| Fred Snodgrass | |
|---|---|
 Snodgrass in 1916 | |
| Outfielder | |
| Born:(1887-10-19)October 19, 1887 Ventura, California, U.S. | |
| Died: April 5, 1974(1974-04-05) (aged 86) Ventura, California, U.S. | |
Batted: Right Threw: Right | |
| MLB debut | |
| June 4, 1908, for the New York Giants | |
| Last MLB appearance | |
| October 5, 1916, for the Boston Braves | |
| MLB statistics | |
| Batting average | .275 |
| Home runs | 11 |
| Runs batted in | 353 |
Stats atBaseball Reference  | |
| Teams | |
Frederick Carlisle Snodgrass (October 19, 1887 – April 5, 1974) was an Americancenter fielder inMajor League Baseball from1908 to1916. He is best known for dropping a key fly ball in the1912 World Series.
Snodgrass was originally acatcher when he joined theNew York Giants in 1908 at twenty years old. He made his major league debut on June 4, and collected his first major leaguehit andrun batted in off theSt. Louis Cardinals'Slim Sallee.[1]
WithHall of FamerRoger Bresnahan manning catching duties formanagerJohn McGraw, Snodgrass saw very little action. On December 12, 1908, the Giants traded Bresnahan to theSt. Louis Cardinals forRed Murray,Bugs Raymond andAdmiral Schlei. Snodgrass appeared in his first two games of1909 behind the plate (hitting his first careerhome run offJake Boultes in his second game[2]), but Schlei and rookieChief Meyers shared catching duties in1909, with Snodgrass shifting to theoutfield.
Snodgrass began to emerge as a star in1910, finishing fourth in theNational League with a career high .321batting average his first full season with the Giants. In1911, his average dipped to .294, however, he drove in a career best 77runs. He also stole 51 of the 347 bases McGraw's Giants stole that season. Along withFred Merkle andLarry Doyle, Snodgrass formed a core of sluggers behind acesChristy Mathewson andRube Marquard that led the Giants to three straight pennants from 1911 to1913.
Snodgrass' regular season success did not translate to success on theWorld Series, however.Philadelphia Athletics catcherIra Thomas caught the usually speedy runner stealing twice in the first game.[3]Jack Coombs, who led theAmerican League with 28 wins, along with Hall of FamersEddie Plank andChief Bender, held Snodgrass to just two hits with sevenstrikeouts in nineteenat bats over the course of the Giants' six game loss to the A's in the1911 World Series.[4]
In1912, Snodgrass scored a career high 91 runs for a Giants team that won 103 games on its way to a second consecutive pennant. TheBoston Red Sox held a three games to two lead in the 1912 World Series, as it headed into its seventh game (game 2 ended in a tie[5]). Facing elimination, the Giants facedSmoky Joe Wood, who went 34-5 with a 1.91earned run average and tenshutouts for the AL champions, and won games one[6] and four[7] of the World Series. Toeing the rubber for the Giants was rookieJeff Tesreau, the losing pitcher in both of those games.
To the surprise of the Fenway crowd, the Giants lit up Wood for six runs in the firstinning. Snodgrass drove in the first two Giants runs with adouble to right that scoredJosh Devore and Larry Doyle. He then came around to score the third run of the inning on Fred Merkle'ssingle. Wood lasted just the one inning, while Tesreau pitched acomplete game to even the series for the Giants.[8]
Game eight featured a rematch between game five starters Christy Mathewson andHugh Bedient. In game five, the Bosox rookie outdueled Mathewson, 2-1,[9] and game eight was following a similar pitchers' duel storyline. Bedient exited after seven innings trailing 1-0, but in the bottom of the seventh,Olaf Henriksen's run-scoring double tied the game. Wood returned to the mound for the Red Sox in the eighth, and held the Giants scoreless heading into the tenth inning. Snodgrass led off the tenth by grounding back to the pitcher, but Red Murray followed with a double, and was driven in by the next batter, Fred Merkle.
The Giants headed into the bottom of the tenth with a 2-1 lead on the verge of winning their first World Series since1905.Pinch hitterClyde Engle led off the bottom of the tenth with a fly ball toward left-center. The ball was hit more toward Murray inleft field, but Snodgrass, coming fromcenter field, called Murray off. He then dropped it for a two-baseerror. He proceeded to make a spectacular game-saving catch on the next play, a deep fly ball to center byHarry Hooper, butTris Speaker then followed with a single to tie the game. ALarry Gardnersacrifice fly drove in the World Series winning run for the Red Sox.[10]
Giants manager John McGraw was not among those who blamed Snodgrass for the loss. In his 1923 bookMy Thirty Years in Baseball, McGraw remarked, "Often I have been asked what I did to Fred Snodgrass after he dropped that fly ball in the World Series of 1912...I will tell you exactly what I did: I raised his salary $1,000."[11] Just the same, the error became known as "Snodgrass's Muff" and also, the "$30,000 Muff."[12]
While Snodgrass batted a solid .291 with 49 runs batted in and 65 runs scored in 1913, McGraw decided to useTillie Shafer, who could play multiple positions, incenter field in place of Snodgrass in the1913 World Series. The strategy didn't work, as the Giants were beaten in five games by the A's. Snodgrass had one hit in three at bats.[13] In1914, the Giants' record dipped to 84-70, as they missed their first World Series in four years.
Snodgrass' final at bat as a Giant came on August 17,1915 as a pinch hitter.[14] After the game, he was released with a .194 batting average, withfirst basemanFred Merkle assuming center field duties over the rest of the season.
Shortly after his release from the Giants, Snodgrass signed with theBoston Braves. He rebounded nicely for his new club, batting .278 the rest of the season. He returned to the Polo Grounds for a three game set September 6 through 7, and collected one hit in twelve at bats.
1916 was Snodgrass' final major league season. The Braves finished in third place, three games ahead of the Giants, with a 89-63 record. For his part, Snodgrass batted .249 with 32 runs batted in, while playing his usual steady center field for the Braves. In1917, Snodgrass returned home toCalifornia, and spent one final season with thePacific Coast League'sVernon Tigers before retiring from the game.
Snodgrass was born inVentura, California, the son of Andrew Jackson Snodgrass and his wife Addie (McCoy). He married the former Josephine Vickers on August 12, 1909. While playing for the Giants, he and Josephine lived inNew York City. In 1912, Nellie Frakes sued him for $75,000 for breach of promise (to marry her) and seduction.[15] After Snodgrass petitioned for a change of venue to Ventura, theLos Angeles Times reported that Nellie Frakes impressed the audience with her "comeliness" (and smiled often to Mrs. Snodgrass) but lost the case to Snodgrass.[16] He and Josephine had two daughters, Eleanor Jean in 1917, and Elizabeth "Betty" Ann in 1921.
Snodgrass attendedSt. Vincent's College inLos Angeles before joining the Giants. Later, he became a successful banker and was a popularcity councilman andmayor inOxnard, the largest city in his nativeVentura County.
In the early 1960s, a half-century after his infamous dropped ball, Snodgrass was immortalized in theLawrence Ritter 1966 bookThe Glory of Their Times, which featured oral accounts by 26 of the game's oldest surviving players. Snodgrass' recount of the error in an interview with Ritter was included in Ritter's renowned baseball book.[17]
I yelled that I'll take it, and waved Murray off and, well, I dropped the darn thing.
His error in the 1912 World Series remained with him until his death. When he died on April 5, 1974, his obituary inThe New York Times was headlined "Fred Snodgrass, 86, Dead; Ball Player Muffed 1912 Fly."[17][18]Snodgrass was buried in Ventura's Ivy Lawn Memorial Park.
fred-snodgrass 1912 book.
· Baseball Almanac, orFred Snodgrass - Baseballbiography.com| International | |
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| National | |
| Other | |