Fred Fritz "Lefty" Houtz (September 4, 1875 – February 15, 1959) 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), ...

. He played for the

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 ...

in 1899 and also had a 12-year minor league career. Houtz stood at 5' 10" and weighed 170 lbs."Lefty Houtz Statistics and History"
''baseball-reference.com''. Retrieved 2010-12-22.

Career

Lefty Houtz was born in

Connersville, Indiana Connersville is a city in Fayette County, east central Indiana, United States, east by southeast of Indianapolis. The population was 13,481 at the 2010 census. The city is the county seat of and the largest and only incorporated town in F ...

. He started his professional baseball career in 1899 with the

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 ...

's Galveston Sand Crabs"Lefty Houtz Minor League Statistics & History"
''baseball-reference.com''. Retrieved 2010-12-22. and made an immediate impact. In 78 games that year, he batted .395 and slugged .673 with 17

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. He led the league in

triples TripleS (stylized as tripleS; Help:IPA/English, /ˈtɹɪpəl:ɛs/; ) is a South Korean girl group formed by MODHAUS. They aim to be the world's first decentralized K-pop idol group. The members will rotate between the group, sub-unit, and solo ac ...

, home runs,

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 ...

, total bases, and

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, ...

. Houtz was then acquired by the Cincinnati Reds, and he made his major league debut on July 23. '' Sporting Life'' later wrote of that day:

"All records were broken after acquisition of "Lefty" Houtz, who was hailed by the late Harry Weldon as the champion slugger of the Texas League. The afternoon that Houtz made his debut the stands were packed and overflow meetings were held along the lines."

Houtz played five games for the Reds from July 23 to July 26. He went 4 for 17 at the plate with 4 walks, for a .381

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 ...

. He finished out the season with St. Paul of the Western League. On October 7, ''Sporting Life'' reported that Houtz ("the Texas League wonder") had been released outright from Cincinnati. He then played for two teams in 1900 and batted just .220. In 1902, Houtz joined the Butte Miners of the

Pacific Northwest League The Pacific Northwest League was a professional Minor League Baseball league based in the Pacific Northwest. It was the first professional baseball league ever in the region. History Founding The Pacific Northwest League was founded in 1890. I ...

. He raised his

batting average Batting average is a statistic in cricket, baseball, and softball that measures the performance of batters. The development of the baseball statistic was influenced by the cricket statistic. Cricket In cricket, a player's batting average is ...

to .291, and Butte won the league championship. The following season, he moved to the Pacific National League's San Francisco Pirates and batted .286. He broke out again in 1904, with the Boise Fruit Pickers. Houtz was one of the PNL's top sluggers that season, batting .343 and pacing the circuit with 33

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 and 18 triples while finishing second in total bases. In 1905, Houtz played in the

Pacific Coast League The Pacific Coast League (PCL) is a Minor League Baseball league that operates in the Western United States. Along with the International League, it is one of two leagues playing at the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A level, which is one grade bel ...

, and his batting average fell to .243. He was ordered to report to

spring training Spring training is the preseason in Major League Baseball (MLB), a series of practices and exhibition games preceding the start of the regular season. Spring training allows new players to try out for Schedule (workplace), roster and position spo ...

with 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 ...

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 hav ...

in early 1906 but did not play for the Cardinals in a regular season game. His five games in 1899 would remain the only major league experience of his career. Houtz instead spent 1906 and 1907 playing for the Montgomery Senators of the

Southern Association The Southern Association was a higher-level minor league in American organized baseball from 1901 through 1961. For most of its existence, the Southern Association was two steps below the Major Leagues; it was graded Class A (1902–1935), Cl ...

. In May 1906, the ''

Spokane Daily Chronicle The ''Spokane Daily Chronicle'' is a daily digital newspaper in Spokane, Washington. It was founded as a weekly paper in 1881 and grew into an afternoon daily, competing with ''The Spokesman-Review'', which was formed from the merger of two comp ...

'' reported that he was "hitting the ball hard", but his batting average that year was just .244. He then hit .258 in 1907. Houtz went to the

Central League The or is one of the two professional baseball leagues that constitute Nippon Professional Baseball in Japan. The winner of the league championship plays against the winner of the Pacific League in the annual Japan Series. It currently consist ...

Zanesville Infants The Zanesville Infants (1908–1909) was a short-lived baseball franchise located in Zanesville, Ohio, and affiliated with the regional Central League. The organization's name was intended to highlight that they were a new minor league club. The In ...

in 1908 and then to the

Ohio State League The Ohio State League was a minor league baseball league that operated in numerous seasons between 1887 and 1947, predominantly as a Class D level league. League franchises were based in Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and West Virginia. Histo ...

's Lima Cigarmakers in 1910. In 1911, he batted .323 and led the OSL in slugging percentage, triples, and total bases."1910 Ohio State League Batting Leaders"
''baseball-reference.com''. Retrieved 2010-12-22. It was the third time in his career that he led a league in triples. He retired from professional baseball after that season. Houtz died in 1959 in

St. Marys, Ohio St. Marys is a city in Auglaize County, Ohio, United States. Located in western Ohio, it is west of Wapakoneta and east of the Ohio/Indiana border. The city is located on a portage between the St. Marys and Auglaize river systems, which was a ...

. He was buried in

New St. Joseph Cemetery New St. Joseph Cemetery is a Catholic cemetery located at West Eighth Street and Nebraska Avenue in Cincinnati, Ohio in the Price Hill, Cincinnati, Price Hill neighborhood. The original Old St. Joseph's Cemetery was founded at West Eight Street ...

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Houtz, Lefty 1875 births 1959 deaths People from Connersville, Indiana People from Auglaize County, Ohio Major League Baseball outfielders Cincinnati Reds players St. Paul Saints (AA) players Mansfield Haymakers players Sioux City Corn Huskers players Fort Wayne Railroaders players Indianapolis Hoosiers (minor league) players Marion Glass Blowers players Butte Miners players Seattle Siwashes players Montgomery Senators players Zanesville Infants players Birmingham Barons players Baseball players from Indiana 19th-century baseball players San Francisco Pirates players Lima Cigarmakers players