Harry Koch "Dutchman" Fritz (September 30, 1890 – November 4, 1974) was a

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 ...

for

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), ...

teams the

Philadelphia Athletics The Philadelphia Athletics were a Major League Baseball team that played in Philadelphia from 1901 to 1954, when they moved to Kansas City, Missouri, and became the Kansas City Athletics. Following another move in 1967, the team became the Oaklan ...

and

Chicago Whales The Chicago Whales were a professional baseball team based in Chicago. They played in the Federal League, a short-lived "third Major League", in 1914 and 1915. They originally lacked a formal nickname, and were known simply as the "Chicago Feder ...

Biography

Fritz was born in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

on September 30, 1890. Fritz played three years in professional baseball, mostly in the

Federal League The Federal League of Base Ball Clubs, known simply as the Federal League, was an American professional baseball league that played its first season as a minor league in 1913 and operated as a "third major league", in competition with the e ...

. He played for Wilmington from 1911 to 1913 and also with the Athletics late in the season for five games for the

1913 World Series The 1913 World Series was the championship series in Major League Baseball for the 1913 in baseball, 1913 season. The tenth edition of the World Series, it matched the American League (AL) champion 1913 Philadelphia Athletics season, Philadelphia ...

winning team. In 1914, he played 65 games for the

Chicago Chi-Feds The Chicago Whales were a professional baseball team based in Chicago. They played in the Federal League, a short-lived "third Major League", in 1914 and 1915. They originally lacked a formal nickname, and were known simply as the "Chicago Feder ...

under manager

Joe Tinker Joseph Bert Tinker (July 27, 1880 – July 27, 1948) was an American professional baseball player and manager. He played from 1902 through 1916 for the Chicago Cubs and Cincinnati Reds of Major League Baseball (MLB) and the Chicago Whales of the ...

. While

Rollie Zeider Rollie Hubert Zeider (November 16, 1883 – September 12, 1967) was a professional baseball player. An infielder (playing over 100 games at all four infield positions in his career), he played nine seasons in the major leagues for the Chi ...

was the everyday third baseman, Fritz was the most utilized backup infielder on the second place team. He was the everyday third baseman for the 1915

. He finished his career at Syracuse in 1916. Fritz was married in Philadelphia on January 27, 1915, at St. Paul's Reformed Episcopal Church to Edna L. McMunn. It was reported that the couple will make their home in Philadelphia after a honeymoon to Bermuda. He also received news of his transfer to the St. Louis Federal league team on his wedding day. St. Louis later decided they didn't need his services and he was returned to the Chicago Federal League club, hoping he could be available by opening day. He died in

Columbus, Ohio Columbus () is the state capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Ohio. With a 2020 census population of 905,748, it is the 14th-most populous city in the U.S., the second-most populous city in the Midwest, after Chicago, and t ...

on November 4, 1974.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fritz, Harry 1890 births 1974 deaths Major League Baseball third basemen Philadelphia Athletics players Chicago Whales players Syracuse Stars (minor league baseball) players Wilmington Chicks players Baseball players from Philadelphia