Draft pick's ties to baseball history
Lindstrom was once the youngest player to appear in a World Series
Boston's first draft pick of 2004 has a great model to look up to as he pursues a Major League career.
Freddie Lindstrom's grandfather, who went by the same name, was the youngest player (18 years, 10 months, 13 days) to appear in a World Series in the fall of 1924 with the Giants. In game five, according to
www.baseballlibrary.com, Lindstrom had four hits against Washington's Walter Johnson.
"He is one of my heroes," the young Lindstrom said. His grandfather died in 1981, five years after getting tabbed for the Hall of Fame.
According to baseballlibrary.com: 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.
Lindstrom is best remembered for his part in the seventh and deciding game of the '24 Series. 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.
(editor's note: interesting fate that he ends up with a "cursed" franchise -- I love this game)
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.