George Scherger

Who was George Scherger?

George Richard Scherger, nicknamed "'Sugar Bear," was a retired coach in American Major League Baseball and a former longtime minor league infielder and manager. Scherger was an infielder from 1940 to 1956, but never made it higher than the low minor leagues with the Brooklyn Dodgers' Class C California League team in Santa Barbara from 1951 to 1953. Scherger also spent three years in the U.S. armed forces in World War II.

Scherger managed as a player/manager in the last nine years of his playing career, including his years with Santa Barbara, and managed and coached in the minors from 1961-1969. He joined the Cincinnati Reds organization in 1967.

When Sparky Anderson was named manager of the Reds for the 1970 season, Scherger — who had managed the young Sparky in the Brooklyn organization — was hired as first base coach. With the exception of third base coach Alex Grammas, who left the Reds in 1976 to manage the Milwaukee Brewers for two seasons, Anderson's coaching staff of Scherger, Grammas, Larry Shepard and Ted Kluszewski remained intact from Anderson's hiring to his dismissal after the 1978 season.