Robert Lawrence "Buck" Frierson (July 29, 1917 – June 26, 1996) was an

outfielder An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder. As an outfielder, their duty is to cat ...

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

for the

Cleveland Indians The Cleveland Guardians are an American professional baseball team based in Cleveland. The Guardians compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. Since , they have played at Progressive F ...

. He is most famous for his minor league performance in 1947, when he hit 58

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run i ...

s with 197

runs batted in A run batted in (RBI; plural RBIs ) is a statistic in baseball and softball that credits a batter for making a play that allows a run to be scored (except in certain situations such as when an error is made on the play). For example, if the bat ...

. Frierson stood at 6' 3" and weighed 195 lbs."Buck Frierson Statistics and History"
''baseball-reference.com''. Retrieved 2010-11-27.

Career

Frierson was born in

Chicota, Texas Chicota is an unincorporated community in Lamar County, Texas, United States. Notable person *Buck Frierson (1917-1996), longtime professional baseball player who played for the Cleveland Indians late in the 1941 season Education The North Lama ...

. He started his

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in baseball league, leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Mod ...

career in 1937, with the Texarkana Liners of the

East Texas League The East Texas League was a Texas–based minor league baseball league that existed between 1916 to 1950. The East Texas League played as a Class D level league in 1916 and from 1923 to 1926. The league became a Class C level league from 1936 ...

."Buck Frierson Minor League Statistics & History"
''baseball-reference.com''. Retrieved 2010-11-27. In 1938, he had his breakout season,

batting Batting may refer to: *Batting (baseball), the act of attempting to hit a ball thrown by the pitcher with a baseball bat, in order to score runs *Batting (cricket), the act of defending one's wicket with the cricket bat while attempting to score ru ...

.342 with 15 home runs. However, his hitting declined the following season. He rebounded by hitting .335 in the

Illinois–Indiana–Iowa League The Illinois–Indiana–Iowa League was a Minor League Baseball organization that operated for the better part of 60 seasons, with teams based in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska and Wisconsin. The league began pla ...

in 1940. Frierson then moved up to the Class A Eastern League in 1941. After batting .310 for the

Wilkes-Barre Barons The Wilkes-Barre Barons were a basketball team from Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. The Barons played between 1933 and 1980 in different American leagues. The team won 11 titles during this time, including while playing in the American Basketball ...

, he was called up to the Cleveland Indians late in the season. In his five major league games, he batted .273 with 2 runs batted in. That would be the only chance he would ever get in the majors. Frierson spent 1942 back in Wilkes-Barre before leaving professional baseball for the next three seasons due to

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. He returned in 1946 with the Sherman Twins. Despite playing in only 84 games, he made an immediate impact, batting .391 with 25 home runs. Frierson had his best year in 1947. That season, he slugged a career-high 58 homers and drove in 197 runs for Sherman-Denison, leading the

Big State League The Big State League was a mid-level, Class B level circuit in American minor league baseball that played for 11 seasons, from 1947 through 1957. Its member clubs were exclusively based in Texas. The Corpus Christi Clippers (1955-1956), Texark ...

in both categories. He batted .379 and also led the league in

games played Games played (GP) is a statistic used in team sports to indicate the total number of games in which a player has participated (in any capacity); the statistic is generally applied irrespective of whatever portion of the game is contested. Basebal ...

hits Hits or H.I.T.S. may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * ''H.I.T.S.'', 1991 album by New Kids on the Block * ''...Hits'' (Phil Collins album), 1998 * ''Hits'' (compilation series), 1984–2006; 2014 - a British compilation album se ...

, and total bases. The 197 RBI is the fifth highest total in minor league baseball history. Frierson was batting .367 in 1948 when he moved up to the

Dallas Eagles Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...

of the Class AA

Texas League The Texas League is a Minor League Baseball league which has operated in the South Central United States since 1902. It is classified as a Double-A league. Despite the league's name, only its five South Division teams are actually based in the ...

. He spent 1948 to 1951 in the Texas League. In 1952, Frierson returned to the Big State League with the Paris Indians. He had another good season, batting .376 with 24 home runs. He topped the circuit in batting average,

slugging percentage In baseball statistics, slugging percentage (SLG) is a measure of the batting productivity of a hitter. It is calculated as total bases divided by at bats, through the following formula, where ''AB'' is the number of at bats for a given player, ...

, hits, and

double A double is a look-alike or doppelgänger; one person or being that resembles another. Double, The Double or Dubble may also refer to: Film and television * Double (filmmaking), someone who substitutes for the credited actor of a character * Th ...

s."1952 Big State League Batting Leaders"
''baseball-reference.com''. Retrieved 2010-11-27. Frierson retired from professional baseball in 1953. He died in 1996, at the age of 78.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Frierson, Buck 1917 births 1996 deaths Major League Baseball outfielders Cleveland Indians players Cedar Rapids Raiders players Wilkes-Barre Barons (baseball) players Sherman–Denison Twins players Dallas Eagles players Oklahoma City Indians players Denver Bears players Paris Indians players Harlingen Capitals players Baseball players from Texas People from Lamar County, Texas