Galen Cisco - Dave’s Midwestern Ohio Memories

A Series of Guest Blogs by an out-of-state Fish Report reader originally from this area about fond memories of growing up in Midwestern Ohio during the 50’s & 60’s

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Galen Cisco - Major League Baseball Player, Coach & OSU Football Player

Galen and Coach Hayes, with fellow Buckeye Leo Brown

Galen and Casey Stengel

A recent Fish Report’s cover story about a speaking engagement by local legend Galen Cisco brought back some memories that I’m about to share. The memories are mostly mine, but also include interesting Galen Cisco stories that I found on-line. As reported last week, Galen is a St. Mary’s native who played football and baseball at Ohio State and baseball in the Major Leagues. As shown in the photo above, Galen played for two legendary coaches, Woody Hayes and Casey Stengel, plus also Hall of Fame coach Dick Williams. So here goes:

My memories of Galen Cisco go back to 1962 when his rookie baseball card (pictured above) turned up in a Topps bubble gum pack I purchased. It showed he was from St. Mary's so naturally I took an interest. Like me he grew up on a farm, worked hard and enjoyed sports of all kind. That baseball card disappeared along with my Erector set after I left for college. My young brother at the time likely was the culprit, but he blames our now-deceased Mother for throwing it out during one of her infamous spring cleaning binges.

Galen & Martha

Galen in the Horseshoe

Galen is married to childhood sweetheart Martha and they live in Celina. They were married over 60 years ago just before the 1958 Rose Bowl game because Coach Hayes said any married players could bring their wives to Pasadena at school expense. So Martha and Galen quickly got married and spent their honeymoon in Southern California while also celebrating a big win over Oregon that earned the Buckeyes a National Championship.

As a senior on the Buckeyes, Galen played both ways as halfback and linebacker, while also gaining a 12-2 record pitching for Ohio State during his career. In 1995, he was recognized for his accomplishments by being elected to the Buckeye’s Varsity Hall of Fame.

Galen, second from the right, along with other National Champion Buckeye Players

Galen was signed by the Boston Red Sox and made the big leagues in 1962, but was sent later in the season to the expansion NY Mets, who were established after the Dodgers and Giants bolted to California in 1958. The Mets went on to lose 120 games that year, the worst in major league history. In one game, he incurred 162 pitches in one of the few wins all season. Galen’s autographed baseball card is shown below. In 1969, Galen landed with another expansion team, the Kansas City Royals where he finished his career as a reliever with a 3.63 ERA. Galen then became a darn good pitching coach over three decades for a number of teams including the Toronto Blue Jays. It was during that stint at Toronto as the Blue Jays pitching coach that our virtual paths crossed again, as Toronto was in a heated pennant race with the Tigers at the end of the 1987 season. Recall that I became a staunch Tigers fan after moving to Michigan about the same time Sparky Anderson moved from the Reds to the Tigers. Late in that 1987 season, with the Tigers tied with the Blue Jays, I recall watching a game on TV when the announcer said Blue Jays pitching coach Galen Cisco was heading to the mound to talk to the pitcher. That name struck a cord but I never did figure out the connection until reading the Fish Report article last week! Well the Tigers went on to win the game and their division that year, making the playoffs but unfortunately losing to the Twins in 5 games.

Entering St. Marys is a green sign shaped like a diamond off state Route 66 that identifies the town as the home of Galen Cisco, baseball pro. Also, in his honor, the St. Marys Little League has given the Galen Cisco Award to the MVP each year since 1965. In fact, the award went to Galen's nephew, Ty, in 1980.

According to Galen about his legendary career, "There’s not one regret. Why would I change a thing? It’s been a truly wonderful life.”