Fred Lindstrom HOFer, Why?
 

Curious to see takes on this. He was a Major Leaguer for 12 seasons, he had two killer years in 1928 and 1930, but that was pretty much it. Also, only 1700 lifetime hits.... What made him a HOFer? I hope some experts chime in...

Bill James says that Lindstrom's former teammate Frankie Frisch was the driving force on the Veterans Committee for years, and pushed through many of his buddies from the Giants and Cardinals.


Greg

Exactly...much more of a "who you know" than "what you did" situation. I remember reading an article a few years ago that made a solid argument for Lindstrom being the weakest inductee ever.

I'm sure you'll get a debate when it comes to the HOFer that least deserves to be enshrined.... :o

I would be shocked if I didn't.

If you go by WAR, Freddie Lindstrom was Babe Ruth when compared to Tommy McCarthy. In his career, McCarthy put up a 16.1 WAR, which would rank only eighth on the single season leaderboard.

His numbers are also skewed by playing in the American Association in 1890 when all the good players were in the Player's League or NL, and also putting up big years in 1893-94 when everyone else in baseball did too. So McCarthy has three seasons that look good on their own, but they were really nothing special when put into context.

If they did a ballot of 19th century players now and put 100 names on it, I highly doubt he would make the list. He isn't even in the top 1000 all-time for offensive WAR. That's a list that includes 845 non-HOF players

Freddie Lindstrom was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame because his old teammate Frank Frisch was the driving force behind the Veterans Committee for years - or so the story goes. That is attributing a great deal of control to The Old Flash since Freddie Lindstrom was admitted in 1976 - three years after Frisch's death! (One wonders if those grizzled old veterans committee members were so impressed (or intimidated) that they put FF's selections in long after his departure from this life?)

Clearly, among Hall of Fame members, Lindstrom's career was a shorter one which began at the big league level as an 18-year-old in 1924, ending after 13 seasons at age 30. However, he was an instant impact player hitting .333 as the starting third baseman for the National League champion New York Giants in the '24 world series.

Twice Freddie made 231 base hits in a single season (1928 and 1930) posting .358 and .379 batting averages, respectively. He also was a .300 hitter for six straight seasons and over his career was a tough man to strike out - K'ing just 276 times in 6108 plate appearances.

In only his third major league season (1926) Lindstrom ranked 9th in National League Most Valuable Player voting and two years later he finished second with 70 points - 6 behind MVP Sunny Jim Bottomley.

Principally a third baseman (809 of his 1438 major league games), Freddie Lindstrom was one of the game's leading hitters at the hot corner.

Postscript: No "expert" here - just a baseball history fan and Freddie Lindstrom HOF booster; one who was pleased (though honestly surprised) to see his 1976 election.

Steve,
After Frisch died, teammate Bill Terry supposedly picked up the gauntlet in advocating for enshrinement of their 1920s Giants teammates. Terry died in 1989. Besides Lindstrom, HOFers Dave Bancroft, Ross Youngs, George Kelly and Travis Jackson were Giants teammates enshrined during the period Frisch or Terry served on the Veterans Committee.

The HOF is incredibly bloated.

I would rank Lindstrom definitely ahead of Travis Jackson. Would that be safe to say?