100 Greatest Phillies: 77 – Freddy Leach
Posted by Tim Malcolm, Fri, January 09, 2009 02:00 PM | Comments: 3
100 Greatest Phillies, Posts
Freddy Leach
Outfielder
1923-1928
Career w/Phillies: .311 AVG / 44 HR / 301 RBI / 14 SB
At age 21, Freddy Leach played his first game of baseball. Ever. Leaving the farm, Leach needed something else to do to make money, so he turned to baseball, which to him, seemed like profitable fun. By age 25, he was playing Major League Baseball for the Philadelphia Phillies. And by age 28, he was a regular, hitting .329 and slugging .484. For three seasons, Leach put up very strong numbers, recording an average of 170 hits. He was the team’s best pure hitter during that time. After the Phillies, he’d put up some nice numbers for the New York Giants before retiring as a Boston Brave in 1932 because he didn’t like the game that much. His legacy? The Phils traded him to the Giants in 1928 for Lefty O’Doul. Pretty awesome trade, really.
Comment: Leach was a fourth outfielder for a few years, before becoming a regular and putting up some real nice numbers. Interestingly, one of his most comparable players on his Baseball Reference page is Bake McBride. There’s irony in that fact.
Posts: 0 John Fire
This is kind of not related to the topic, but I noticed something today while perusing old philly drafts: we’ve drafted a ton of guys who opted not to sign with us and then ultimately had much success elsewhere. A few names include:
Chuck Knoblauch
Vince Coleman
Bobby Higginson (a Philly guy!)
Scott Hatteberg
J.D. Drew (we all remember that)
Casey Blake
Derrick Turnbow
Just thought it was interesting…
Posted: 08:37 PM on January 9, 2009
Posts: 1650 Tim Malcolm
Well it happens a lot, especially with guys on the fence between high school and college. High school players who have upside might test the draft, get picked in the 1st to 6th rounds or so, and opt to go to college because they think they can get a better slot later.
It’s all about slotting. If a guy is picked in a certain place, he knows approx. what he’ll get because of slotting.
Posted: 03:42 PM on January 10, 2009
Posts: 0 Don Floyd
This was my Grandfather, he lived a wonderful life after baseball in southern Idaho where he loved his ranch and fishing. He had many great stories of his years in farm and major ball.
Thank you for this page about him!
Don Floyd
Posted: 06:33 PM on November 3, 2009