Frederick Charles Lindstrom (November 21, 1905 – October 4, 1981) was an American professional baseball player who was a third baseman and outfielder. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the New York Giants, Pittsburgh Pirates, Chicago Cubs and Brooklyn Dodgers from 1924 until 1936. He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1976.
Lindstrom debuted in MLB for the Giants in 1924. In 1930, Giants manager John McGraw ranked Lindstrom ninth among the top 20 players of the previous quarter century.International News Service, New York, May 7, 1930. Babe Ruth picked him as his NL all-star third baseman over Pie Traynor for the decade leading up to the first inter-league All-Star Game in 1933.Babe Ruth, Christy Walsh Syndicate, July 5, 1933. Modern-day statistics guru Bill James, who rates Lindstrom No. 43 on his all-time third basemen list, placed him among the top three under-21 players at that position and called the 1927 Giants infield of Lindstrom, Hornsby, Travis Jackson and Bill Terry the decade's best.New Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract, Free Press, 2001, p. 127.
In 1931, injuries – including a chronic bad back and broken leg – brought about his switch to the outfield. The Giants traded him to the Pirates before the 1933 season. He also played for the Cubs and Dodgers before he retired after 13 seasons in 1936.Broeg, The Sporting News, March 17, 1973.
Early life Lindstrom was born on November 21, 1905, on Chicago's South Side, near Comiskey Park. Lindstrom as a youngster was an ardent Chicago White Sox fan, often playing hooky from school to watch their games. He was devastated when his hero, Shoeless Joe Jackson, and other teammates were banned from baseball for allegedly throwing the 1919 World Series.Donald Honig, The October Heroes, Simon & Schuster, 1979, p. 257–9.
Lindstrom attended Loyola Academy in Wilmette, Illinois, and was in his sophomore year when he tried out for the Chicago Cubs in 1922. He instead signed with the New York Giants, who assigned him to the Toledo Mud Hens. He played for Toledo for two years with such future Giants teammates as Travis Jackson and Bill Terry.
New York Giants The Giants promoted Lindstrom to the major leagues for the 1924 season. The 18-year-old Lindstrom batted .333 in the 1924 World Series, including four hits in one game against Washington's Walter Johnson while playing errorless baseball in the field.John Leventhal, The World Series, Black Dog Publishers, 2001, pp. 66–69. The youngest player ever in a post-season game, he was described by Johnson after the fifth game as "a wonder, easily the brightest star in this series."Walter Johnson, Christy Walsh Syndicate, Oct. 9, 1924. But a bad-hop bouncer over his head in the 12th inning of the seventh game gave the series to the Senators and became an enduring moment in baseball lore. A number of later accounts of the Series called Lindstrom "the goat for his 12th-inning error." Actually, there was no error on the play, and Groh was later quoted as saying: "It wasn't Freddie's fault. It could have happened to anyone. He never had a chance to get the ball."The Glory of Their Times, Lawrence Ritter, p. 385 "So they won it," Lindstrom later recalled. "(Giants pitcher) Jack Bentley, who was something of a philosopher, I think summed it up after the game. ‘Walter Johnson,’ Bentley said, ‘is such a loveable character that the good Lord didn't want to see him get beat again.’"Honig, The October Heroes, p. 278.
Playing in an era when fielders’ gloves were little more than padded strips of leather with a baseball-sized pocket in the palm, Lindstrom for three of the next four seasons led National League third basemen in fielding percentage. He also topped the league in assists in 1928, finishing second with 34 double plays and 506 total chances. All while posting 231 hits in both 1928 and 1930 including nine hits in a double header, a record never surpassed to this day. By the time Lindstrom reached the age of 25, he had accumulated 1,186 hits, the fourth highest total for a 25-year-old player in MLB history, behind only Ty Cobb (1,433), Mel Ott (1,249) and Al Kaline (1,200).
A "million-dollar infield," said writer Arnold Hano of the late-1920s Giants quartet. "Fans would come early just to watch their fielding-practice magic." In an essay on Willie Mays' famous back-to-the-plate World Series catch off Cleveland's Vic Wertz in , Hano claimed that an even more sensational play was Lindstrom's full-length, leaping grab before crashing into the outfield wall in a 1932 Giants-Pirates game that the New York Herald Tribune later called "the greatest catch ever made in the Polo Grounds."
During his nine seasons with the Giants, Lindstrom batted .318 (fourth on the team's all-time list in the 20th century), while demonstrating his ability to come through in the clutch with pennant-chasing hitting streaks in September 1928 that raised his average from .342 to .358 and in 1930 from .354 to .379. As late as 1935 while playing center field for the Chicago Cubs, his .427 batting average during a stretch of 21 consecutive victories was credited by such Chicago newsmen as John P. Carmichael and Warren Brown as the main factor in the Cubs’ drive for the NL championship."Grimm Calls ’35 Cubs His Best", Chicago Tribune, September 2, 1968, p.2 Sports.
Often referred to as "the last of the great place hitters" on McGraw teams that emphasized advancing runners into scoring position rather than relying on the long ball, Lindstrom in 1931 was led to believe that he would succeed the long-time Giants manager. "We’re making that change we spoke about next year," Lindstrom, recuperating from a broken leg, said he was told by Giants’ club secretary Jim Tierney. "McGraw is going out and we want to make you manager."Honig, The October Heroes, pp. 266–67. Instead, for reasons that some traced to Lindstrom's leadership role in a player revolt against their often dictatorial manager (a charge he consistently denied, although admitting that he often spoke out against the feisty skipper nicknamed Little Napoleon), club owner Horace Stoneham chose first baseman Bill Terry to replace McGraw.Joseph Durso, The Days of Mr. McGraw. Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1969, p. 213. Anthony J. Connor, Baseball for the Love of It, MacMillan, 1982, pp. 94–95. Although the two remained friends, Lindstrom demanded a trade, which took him to Pittsburgh in 1933. To the press, Terry said, "Fred no longer has that burst of speed he used to have."Hano, Greatest Giants of Them All, p. 195. Several years later, Lindstrom conceded "It was the worst mistake I ever made. If I could have just accepted that setback, it would have worked out in time. But I fouled the whole thing up -- forever."The Hammond, La. Times, June 19, 1957.
Pirates, Cubs, and Dodgers Playing in the outfield between Lloyd and Paul Waner, Lindstrom finished second on the Pirates to shortstop Arky Vaughan by four percentage points with a .310 batting average (eighth highest in the National League), hitting 39 doubles and leading the league's center fielders with a .986 fielding average.
In the 1934 season, George Gibson was fired as manager 51 games into the season with the Pirates mired in fourth place. His replacement, Pie Traynor, moved Lindstrom to left field and then to the bench after breaking his finger in a fungo game. At season's end, despite fielding .990 and again outhitting Lloyd Waner while playing in 43 fewer games, Lindstrom was traded to the Chicago Cubs where he quickly became what Cubs manager Charley Grimm later called "a vital asset" in the team's 1935 league championship."Grimm Calls," Chicago Tribune, September 2, 1968, p.2 Sports. Starting at third base ahead of Stan Hack, he was later shifted to fill a void in center field. There, Grimm said, as boss of the outfield he allowed only seven pop flies to fall safely during that 21-game streak. He also drove in the winning run, or scored it, in seven of the games including three singles and a double off Dizzy Dean of the St. Louis Cardinals in the pennant-clinching contest. "And why isn't Lindstrom in the Hall of Fame?" Grimm asked in a 1968 interview."Grimm Calls", p. 2 Sports.
After the Cubs lost to the Detroit Tigers in the 1935 World Series, however, the following January he was released and later signed by the Brooklyn Dodgers. After only 26 games and a .264 batting average, Lindstrom abruptly retired from baseball following a collision with infielder Jimmy Jordan while going for a routine pop fly. "I have been in this league 12 years," Lindstrom reportedly said, "and it never happened to me until I put on a Brooklyn uniform."Tot Holmes, Dodgers Blue Book, 1981, p. 34. Fred Stein, Mel Ott: The Little Giant of Baseball, McFarland & Co., 1999, p. 146.
In 13 years and 1,438 games played, Lindstrom compiled a .311 batting average (1,747-for-5,611), with 895 runs, 301 doubles, 81 triples, 103 home runs and 779 runs batted in. His on-base percentage was .351 and slugging percentage was .449. He hit .300 or better seven times. Lindstrom recorded six 5-hit games. He hit for the cycle on May 8, 1930. In 11 World Series games (1924 and 1935), he hit .289 (13–45) with four RBIs.
Later career and personal life
In later years, Lindstrom managed minor league teams at Fort Smith, Arkansas, and Knoxville, Tennessee. After coaching the Northwestern University baseball team for 13 seasons, he was appointed postmaster of Evanston, Illinois, a position he held until 1972.
He died at Mercy Hospital in Chicago on October 4, 1981. He and his wife Irene are buried at All Saints Cemetery in Des Plaines.Connor, Baseball for the Love of It, pp. 266–267. Freddie Lindstrom, SABR Encyclopedia, June 25, 2010. Freddie Lindstrom, Baseball Reference.com.
The youngest of their three sons, Chuck Lindstrom, played briefly for the 1958 Chicago White Sox, walking and tripling for a perfect 1.000 batting average and on-base percentage in two plate appearances.
Legacy
Although many modern-day baseball historians refer to Traynor as the era's premier fielding third baseman, the Pirate Hall of Famer led the league in errors five times including 37 in 1931 and 27 in both 1932 and 1933. Lindstrom's high mark was 21 errors in both 1928 and 1930. For the seven comparable seasons that Lindstrom played third base, his fielding percentage tops that of Traynor each year.Lindstrom, Traynor Baseball Reference.com
Donald Dewey and Nick Acocella (All Time All Star Baseball Book, Elysian Fields Press, 1992) list Lindstrom as the New York Giants all-time third baseman. The esteemed sportswriter, Red Smith, placed him at third base on an all-time New York all-star team that had no room for the likes of Mickey Mantle, Duke Snider or Mel Ott.Smith, "Sports of the Times", New York Times, January 28, 1975.
John Kieran (Sports of the Times), reported the following: "Arthur Nehf was sitting in the Chicago dugout talking about the Giant hitters. He talked of Roush, Jackson, Terry and Hogan and then remarked decisively that Freddie Lindstrom was the cleverest of them all at the plate and the hardest man to fool in the clutch."Kieran, New York Times, undated 1930.
Lindstrom's four hits in Game 5 of the 1924 World Series stood as the rookie record until matched by San Francisco's Buster Posey in the 2010 series.
Along with a 24-game hitting streak in 1930 and a 25-game streak in 1933, Lindstrom also ranks among the all-time top 10 in lifetime strikeouts to batting average ratio, 276 strikeouts to .311 batting average in 6,104 plate appearances. Lloyd Waner, Pie Traynor and Arky Vaughan are also on the list.Graham Womack, Baseball Past & Present, May 25, 2011.
Lindstrom led the league in outfield assists in 1932 and putouts in 1933. He came to the Pirates as "a strong defensive player and even better right-handed line drive hitter."Dave Finoli and Bill Rainer: The Pittsburgh Pirates Encyclopedia, 1933.