Freddie Lindstrom Stats & Facts
Freddie Lindstrom Essentials
Positions: Third Baseman and Outfielder
Bats: Right • Throws: Right
5-11, 170lb (180cm, 77kg)
Born: November 21, 1905 in Chicago, IL
Died: October 4, 1981 in Chicago, IL
Buried: All Saints Cemetery, Des Plaines, IL
High School: Loyola Academy (Wilmette, IL)
Debut: April 15, 1924 (5,368th in MLB history)
vs. BRO 0 AB, 0 H, 0 HR, 0 RBI, 0 SB
Last Game: May 15, 1936
vs. PIT 4 AB, 0 H, 0 HR, 0 RBI, 0 SB
Hall of Fame: Inducted as Player in 1976. (Voted by Veteran’s Committee)
View Freddie Lindstrom’s Page at the Baseball Hall of Fame (plaque, photos, videos).
Full Name: Frederick Charles Lindstrom
Fred Lindstrom Baseball Reference Page
Nicknames: Lindy
View Player Bio from the SABR BioProject
Relatives: Father of Charlie Lindstrom
Nine Players Who Debuted in 1924
Charlie Gehringer
Al Simmons
Earle Combs
Freddy Lindstrom
Chick Hafey
Red Ruffing
Hughie Critz
Max Bishop
Glenn Wright
All-Time Teammate Team
Coming Soon
Notable Events and Chronology for Fred Lindstrom Career
Fred Lindstrom Intro
Freddie Lindstrom is one of those “Who’s that?” Hall of Famers, who earned election solely due to the fact that Frankie Frisch ruled over the veterans committee in the 1970s. He was a decent infielder but never great. He was a solid hitter who led the league in hits once and never led in any other category. At the young age of 18 years old (the youngest player ever to play in the Fall Classic), he was also at the center of one of the most bizarre events in World Series history. In Game Seven of the 1924 World Series, with Lindstrom’s Giants and the Senators deadlocked 3-3 in the bottom of the 12th inning, Washington threatened with men on first and second and one out. Earl McNeely, the Senators’ center fielder, bounced a routine grounder to third, but just as Lindstrom glided in to gather it in, it hit a hard spot on the ground (contemporary reports called it a “pebble”) and careened over his head into left field. The runner on scampered home, and the Senators won the World Series title. Earlier in the game a similar “bad hop” had allowed the Senators to tie the game. Lindstrom maintained to his dying day that the ball had hit something on the field.
Fred Lindstrom Biography:
Lindstrom joined the Giants in 1924 and that fall became the youngest player (18 years, 10 months, 13 days) to appear in a World Series. In Game Five, he had four hits against Washington’s Walter Johnson, but Lindstrom is best remembered for his part in the seventh and deciding game. In the bottom of the 12th, Earl McNeely’s grounder took a wild hop (blamed on a pebble) over third baseman Lindstrom’s head, allowing the Series-winning run to score.
Lindstrom hit .300 or better in seven of his 13 ML seasons. In 1928 he batted .358 with a league-leading 231 hits; he had 231 hits again in 1930, reaching career highs of .379 and 22 home runs. He drove in more than 100 runs in both seasons.
He was never outstanding at 3B, and when he suffered back problems in 1931, Lindstrom was moved to the outfield. Bill Terry was made Giants manager in 1932 when John McGraw retired. Lindstrom was bitter that he was not the choice and asked Terry to trade him. He was obliged in a three-team deal that sent him to Pittsburgh that December. But 1933 was his last year as a regular. In 1935 he helped the Cubs to a pennant by filling in at 3B and in the OF. He retired while with Brooklyn in 1936. He finally got his chance to manage, in the minors, from 1940 through 1942, and he coached at Northwestern University in the early 1950s. His son, Charlie, caught one game with the 1958 White Sox. Despite being an everyday player in only seven seasons, Lindstrom was elected to the Hall of Fame by the Committee on Baseball Veterans in 1976.
Factoid 1
In the late 1940s, Fred Lindstrom served as Deputy Assesor for Cook County in Illinois.
Lindstrom and McGraw
Once, in his late thirties, Lindstrom was asked how his trademark blonde hair had acquired a streak of silver. “Playing for McGraw,” Lindstrom replied. Lindstrom and McGraw had a relationship that teetered on the edge of argument almost all the time. Once, when Lindstrom was in the hospital with a fractured leg, McGraw chastised the young ballplayer for the carelessness of the injury. “I hope you break your damned leg,” Lindstrom hollered, “just so you can see what it’s like!” ironically, the Giants’ skipper left the hospital, stepped in front of a cab, and suffered a broken leg himself. Even when Lindstrom was young (he debuted at the age of 18), he had little patience with McGraw’s constant barking. Where veterans advised Freddie to get used to the barking, strong-headed Lindstrom ignored them and fiored back at the manager. After a while, McGraw gained respect for the fiesty infielder and let Lindstrom get away with more than he would have let another play get away with.
The Card Game that Cost the Cubs
While he was a high school player in Chicago, Lindstrom had a special tryout for the Cubs at Wrigley Field. After about an hour of running, fielding, hitting and throwing, Lindstrom left the park thinking he had done a fine job and hoping he impressed the Cub brass. Later he found out that Chicago manager Bill Killefer hasd been in the clubhouse playing cards the entire time. “I’ve often wondered what might have happened,” Freddie said later. “Just suppose he’d seen me, I might have become a Cub instead of a Giant.” A month later, Lindstrom was signed by scout Dick Kinsella of the Giants.
Notes
In his later years, Lindstrom served as postmaster general in Evanston, Illinois.@ET-DC@eyJkeW5hbWljIjp0cnVlLCJjb250ZW50IjoicG9zdF90YWdzIiwic2V0dGluZ3MiOnsiYmVmb3JlIjoiTGVhcm4gTW9yZSBhYm91dCB0aGUgdGVhbXMsIHBsYXllcnMsIGJhbGwgcGFya3MgYW5kIGV2ZW50cyB0aGF0IGhhcHBlbmVkIG9uIHRoaXMgZGF0ZSBpbiBoaXN0b3J5IC0gLSAtIC0gLSAtIC0gIiwiYWZ0ZXIiOiIiLCJsaW5rX3RvX3Rlcm1fcGFnZSI6Im9uIiwic2VwYXJhdG9yIjoiIHwgIiwiY2F0ZWdvcnlfdHlwZSI6InBvc3RfdGFnIn19@
Factoids, Quotes, Milestones and Odd Facts
Coming soon
Other Resources & Links
Coming Soon
If you would like to add a link or add information for player pages, please contact us here.