broken down, both in heart and pocket, and willing to work at anything that would yield him the bare necessities of life."

In 1933, months before his death at age 76, Gore told a reporter, "I haven't seen a sick day in seventy-five years, and I feel as good today as I did thirty years ago. I can't get around like I used to, but I still am able to walk three or four miles daily. That keeps me in good shape. I eat three hearty meals a day and my favorite diversion now is playing pinocle. I play it every night. It's great sport for us old-timers."