Fred Turner Martin (June 27, 1915 – June 11, 1979) was an American
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 ...
pitcher
In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...
,
coach
Coach may refer to:
Guidance/instruction
* Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities
* Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process
** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers
Transportation
* Co ...
,
manager
Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business.
Management includes the activities o ...
and
scout
Scout may refer to:
Youth movement
*Scout (Scouting), a child, usually 10–18 years of age, participating in the worldwide Scouting movement
**Scouts (The Scout Association), section for 10-14 year olds in the United Kingdom
**Scouts BSA, sectio ...
. Born in
Williams, Oklahoma, Martin threw and batted right-handed, stood tall and weighed during his active playing career.
Career
Defected to Mexican League
Martin was one of a handful
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), ...
players who "jumped" to the then-outlaw
Mexican League
The Mexican League (, ) is a professional baseball league based in Mexico and the oldest running professional league in the country.
The league has 18 teams organized in two divisions, North and South. Teams play 114 games each season. Five te ...
during the season. With the
reserve clause
The reserve clause, in North American professional sports, was part of a player contract which stated that the rights to players were retained by the team upon the contract's expiration. Players under these contracts were not free to enter into ano ...
binding players permanently to the U.S. teams in "
Organized Baseball
The Commissioner of Baseball is the chief executive officer of Major League Baseball (MLB) and the associated Minor League Baseball (MiLB) – a constellation of leagues and clubs known as "organized baseball". Under the direction of the Commiss ...
" who held their contracts, the insurgent Mexican League induced players such as Martin,
Sal Maglie
Salvatore Anthony Maglie (April 26, 1917 – December 28, 1992) was an American Major League Baseball pitcher and later, a scout and a pitching coach. He played from 1945 to 1958 for the New York Giants, Cleveland Indians, Brooklyn Dodgers, New ...
,
Mickey Owen
Arnold Malcolm "Mickey" Owen (April 4, 1916 – July 13, 2005) was an American professional baseball player, coach and scout. He played as a catcher for 13 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) between and for the St. Louis Cardinals, Brookly ...
,
Lou Klein
Louis Frank Klein (October 22, 1918 – June 20, 1976) was an American professional baseball player, manager, coach and scout. During his active career he was an infielder in the Major Leagues for the St. Louis Cardinals, Cleveland Indians and P ...
,
Max Lanier
Hubert Max Lanier (August 18, 1915 – January 30, 2007) was an American left-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball who spent most of his career with the St. Louis Cardinals. He led the National League in earned run average in 1943, and was the ...
,
Danny Gardella
Daniel Lewis Gardella (February 26, 1920 – March 6, 2005) was an American left fielder in Major League Baseball who played with the New York Giants (1944–45) and St. Louis Cardinals (1950). Born in New York City, he batted and threw left-han ...
and others to leave their clubs — in Martin's (and Lanier's and Klein's) case, the pennant-contending but notoriously low-paying
St. Louis Cardinals
The St. Louis Cardinals are an American professional baseball team based in St. Louis. The Cardinals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Since the 2006 season, the Cardinals ha ...
— for greater riches south of the border.
Martin, then almost 31, was in his first MLB campaign after seven years of toiling in the
minors and four years of World War II service in the
United States Army
The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...
. He had appeared in six games for the
1946, title-bound Cards, winning two of three decisions and compiling an
earned run average
In baseball statistics, earned run average (ERA) is the average of earned runs allowed by a pitcher per nine innings pitched (i.e. the traditional length of a game). It is determined by dividing the number of earned runs allowed by the number ...
of 4.08 in 28
innings
An innings is one of the divisions of a cricket match during which one team takes its turn to bat. Innings also means the period in which an individual player bats (acts as either striker or nonstriker). Innings, in cricket, and rounders, is bot ...
pitched. He, along with the other "jumpers," was then suspended from organized baseball by
Commissioner of Baseball
The Commissioner of Baseball is the chief executive officer of Major League Baseball (MLB) and the associated Minor League Baseball (MiLB) – a constellation of leagues and clubs known as "organized baseball". Under the direction of the Commiss ...
Albert B. Chandler. While the Mexican League raids of MLB stopped, and most of the American players soon attempted to rejoin Organized Baseball, the bans remained in force.
In 1949, Martin and Lanier filed a $2.5 million lawsuit against baseball in an attempt to have the five-year bans lifted. The case, "Martin et al. v. National League Baseball Club", was appealed to the
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
The United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit (in case citations, 2d Cir.) is one of the thirteen United States Courts of Appeals. Its territory comprises the states of Connecticut, New York and Vermont. The court has appellate juri ...
, and heard by its Chief Judge
Learned Hand
Billings Learned Hand ( ; January 27, 1872 – August 18, 1961) was an American jurist, lawyer, and judicial philosopher. He served as a federal trial judge on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York from 1909 to 1924 a ...
. As part of the lawsuit, Martin and Lanier had requested a
preliminary injunction
An injunction is a legal and equitable remedy in the form of a special court order that compels a party to do or refrain from specific acts. ("The court of appeals ... has exclusive jurisdiction to enjoin, set aside, suspend (in whole or in par ...
allowing the "jumpers" to immediately return to their former major league teams, per the reserve clause. A district judge had denied the injunction on the grounds that it would "disturb the status quo" by restoring the plaintiffs to positions which they had voluntarily resigned three years before. Also, the judge ruled that the players' rights depended upon disputed questions of fact and law, and that they had an adequate legal remedy in the recovery of damages. Hand and the appeals court affirmed the denial of the injunction but, with respect to the disputed questions of fact and law, added "that the cause should be preferred, and that it should be brought to trial as soon as possible."
On June 5, 1949, Chandler lifted the ban, and so Martin and Lanier dropped the suit.
Reinstatement to U.S. pro baseball
Martin, nearly 34 at that point, returned to the Cardinals upon his reinstatement and posted a 6–0 mark with a 2.44 earned run average in 70 innings for the remainder of . He then spent one final season in the
National League
The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team s ...
with the Cards, winning four of six decisions and posting a 5.12 earned run average. Overall, Martin appeared in 57 career MLB games, won 12 games and lost only three, with an earned run average of 3.78 in 162 innings pitched. Martin pitched in the minor leagues through the 1950s; his last pitching appearance came as the 45-year-old playing manager of the Class C
St. Cloud Rox.
Martin appeared in 618 minor league
games
A game is a structured form of play, usually undertaken for entertainment or fun, and sometimes used as an educational tool. Many games are also considered to be work (such as professional players of spectator sports or games) or art (such ...
between 1935 and 1960, and won 169 of 304
decisions.
Taught 'split-finger fastball'
In addition, he would have a long post-playing career as a scout,
minor league
Minor leagues are professional sports leagues which are not regarded as the premier leagues in those sports. Minor league teams tend to play in smaller, less elaborate venues, often competing in smaller cities/markets. This term is used in Nor ...
manager
Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business.
Management includes the activities o ...
and
pitching coach
In baseball, a number of coaches assist in the smooth functioning of a team. They are assistants to the manager, who determines the starting lineup and batting order, decides how to substitute players during the game, and makes strategy decisio ...
, largely in the
Chicago Cubs
The Chicago Cubs are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The Cubs compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as part of the National League (NL) Central division. The club plays its home games at Wrigley Field, which is located ...
organization. He was a member of the Cubs'
College of Coaches
The College of Coaches was an unorthodox baseball organizational practice employed by the National League's Chicago Cubs in and . After the Cubs finished 60–94 in , their 14th straight NL second-division finish, Cubs owner P. K. Wrigley anno ...
from 1961 to 1965 and served as a minor league instructor for the Cubs (1966–1975; 1977–1978) and
Detroit Tigers
The Detroit Tigers are an American professional baseball team based in Detroit. The Tigers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the American League (AL) Central division. One of the AL's eight charter franchises, the club was f ...
(1976). He became especially famous as a proponent of the
split-finger fastball
A split-finger fastball or splitter is an off-speed pitch in baseball that looks to the batter like a fastball until it drops suddenly. Derived from the forkball, it is so named because the pitcher puts the index and middle finger on different s ...
, which he taught to Cub farmhand
Bruce Sutter, who mastered it, became a dominant
relief pitcher
In baseball and softball, a relief pitcher or reliever is a pitcher who enters the game after the starting pitcher is removed because of fatigue (medical), fatigue, ineffectiveness, injury, or ejection (sports), ejection, or for other strategic ...
in the 1970s and 1980s, and was elected to the
Baseball Hall of Fame
The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is a history museum and hall of fame in Cooperstown, New York, operated by private interests. It serves as the central point of the history of baseball in the United States and displays baseball-r ...
in 2006.
Sutter's success focused industry-wide attention on Martin's expertise. In 1979, former Cub
shortstop
Shortstop, abbreviated SS, is the baseball or softball fielding position between second and third base, which is considered to be among the most demanding defensive positions. Historically the position was assigned to defensive specialists who ...
Don Kessinger
Donald Eulon Kessinger (born July 17, 1942) is an American former professional baseball player and manager. He played in Major League Baseball as a shortstop from to , most prominently as a member of the Chicago Cubs where, he was a six-time Al ...
, named the playing manager of the
Chicago White Sox
The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team is owned by Jerry Reinsdorf, and p ...
, asked him to be his pitching coach, but Martin was ill with
cancer
Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...
. He began treatments in March, and served only a few weeks in the job. He died June 11, 1979, in
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
, image_map =
, map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago
, coordinates =
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, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name ...
, at the age of 63.
References
External links
Coach's pagefrom
Retrosheet
Retrosheet is a nonprofit organization whose website features box scores of Major League Baseball (MLB) games from 1906 to the present, and play-by-play narratives for almost every contest since the 1930s. It also includes scores from every major ...
Bruce Sutter's Hall of Fame induction speech:
{{DEFAULTSORT:Martin, Fred
1915 births
1979 deaths
American expatriate baseball players in Mexico
Austin Senators players
Baseball coaches from Oklahoma
Baseball players from Oklahoma
Chicago Cubs coaches
Chicago Cubs scouts
Chicago White Sox coaches
Columbus Red Birds players
Dallas Rangers players
Deaths from cancer in Illinois
Diablos Rojos del México players
Duluth Dukes players
Houston Buffaloes managers
Houston Buffaloes players
Houston Buffs players
Major League Baseball pitchers
Major League Baseball pitching coaches
Mexican League baseball pitchers
Portsmouth Red Birds players
Rochester Red Wings players
St. Cloud Rox players
St. Louis Cardinals players
Sherbrooke Athletics players
Shreveport Sports players
Siloam Springs Travelers players
Temple Eagles players
Union City Greyhounds players
United States Army personnel of World War II