It’s hard to find a good picture of fellows like Guy Sturdy, almost as hard as finding anyone other than the most arcane-interested of baseball researchers who even remember him. That’s Guy Sturdy in the St. Louis Cardinalesque uniform of the 1935 Baltimore Orioles. Guy had taken over as manager of the then AA International League Orioles in late 1934. He held onto the skipper’s job without much success until he was fired and replaced during the 1937 season. Based upon Baltimore’s 5th place finish, 13 games back in 1935, we are inclined to presume that the new Packard that Sturdy is receiving in the picture as a gift from fans must have taken place at an earlier, more wishful moment near Opening Day of that season.
Guy Sturdy’s managerial career was totally mediocre and forgettable. From 1933 thhrough 1948, Sturdy managed eight minor league clubs, hitting one 2nd place run in 1940, but never finishing any higher in the standings than fourth place in any other season. It was as a a minor league hitter that Guy Sturdy earned his right ro be remembered by hard core baseball fans. From 1922-1935, 1938-1940, Guy Sturdy amassed a minor league career that included 2,546 hits, 203 home runs, 384 stolen bases, and a career batting average of .322. His career year happened with Tulsa of the Western League in 1926 when the left handed batting and fielding, six feet tall first sacker hit .353 with 67 stolen bases, 49 homers, and 163 runs scored. – How deserving of our memory is a season performed on that level?
Here’s where it gets strange when we have little more than stat pages to go by. – Sturdy’s lights out (before they even used lights) 1926 season flowed into a return to Tulsa in 1927. His homer totals dropped to 23, but his batting average climbed to .374. That little two-year rolling parlay bought Guy Sturdy a late season call up to the roster of the ’27 St. Louis Browns. For the five games he played in his first season with the Browns, Sturdy collected 9 hits in 21 times at bat. A double was his only extra base hit, but he also walked once without striking out a single time. His production netted him 5 runs, 5 RBI, a batting average of .429 and an on base percentage of .455. Sturdy was back with the Browns in 1928, but he then hit only .222 in 54 games – with only two extra base hits ( one double, one homer) and for an on base percentage of .340. It was back to the minors and the Birmingham Barons in 1929-1930, where he would hit .297 and .317 in the then A-ball level Southern Association over the course of those two years.
In 1931, during his only year here in the Bayou City for then A-ball level Texas League action, Guy Sturdy hit .295 with 3 homers and 69 RBI for one of the greatest Houston Buff teams of all time. With his performance numbers down, however, and with hot Cardinal prospects teammates like Dizzy Dean and Joe Mewick grabbing all the local headlines, the 32-year old journeyman Guy Sturdy simply wasn’t up to getting the kind of gas he needed to rise any higher in the game than he did five seasons earlier. Sturdy would have one more monster batting average year down the road at age 39, when he would hit .359 as the playing manager for Marshall of the C-ball level East Texas League. Unfortunately, his late season physical attack upon an umpire led to a 90-day suspension that carried over into the 1939 season, when he only managed at Marshall.
Right or wrong, the old ’31 Buff, Guy Sturdy, went out fighting. Today he deserves to be remembered as a man who contributed to Houston’s 1931 Texas League pennant victory – and as a fellow native Texan who went out there and had a pretty fair country league career in the minors. Guy Sturdy was born on August 7, 1899. That means that this coming Friday is the 110th anniversary of his birth. He died on May 4, 1965 in Marshall, Texas, just three months shy of his 66th birthday.
Thanks for the memories, Guy Sturdy! This blog site is no eternal flame on the history of Houston baseball, but it will have to do – until the real thing comes along.
Tags: Baseball, Houston, Houston Buffs
The Pecan Park Eagle 
December 21, 2009 at 1:03 am |
thats my grandfather get em SKIPPER
April 25, 2010 at 4:25 am |
When I was 2 or 3 years old I lived in Houston. The lady who lived with my family and took care of me (Allie Harmon) was a big fan of the BUFFS; she especially liked Guy Sturdy and took me to a lot of the games (I don’t really remember this). I had a baseball with Guy Sturdy’s autograph and Dizzy Dean’s autograph on it; the baseball was lost in a fire when we had moved to Goose Creek, Texas.
November 3, 2010 at 2:40 am |
after my grandfather died he left me a team picture of the 1933 houston buffs would like to learn more about the picture
October 24, 2011 at 2:32 am |
That’s my Great Great Uncle!
March 21, 2018 at 7:33 pm |
My dad was named after great uncle Guy. Story goes they were on their way to Spring Training and stopped by Calera OK to see the new addition of his sister Maude and husband Edgar Luscombe