Fred McMullin

Fred McMullin
Third baseman
Born: (1891-10-13)October 13, 1891
Scammon, Kansas
Died: November 20, 1952(1952-11-20) (aged 61)
Los Angeles, California
Batted: Right Threw: Right
MLB debut
August 27, 1914, for the Detroit Tigers
Last MLB appearance
September 20, 1920, for the Chicago White Sox
MLB statistics
Batting average .256
Home runs 1
Runs batted in 70
Teams

Fred Drury McMullin (October 13, 1891 – November 20, 1952) was an American Major League Baseball third baseman. He is best known for his involvement in the 1919 Black Sox scandal.

Career

McMullin was born in Scammon, Kansas in 1891. He began his major league career on August 27, 1914, as a shortstop for the Detroit Tigers. He spent most of 1912–1915 in the minors before making the Chicago White Sox team in 1916. In 1917, he won the World Series with Chicago, while batting .125 in six games against the New York Giants.

McMullin was only a utility infielder for the 1919 AL Champion White Sox, and as such he didn't play enough to have much potential for throwing games (he recorded just two plate appearances in the eight-game series). However, he became a part of the conspiracy when he overheard several other players' conversations and threatened to report them unless included.

McMullin was also Chicago's advance scout for the World Series, which may explain how and why he earned an equal share in the winnings ($5,000) from the fix.[1] It is entirely probable that, as a means to cover himself and his co-conspirators, McMullin delivered a flawed scouting report to all the "clean" Sox about what to expect from Cincinnati's pitchers.[1] A look at the statistics shows little disparity between Black Sox and Clean Sox; for example, ringleader Chick Gandil batted .233 to future Hall of Famer Eddie Collins' .226.[1]

For his role in the fix, McMullin was banned for life from organized baseball, along with seven other players, by Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis.

Later years and death

McMullin kept quiet about the fix for his whole life. Fred held a variety of jobs throughout his life such as a carpenter, office jobs, traffic manager and Los Angeles County deputy marshal. His last years featured him suffering from arteriosclerosis. On November 19, 1952, just over a month after his 61st birthday, he had a fatal stroke. His official time of death was at 4:40 P.M on November 20. He was buried at Inglewood Park Cemetery.

In popular culture

In the 1988 film Eight Men Out, McMullin was portrayed by Perry Lang.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Rob Neyer. Rob Neyer's Big Book of Baseball Blunders. Simon & Schuster. pp. 2–3. ISBN 0-7432-8491-7.

External links

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