Frankie Frisch was arguably more known for his time with his second team, the St. Louis Cardinals, but the switch-hitting infielder was a bona fide star with his first MLB Team, the New York Giants. In some statistics, he was better.
Earning the nickname of the “Fordham Flash” as a four-sport star at the university mentioned above, Frisch signed with New York in 1919 without having to spend a day in the Minors. Playing at Third and eventually moving the Second Base, Frisch was a natural baseball player, providing speed, average, and defense throughout his career.
A player on the rise in 1920, when the Giants won the World Series, Frisch broke out in 1921, batting .341, with 211 Hits and a league-leading 49 Stolen Bases. New York won the World Series again, with Frisch playing a more significant role, batting .471 in the Fall Classic.
After his 1921 campaign, Frisch never batted under .300 as Giant again with less than 20 SB, and also had a first-place finish in Hits (223) in 1923 and Runs (121) in 1924. Frisch was a superstar, but this was not an era where the players were king; the managers were. He missed a sign in a game late in the 1926 Season, and after, he was scolded in front of his teammates by the Manager, John McGraw, leading to Frisch leaving the team. He came back, but the damage was done. Frisch was traded to St. Louis for another Hall of Famer, Rogers Hornsby, who, too, had an impasse with ownership.
The Baseball Hall of Fame elected Frisch in 1947, who won two more World Series Titles with the Cardinals.
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