Fred Lieb
Fred Lieb | |
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J. G. Taylor Spink Award (1972) |
Frederick George Lieb (March 5, 1888 – June 3, 1980) was an American
Career
Lieb was born on March 5, 1888, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; his favorite team growing up as a child was the
Lieb is credited with coining the term "The House that Ruth Built," referring to the New York Yankees' brand new stadium that was christened by a Babe Ruth home run on their opening day, April 18, 1923.[2] He and his wife Mary were especially close to Ruth's teammate Lou Gehrig; Walter Brennan's character in the movie The Pride of the Yankees was loosely based on him. In October 1931, Fred Lieb took a team, headlined by Gehrig, Lefty Grove, Mickey Cochrane, Al Simmons, and Lefty O'Doul, to Hawaii and Japan for a profitable exhibition tour. This and many other profitable investments along the way allowed Lieb to retire in 1934 from the "real work" of daily reporting to focus solely on writing about baseball.[4] In 1935, Taylor Spink convinced Lieb to write a regular weekly column and select obituaries for The Sporting News; Lieb did this at his leisure from his home in St. Petersburg, Florida, for 35 years.[4] At the peak of their circulation, his syndicated columns reached more than 100 newspapers.
Lieb's career would last a little over 70 years, as he continued to contribute to The Sporting News and
Major works
Lieb was a prolific writer, contributing to The Sporting News from 1935 to 1980, the St. Petersburg Times from 1965 until his death,
Notable events
Lieb initiated a rule change on February 9, 1920, when he suggested that a game-winning home run with men on base always be counted as a home run, even if its run was not needed to win the game.[4] Previously, the batter would only be credited with a hit sufficient to score the winning run, and not any additional runs.
On May 15, 1922, Ty Cobb beat out a grounder to shortstop Everett Scott, and Lieb scored it a hit in the box score he filed with the Associated Press (AP).[4] This contradicted official scorer John Kieran of the New-York Tribune, who ruled the play an error. At the end of the season, American League (AL) official records were compiled using the AP box scores, giving Cobb a .401 batting average. Lieb reversed his call, but AL president Ban Johnson went with the hit call. The New York writers protested to the commissioner on December 14, 1922, claiming that Ty Cobb's batting average should be .399 based on the official scorer's stats, but to no avail.[4]
On September 11, 1923, as the official scorer for a Yankees–Red Sox game, Lieb ruled that a ball hit hard past Red Sox third baseman
References
- ^ Lieb, Fred (1977). Baseball As I Have Known It. New York: Coward, McCann & Geoghegan.
- ^ a b c d e f Gates, Jim. "1972 J.G. Taylor Spink Award Winner Fred Lieb". National Baseball Hall of Fame. Cooperstown Baseball Hall of Fame. Archived from the original on May 15, 2013. Retrieved April 2, 2013.
- ^ a b c d e f Shannon, Bill. "New York Historical Society's Dictionary of New York Sports". Bill Shannon Dictionary of New York Sports. New York Historical Society. Retrieved April 2, 2013.
- ^ a b c d e f g "Fred Lieb 1888-1980". Baseballbiography.com. Retrieved February 4, 2013.
- ^ Pomrenke, Jacob. "SABR". Fred Lieb. Society for American Baseball Research. Retrieved April 2, 2013.
- ^ Topper, Mike. "Fred Lieb 1888-1980". Fred Lieb. Library Thing. Retrieved April 2, 2013.
- ^ "Boston Red Sox 3, New York Yankees 0". Retrosheet. September 11, 1923. Retrieved February 27, 2021.
- ^ "The 1923 BOS A Regular Season Batting Log for Howard Ehmke". Retrosheet. Retrieved February 27, 2021.