Buck Freeman

From SoSH

John Frank Freeman

Born:	October 30, 1870
Birthplace:	Catasauqua, Pennsylvania
Hometown:
Height:	5'9"
Weight:	169
Bats:	Left
Throws:	Left
Drafted:
College:	N/A
High School:	N/A
Other Teams:	Washington Statesmen 1891, Washing Senators 1898-1899, Boston Beaneaters 1900
Years with Boston:	1901-1907

John Frank "Buck" Freeman was born on October 30, 1871 in Catasauqa, Pennsylvania. He was a left handed hitting and throwing OF/1B for the Boston Red Sox from 1901-1907. He also played for the Washington Statesman, Washington Senators, and Boston Beaneaters.

1 Overall Career
2 Trivia
3 Transactions
4 External Links

[edit]

Overall Career

Buck Freeman debuted in 1891 with the Washington Statesman of the American Association. He played in just 5 games and was out of the Majors until 1898. He pitched 41 innings for the Statesmen in 1891 and just 7 when he returned to baseball in 1898, it was decided that he was more useful as a hitter. Putting him in the lineup showed immediate results, he appeared at the plate 132 times and belted 3 HR. He slugged .523 and got on-base over 42% of the time.

He returned to Washington in 1899 and did what was nearly unheard of at the time. He hit 25 HR and slugged .563. This was well before Babe Ruth, and only Ned Williamson had hit 25 or more HR before that. Baseball Prospectus has "Translated Stats" that put everybody in the history of the game on a level playing field and Freeman had 66 Translated HR and a .635 SLG that year.

In 1900, Freeman went to the Beaneaters and had a supbar offensive year by his standards. He played in 117 games and hit .301/.355/.452 with just 6 HR (still great for that time.) In 1901 he went to the Americans/Red Sox for good. He was moved from RF to 1B and had an amazing batting line of .339/.400/.520. His OPS+ was 156. He finished third in batting average to Lajoie and Donlin, 5th in OBP, 2nd behind Lajoie in SLG, 2nd to Lajoie in OPS, 4th in Total Bases behind Lajoie, Eddie Collins, and John Anderson and 2 HRs behind Lajoie's 14.

In 1903, his third year, with Boston's American League franchise, he led the league in games, RBI's, HR's, Total Bases, and Extra-Base Hits. He was a key part to helping them win the first ever World Series played.

He had an OPS+ of 128 in 1904, and went on to have two more above average seasons at the plate and retired in 1907. His career line was .293/.346/.462.

[edit]

Trivia

Led the AL in TB, XBH and HR in 1903.

[edit]

Transactions

February 11, 1900: Purchased by the Boston Beaneaters from the Washington Senators.
Before 1901 Season: Jumped from the Boston Beaneaters to the Boston Americans

[edit]