FREDDIE FITZSIMMONS

A Baseball Life

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Contents

CHAPTER 1

FARM BOY

Baseball has no single birthplace. In its earliest forms, the game wasplayed in pastures, village commons, military encampments, andvacant lots in growing towns. The national pastime Americansrecognize today, though, was invented in New York City and Brooklynduring the 1840s and 1850s. There, the sport evolved rules that werestandardized enough for competitive leagues to form, and baseball,entwined with American society, began to expand with its own ManifestDestiny.

Although modern professional baseball originated in the nation'slargest cities, baseball players came from every corner of the country. Inthe late 1800s and early 1900s, images of skyscrapers and smokestacksexcited the national spirit but were far from the world of most Americans,who still resided on farms or in small towns. They were the descendantsof men and women who had tamed a continent or perhaps more recentimmigrants pouring into the nation's seaports. Urbanization, though, wasthe inevitable trend for both the American people and baseball. Countlessballplayers who reached the professional ranks experienced this familiarpattern of leaving the land or a small town for the big city, replete with itsopportunities and dangers.

Like so many major leaguers of baseball's Golden Age, FreddieFitzsimmons was part of this migration. Descendants of patriots andpioneers, he and his family had deep roots in rural America.

The Fitzsimmons family traces its earliest American ancestors toeastern Virginia, near Richmond. The most prominent of these progenitorswas Thomas Fitzsimmons, born in 1761 in Cumberland (later Powhatan)County. Fred's great-great-great grandfather, Thomas fought in theAmerican Revolution, enlisting in Colonel Richard Parker's VirginiaRegiment at age 15 with the rank of private. Fitzsimmons served in GeorgeWashington's army through most of his five years of service and wasinvolved in some of the most prominent events of the war. During Thomas'sfirst enlistment, he fought at White Plains, participated in Washington'sCrossing of the Delaware, and fought in several other battles from Januarythrough June 1777. Fitzsimmons signed a three-year re-enlistment inthe fall of 1777 and endured the terrible privations of Valley Forge thefollowing winter. He was wounded at Monmouth in June 1778 and foughtin the Carolinas before a third enlistment in February 1781. Now withColonel Tucker's Virginia Regiment, Fitzsimmons saw action at GuilfordCourt House and was present at Yorktown when General Cornwallis wasdefeated, effectively ending the Revolution.

After the war, Thomas and his wife Polly began their family. PatrickFitzsimmons, Fred's great-great grandfather, was born in Virginia in1792, shortly before the family joined the thousands migrating acrossthe mountains into the new state of Kentucky. Thomas settled his familyin Shelby County, where he and Polly remained until the fall of 1836,when they moved to Hendricks County, Indiana, to be near some of theirchildren. Thomas died in 1840 and is buried in New Winchester.

Family documents show that Patrick Fitzsimmons owned a 202-acrefarm in Shelby County, Kentucky, in 1835.

His son Richard was born in 1822 and married Martha Miles, whowas born in 1826. They left their native Shelby County in 1850 andmigrated first to Marion County, Indiana. After a short time in theIndianapolis area, the Fitzsimmons family moved forty miles north toPrairie Township, in the northwest corner of Tipton County, south ofKokomo. Their growing family of ten children included Fred's grandfather,David Fitzsimmons, who was born in 1850.

Despite its proximity to Kokomo, today a city of 50,000 people, PrairieTownship is still one of the most rural townships in Indiana, retainingmuch of the agricultural character that the first Fitzsimmons settlers wouldhave known in the 1850s and that young Fred experienced in the firstdecade of the twentieth century.

Prairie Township was created in 1844 and during the 1850s experienceda large migration of residents, including the Fitzsimmons family. Thepopulation that decade grew from 722 to 1,247, and by the 1870s, 1,547people resided in the township.

A history of Tipton County published in the late nineteenth century,describes the physical character of the land the Fitzsimmonses calledhome. G.N. Berry wrote, "Nature, in her green mantle, is nowhere morelovely than in that portion of Tipton County set aside by survey as PrairieTownship. Cozy farmhouses nestle in somber quietude amid greenorchards which dot the landscape in every direction." Like much of theTipton Till Plain that runs through central Indiana, Prairie Township isgenerally flat, but some undulations add attractive variety to the landscape.Before the first white settlers came, thick forests covered Prairie Township,as they did much of Indiana, and through the second half of the 1800s, thenative woods of walnut, beech, oak, and elm were steadily cleared in favorof croplands and pastures. The black loamy soil of the township favoredthe agrarian pursuits of its residents.

Growing up in Tipton County, David Fitzsimmons met HannahCarter, who was also born in 1850, and the couple married on ChristmasDay, 1870. Their son Richard, Fred's father, was born in 1873. David diedsix years later, and Hannah remarried.

Richard married Margaret Ellen Gordon on August 5, 1896, inHoward County. Ellen was three years younger than her husband. By1900, Richard and Ellen were living on a 70-acre farm in parts of sections32 and 33 of Prairie Township, half a mile south of the Howard-Tiptoncounty line. They had one daughter, Mary Louise, who was born in 1898.The Fitzsimmons family owned their farm, which county land recordsindicate was comprised of two parcels: 30 acres at the southwest corner ofthe intersection of county roads 650N and 1000W and another 40 acresimmediately across the road to the east.

Although every baseball reference work that lists player birthplaces saysFrederick Landis Fitzsimmons was born in Mishawaka, that is not accurate.Fred most likely was born on the family farm in Prairie Township on July28, 1901. No birth records for him exist in the Tipton County HealthDepartment or in the Tipton newspaper, but family histories, his brotherDick, born in 1917 in Mishawaka, and his grandson Gregg Shelton, allaffirm Fred's birthplace as being the family farm. County archivists todaysay it was common for rural births not to be registered, and the 18-miledistance from the Fitzsimmons farm to the county seat may also suggestwhy the addition to the family was not entered into the public record.

Howard and Marilyn Leisure today reside on the four-acre parcelthat includes the oldest buildings in the immediate area. Howard Leisureasserts that his house dates back to the late nineteenth century and thenearby barn is perhaps fifty years older than that. Although documentationdoes not exist to confirm the Fitzsimmons family was living in this housein 1901, it is probable that they were. Thus, the white, two-story, wood-framehouse at 6484 N. 1000 West is most likely Fred's birthplace.

Tipton County histories offer additional details of what PrairieTownship was like when young Freddie was toddling about the landscapeand creating his first memories. The township lacked a railroad, telegraphline, or even a post office, and its only village was tiny Groomsville,located three miles directly south of the Fitzsimmons farm. When PrairieTownship residents needed to go into "town," they went a couple milesnorth instead, to Russiaville in Howard County.

Although the Prairie Township of Fred's earliest years lacked themodern conveniences found in towns like Kokomo and Tipton, theland was fertile, and farming there was reasonably successful. Evidenceof prosperity can be seen in Gretchen Kemp's Tipton County and HerPeople, which describes the Prairie Township landscape surrounding theFitzsimmons farm: "large barns ..., slatted corncribs, smoke houses,outside toilets, brooder and hen houses, spring houses, buggy sheds, wellhouses, and individual hog houses." Another county history refers to useof scientific farming methods and adequate drainage as attributes of thetownship's agriculture.

With the benefit of hindsight, one might interpret that in a few smallways young Fred was already developing a connection to the game ofbaseball that would later provide his livelihood for over forty years.

Most directly, Fred was named in honor of Richard's friendFrederick Landis, an attorney and the younger brother of future BaseballCommissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis. Of course, in 1901, no onecould have known that either Fred Fitzsimmons or Kenesaw MountainLandis would become prominently associated with major league baseball,but it is an interesting coincidence.

Frederick Landis was born in Seven Mile, Ohio, in 1872. About twoyears later, his family moved to Logansport, Indiana, 30 miles northwestof Tipton County. Landis earned a law degree from the University ofMichigan in 1895 and began practicing law later that year in his adoptedhometown. Exactly how Richard Fitzsimmons came to be friends withFred Landis is lost to history. Landis was a prominent politician in the1900s and 1910s, serving in the U.S. House of Representatives from 19031907.After he was defeated for a third term, he returned to Logansport andstayed in the public eye as a speaker and writer. He was among the foundersof the Progressive Party in 1912 and ran unsuccessfully on the party'sgubernatorial ticket that year. Landis sought the Republican nominationfor governor in 1928, but lost. He was elected to Congress in 1934 butdied shortly after the election.

His brother, Kenesaw Mountain—named after the Civil War battlewhere his surgeon father lost a leg—was born in Millville, Ohio, in 1866.Growing up in Logansport, Kenesaw was a cyclist and baseball player.In 1891, he graduated from Union College School of Law in Chicago,where he continued his legal career, and President Theodore Rooseveltappointed him to the federal bench in 1905. Judge Landis became theBaseball Commissioner after the infamous Black Sox scandal of 1919 andremained in that office during Fitzsimmons's entire playing career in themajor leagues.

Another connection between baseball and Fred's youth in PrairieTownship comes from major league pitcher Charles "Babe" Adams, whowas born in 1882 near Groomsville. Kemp writes that when Babe Adamswas growing up in Prairie Township "he spent much time throwing clodsat the birds and in the winter throwing snowballs."

In 1906, Adams made his major league debut with the St. LouisCardinals and then spent the next 18 seasons with the Pittsburgh Pirates.In the 1909 World Series against Detroit, he earned victories in all threegames he pitched, including Game 7. Adams also pitched one inning ofrelief in Game 4 of the 1925 World Series in a losing effort against WalterJohnson of the Washington Senators. The Pirates won the Series, though,4-3. Adams retired after the 1926 season with a career mark of 194-140.

After Adams had become famous in the World Series, perhaps RichardFitzsimmons inspired young Fred's baseball career with tales of theirhometown hero's achievements.

The tail-end of Adams's career with the Pirates in 1925-26 overlappedFitzsimmons's first two seasons with the New York Giants. Collectively,Adams and Fitzsimmons would win 411 major league games and pitchin five different World Series—not bad for one sparsely populated ruralIndiana township.

Dick FitzSimmons related that in the 1950s he visited the area in PrairieTownship where his parents' farm was. One man who lived nearby recalledFred playing catch with Richard, a timeless ritual repeated by fathers and sonseverywhere in America. Knowing that Fred would one day be a major leaguepitcher, though, gives greater significance and foreshadowing to a father andson throwing the ball back and forth. With the farmhouse, a barn, and gentlyrolling acres of corn or pasture, those games of catch between little Fred andhis father form an appealing tableau. After a hard day of labor on the farm,Richard must have savored each throw and catch with his son.

The farm where Fred spent his first few years is easily recognizable today.The 40-acre section east of County Road 1000 W has been subdivided intofive lots, each with a modern house. The 30 acres across the road, though,probably looks much as it did in 1901. Corn grows in this field, and to thesouth a small woods forms part of the boundary with the neighboring farm.Otherwise, the landscape in all directions is comprised of open fields and afew scattered houses. Half a mile west on narrowing 650 N is PrairievilleCemetery, where Richard and Martha Fitzsimmons, Fred's grandfatherDavid, and other members of the extended Fitzsimmons family are buried.Adjacent to the cemetery is the now-vacant Prairieville Christian Church,a brick structure built in 1877. The twenty-foot-high hilltop on which thecemetery and church are located is the highest point in the area and affordsa view largely unchanged from when young Fred, his sister, and parentslived just down the road. This agrarian vista from another century is instark contrast to the commercialized sprawl of Kokomo, a few miles north.

Within a few years after Fred's birth in 1901, the Fitzsimmons familymoved away from their Prairie Township farm. Although Tipton Countyfarming in the early 1900s was generally successful, Richard and Ellenrecognized that the opportunity to have a more prosperous life for theirfamily would be greater elsewhere. Their 70-acre farm was smaller thanaverage in Prairie Township, and the general trend throughout Americanagriculture has been consolidation, increasing the average number of acresrequired for a viable farm.

According to Dick FitzSimmons, his family moved to Illinois. "Idon't know why they went to Illinois. It must have been that my othergrandparents, the Gordon family, was going over there or was there, sothey followed," he explained. Dick believed the family may have brieflylived in Gibson City, Illinois, a small town on the Illinois Central Railroad120 miles directly west of Tipton County. There, Dick suggested his fathermay have taken up the shoemaking trade. Before coming to Mishawakaabout 1906, the Fitzsimmons family lived in Rockford, 60 miles northwestof Chicago.

The Fitzsimmons family's migration reflects that of millions ofAmericans during the Gilded Age and Progressive Era. Not only werewaves of immigrants surging into the nation's industrial cities, so, too, weremany from America's rural areas. Popular imagination often associates thisurbanization and industrialization with the Chicago of Upton Sinclair's TheJungle or Booth Tarkington's fictionalized Indianapolis of The MagnificentAmbersons. Smaller industrial cities like Rockford and Mishawaka werealso magnets for rural dwellers and immigrants alike. These cities promisedbetter paying jobs and amenities like electricity, telephones, shopping, andculture. Even 50-hour weeks of physical labor and drudgery in a factorymay have seemed to many like a big improvement over farm life. Themilestone 1920 census would show that for the first time more than halfof all Americans lived in cities and towns.

Fred was about five years old when his family moved from Rockfordto Mishawaka, a growing industrial center located ninety miles east ofChicago. Settled in 1833 by Alanson Hurd, an entrepreneur in the ironindustry, Mishawaka had been a factory town from its inception. Hurdused local bog iron deposits for his St. Joseph Iron Works, and power wasgenerated from a natural fall in the scenic St. Joseph River near the site hechose for his settlement. Numerous industries followed him to Mishawaka,most notably the Mishawaka Woolen Manufacturing Company, whichproduced shoes and boots; the Dodge Manufacturing Company, whichspecialized in power transmission equipment; and the Perkins WindMill Company. Near the turn of the century, each of these factories wasreputed to be the largest of its kind in the world. Two major rail linesprovided excellent connections to Chicago, Detroit, and New York, aidingMishawaka industry by bringing in raw materials and transporting awayfinished goods for sale around the world.
(Continues...)Excerpted from FREDDIE FITZSIMMONS by PETER J. DE KEVER. Copyright © 2013 Peter J. De Kever. Excerpted by permission of AuthorHouse.
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