A prayer for George Kissell

I just found out that George Kissell, whose 68-year relationship with the St. Louis Cardinals is the longest between a club and an on-field employee in baseball, is in critical condition after an automobile crash near Tampa.

You may not have heard of Kissell, although most Cardinals fans know who he is. He is pictured above when he was the third base coach for manager Red Schoendienst's teams during the early 1970s. Kissell, who had a minor league career in the 1940s and 1950s, is a legend in the Cardinals organization and throughout baseball for his teaching ability. He has been a spring training instructor for the Cardinals for decades. He is credited for shaping the careers of players like Joe Torre, Tim McCarver, Todd Zeile, and virtually anyone who has played for St. Louis in the last half century.

According to the AP report, Kissell, who is 88, was riding in a car with his wife and daughter on Monday night when his vehicle apparently ran a red light and was struck by another car.

Kissell has special meaning for me because he grew up in a small town less than 15 minutes from where I'm writing this. I've had the pleasure of talking to him and of talking to Cardinals manager Tony La Russa about Kissell. La Russa, like Torre and McCarver, just reveres the guy. And it was easy to see why when I talked to Kissell myself. He's full of enthusiasm for baseball and you can tell the players love him. He's always positive and can explain the how-to's of the sport in the simplest terms. I have been impressed with Kissell ever since that day I talked to him.

I'm praying that he gets better and that he'll be back teaching young Cardinals again next spring.