Fred Snodgrass

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Fred Snodgrass

Frederick Carlisle Snodgrass (October 19, 1887 - April 5, 1974) was an American center fielder in Major League Baseball from 1908 to 1916 for the New York Giants and the Boston Braves. He played under manager John McGraw and with some of the early greats of baseball including Christy Mathewson.

Snodgrass played in 3 consecutive World Series for the Giants from 1911 to 1913. Unfortunately the Giants lost all of them, and he is remembered for committing an error on a routine fly ball in the tenth inning of the deciding game which allowed the Boston Red Sox win the 1912 Series. The play was forever known as "Snodgrass' Muff". Despite the infamy of the "muff," the play only resulted in the ultimately tying run being put onto second base. It did not cause any runs to score. Ironically, Snodgrass made a spectacular catch on the very next play, a long drive by the dangerous Harry Hooper. Tris Speaker came to bat, and Snodgrass' teammates made a worse goof: Speaker hit a simple foul; Christy Mathewson, the pitcher, Fred Merkle, the first baseman, and Chief Meyers, the catcher, met between first base and home plate to catch the ball, but in an "after you" stalemate they let the ball fall to the ground. Shortly afterward the Red Sox scored the winning run. Giants manager John McGraw never blamed Snodgrass for this.

Many years later, Snodgrass was interviewed by Lawrence Ritter for The Glory of Their Times.

Snodgrass lived out his life later in the West with real estate and investment. However, when he died, the New York Times summed up his obituary with: "Fred Snodgrass. Dead. Missed 1912 Fly."