Frederick Edward Maguire (May 10, 1899 – November 3, 1961) 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 ...

player 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 ...

. He played six years as a second baseman in

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), ...

: 1922–23 with the

New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. ...

, 1928 with 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 ...

, and 1929–31 with the

Boston Braves The Atlanta Braves, a current Major League Baseball franchise, originated in Boston, Massachusetts. This article details the history of the Boston Braves, from 1871 to 1952, after which they moved to Milwaukee, and then to Atlanta. During it ...

Playing career

New York Giants

Roxbury, Massachusetts Roxbury () is a Neighborhoods in Boston, neighborhood within the City of Boston, Massachusetts. Roxbury is a Municipal annexation in the United States, dissolved municipality and one of 23 official neighborhoods of Boston used by the city for n ...

, native, Maguire attended

Boston Latin School The Boston Latin School is a public exam school in Boston, Massachusetts. It was established on April 23, 1635, making it both the oldest public school in the British America and the oldest existing school in the United States. Its curriculum f ...

and the

College of the Holy Cross The College of the Holy Cross is a private, Jesuit liberal arts college in Worcester, Massachusetts, about 40 miles (64 km) west of Boston. Founded in 1843, Holy Cross is the oldest Catholic college in New England and one of the oldest ...

. He made his professional debut in the Major Leagues for the Giants at the end of the 1922 season, playing in five games for them that year. He spent the entire 1923 season riding the bench in New York behind

Frankie Frisch Frank Francis Frisch (September 9, 1898—March 12, 1973), nicknamed "The Fordham Flash" or "The Old Flash", was an American Major League Baseball player and manager of the first half of the twentieth century. Frisch was a switch-hitting secon ...

, appearing in 41 games but coming to the plate just 34 times all season. He was let go at the end of the year.

Toledo Mud Hens

In , Maguire got his first taste of minor league baseball, playing for the

Toledo Mud Hens The Toledo Mud Hens are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League and the Triple-A affiliate of the Detroit Tigers. They are located in Toledo, Ohio, and play their home games at Fifth Third Field. A Mud Hens team has played in ...

. He was Toledo's starting second baseman for four seasons, finishing up with a .326 average in . This earned him another shot at the majors with the Cubs.

Chicago Cubs

During the previous offseason, Chicago had traded their starting

third baseman A third baseman, abbreviated 3B, is the player in baseball or softball whose responsibility is to defend the area nearest to third base — the third of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. In the scoring system us ...

Sparky Adams Earl John "Sparky" Adams (August 26, 1894 – February 24, 1989) was a professional Major League Baseball player who played with the Chicago Cubs, Pittsburgh Pirates, St. Louis Cardinals, and Cincinnati Reds. At , Adams was the smallest Major Le ...

, to the

Pittsburgh Pirates The Pittsburgh Pirates are an American professional baseball team based in Pittsburgh. The Pirates compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Founded as part of the American Associati ...

along with

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 ...

Pete Scott for outfielder

Kiki Cuyler Hazen Shirley Cuyler (; August 30, 1898 – February 11, 1950), nicknamed Kiki, was an American professional baseball right fielder. He played in Major League Baseball for the Pittsburgh Pirates, Chicago Cubs, Cincinnati Reds, and Brooklyn Dodg ...

. They shifted second baseman

Clyde Beck Clyde Eugene "Jersey" Beck (January 6, 1900 - July 15, 1988) was a right-handed infielder in Major League Baseball for the Chicago Cubs and Cincinnati Reds from 1926 to 1931. Beck spent the first five seasons of his career with the Cubs. After ma ...

over to third and installed Maguire as their starter at second. Things started off with a bang, as Maguire hit his first Major League

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 ...

Opening Day Opening Day is the day on which professional baseball leagues begin their regular season. For Major League Baseball (MLB) and most of the American minor leagues, this day typically falls during the first week of April, although in recent years ...

off

Cincinnati Reds The Cincinnati Reds are an American professional baseball team based in Cincinnati. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League Central, Central division and were a charter member of ...

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 ...

Dolf Luque Adolfo Domingo De Guzmán "Dolf" Luque (August 4, 1890 – July 3, 1957) was a Cuban starting pitcher in Major League Baseball (MLB) from to . Luque was enshrined in the Cuban Baseball Hall of Fame in 1957 and the Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame in ...

. It was the only run the Cubs scored that day in a 5–1 loss. Although he did not hit another home run—and indeed would not hit another during the rest of his Major League career—Maguire did have an excellent year with the glove. He led the league in

putout In baseball statistics, a putout (denoted by ''PO'' or ''fly out'' when appropriate) is awarded to a defensive player who (generally while in secure possession of the ball) records an out by one of the following methods: * Tagging a runner wit ...

s and

assist Assist or ASSIST may refer to: Sports Several sports have a statistic known as an "assist", generally relating to action by a player leading to a score by another player on their team: *Assist (basketball), a pass by a player that facilitates a ba ...

s and second in

fielding percentage In baseball statistics, fielding percentage, also known as fielding average, is a measure that reflects the percentage of times a defensive player properly handles a batted or thrown ball. It is calculated by the sum of putouts and assists, div ...

among second basemen while batting .279 for the third-place Cubs. That offseason, though, Maguire was one of five players traded to the Braves for superstar

Rogers Hornsby Rogers Hornsby Sr. (April 27, 1896 – January 5, 1963), nicknamed "The Rajah", was an American baseball infielder, manager, and coach who played 23 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB). He played for the St. Louis Cardinals (1915–1926, 1933 ...

Boston Braves

Replacing Hornsby was a difficult task, and Maguire slumped in for the cellar-dwelling Braves, as his numbers slipped both offensively and defensively. His offensive numbers were so poor, he was what has occasionally been called a "

Triple Crown Triple Crown may refer to: Sports Horse racing * Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing * Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing (United States) ** Triple Crown Trophy ** Triple Crown Productions * Canadian Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing * Trip ...

loser", finishing last among qualifiers for the batting title in all three Triple Crown statistics (batting average, home runs, runs batted in). Things did not improve much from there. Although Maguire had an uptick in average and RBI in , in he finished last in all three categories again, the only player in MLB history to have done so more than once. He was let go after the season.

Return to the minor leagues

In , Maguire signed with the

Louisville Colonels The Louisville Colonels were a Major League Baseball team that also played in the American Association (AA) throughout that league's ten-year existence from 1882 until 1891. They were known as the Louisville Eclipse from 1882 to 1884, and as ...

, splitting the season between that team and the

Toronto Maple Leafs The Toronto Maple Leafs (officially the Toronto Maple Leaf Hockey Club and often referred to as the Leafs) are a professional ice hockey team based in Toronto. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Div ...

. He continued to play in the minor leagues until , finishing his career as a player-manager in the class-D Cape Breton Colliery League.

Overview

In six Major League seasons, Maguire played in 618 games with a .257 batting average, .322

slugging average 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, a ...

, and a .289

on-base percentage In baseball statistics, on-base percentage (OBP) measures how frequently a batter reaches base. An official Major League Baseball (MLB) statistic since 1984, it is sometimes referred to as on-base average (OBA), as it is rarely presented as a ...

Later life

Maguire served as head baseball coach at

Boston College Boston College (BC) is a private Jesuit research university in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. Founded in 1863, the university has more than 9,300 full-time undergraduates and nearly 5,000 graduate students. Although Boston College is classifie ...

from 1939 to 1949 and was a scout for the

Boston Red Sox The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Founded in as one of the American League's eight ...

from 1950 until his sudden death on November 3, 1961.

Notes

References

* The SABR Baseball List & Record Book.

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Maguire, Freddie Major League Baseball second basemen New York Giants (NL) players Chicago Cubs players Boston Braves players Boston College Eagles baseball coaches Boston Red Sox scouts Toledo Mud Hens players Louisville Colonels (minor league) players Toronto Maple Leafs (International League) players New Bedford Whalers (baseball) players Waltham/Worcester Rosebuds players Glace Bay Miners players Dominion Hawks players New Waterford Dodgers players Baseball players from Massachusetts 1899 births 1961 deaths