Francis: SABR research sheds new light on Freddie Lindstrom’s 1930 season
From SABR member Bill Francis at BaseballHall.org on April 3, 2018, with mention of SABR member Trent McCotter:
It was a small item in a baseball research newsletter, but it only added to the legacy of Freddie Lindstrom, one of the game’s immortals who today has a bronze likeness in Cooperstown.
Lindstrom, a big leaguer from 1924 to 1936, starred at third base for the New York Giants for the first half of his career before making the transition to the outfield. Signed to a professional contract at 16, he made his big league debut two years later. Finishing his career with short stays with the Pirates, Cubs and Dodgers, the Chicago native had seven seasons of batting at least .300, including twice collecting 231 hits, and retired with a .311 career batting mark.
As an 18-year-old rookie, and dubbed “baseball’s boy wonder,” Lindstrom starred in the 1924 World Series after taking over for an injured Heinie Groh midseason. In the Fall Classic, he batted .333 while starting all seven games at third base, where he handled 23 chances without an error against the eventual champs, the Washington Senators, including a four-hit game against pitching great Walter Johnson. But unfortunately and infamously for Lindstrom, twice balls struck pebbles and bounced over his head for hits, the second one allowing the Senators to score the winning run in the deciding seventh game
“I was only 18 at the time and the youngest player ever to play in the World Series,” he said in 1962. “I didn’t realize the impact it would have in my life. It was just another play to me.
Read the full article here: https://baseballhall.org/discover/research-sheds-light-on-lindstroms-1930-season
Originally published: April 3, 2018. Last Updated: April 3, 2018.