George A. Bechtel (September 2, 1848 – April 3, 1921?) was an American right fielder and pitcher in professional baseball's early history. He played in all five seasons of baseball's first all-professional league, the National Association, and later played in the first season of baseball's first major league, the National League, when the Association folded. He later became the first player in Major League history to be suspended for life for intentionally losing games for money. Career Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Bechtel began his professional career in for the Philadelphia Athletics, when they joined the new National Association. Bechtel had played for the Athletics in , and stayed with the team during its transformation from the previous version of the National Association. He batted .351 that season while playing in 20 of the team's 28 games, as the Athletics won the season's championship. Bechtel had also played for a couple of other Philadelphia teams during his amateur career before 1870. He was formerly of the Philadelphias in 1867, and the Keystones in both 1868 and . The following season, he signed with the New York Mutuals, who had offered him a higher salary in , and batted .302 and scored 64 runs in the team's 54-game schedule. After just one season in New York, Bechtel moved back to Philadelphia, playing the next two seasons for the Philadelphia White Stockings with mixed success at the plate, batting .244 in and .278 in . When the season began, he again moved, this time to the Philadelphia Centennials, and was their pitcher in all 14 games that the club played. On May 26, 1875, after a 2–12 start, Bechtel and fellow Centennial Bill Craver were sold to the Philadelphia Athletics for $1,500. This is the first known sale of ballplayers from one team to another in baseball history. It is theorized that sale was actually an enticement for the Centennials to fold, which they did. Expulsion Rumors surrounded Bechtel's play ever since the late 1860s, indicating that he was a very good fielder, one of the better fielders of the day, but his play at times became sloppy. Henry Chadwick once stated regarding his play: "At the commencement of the season, Bechtel's play in left field was equal to any player, but, as the season wore on, he grew careless, and from other causes unnecessary to mention, he played poorly." On May 30,