The Giants promoted Lindstrom to the major leagues for the
1924 season. The 18-year-old Lindstrom batted .333 in the
1924 World Series, including four hits in one game against Washington's
Walter Johnson while playing errorless baseball in the field. The youngest player ever in a post-season game, he was described by Johnson after the fifth game as "a wonder, easily the brightest star in this series." But a bad-hop bouncer over his head in the 12th inning of the seventh game gave the series to the Senators and became an enduring moment in baseball lore. A number of later accounts of the Series called Lindstrom "the goat for his 12th-inning error." Actually, there was no error on the play, and Groh was later quoted as saying: "It wasn't Freddie's fault. It could have happened to anyone. He never had a chance to get the ball." "So they won it," Lindstrom later recalled. "(Giants pitcher)
Jack Bentley, who was something of a philosopher, I think summed it up after the game. ‘Walter Johnson,’ Bentley said, ‘is such a loveable character that the good Lord didn't want to see him get beat again.’" baseball card Playing in an era when fielders’ gloves were little more than padded strips of leather with a baseball-sized pocket in the palm, Lindstrom for three of the next four seasons led National League third basemen in
fielding percentage. He also topped the league in assists in 1928, finishing second with 34 double plays and 506 total chances. All while posting 231 hits in both 1928 and 1930 including nine hits in a double header, a record never surpassed to this day. By the time Lindstrom reached the age of 25, he had accumulated 1,186 hits, the fourth highest total for a 25-year-old player in MLB history, behind only
Ty Cobb (1,433),
Mel Ott (1,249) and
Al Kaline (1,200). A "million-dollar infield," said writer
Arnold Hano of the late-1920s Giants quartet. "Fans would come early just to watch their fielding-practice magic." In an essay on
Willie Mays' famous back-to-the-plate World Series catch off Cleveland's
Vic Wertz in , Hano claimed that an even more sensational play was Lindstrom's full-length, leaping grab before crashing into the outfield wall in a 1932 Giants-Pirates game that the
New York Herald Tribune later called "the greatest catch ever made in the Polo Grounds." During his nine seasons with the Giants, Lindstrom batted .318 (fourth on the team's all-time list in the 20th century), while demonstrating his ability to come through in the clutch with pennant-chasing hitting streaks in September 1928 that raised his average from .342 to .358 and in 1930 from .354 to .379. As late as 1935 while playing center field for the Chicago Cubs, his .427 batting average during a stretch of 21 consecutive victories was credited by such Chicago newsmen as John P. Carmichael and Warren Brown as the main factor in the Cubs’ drive for the NL championship. Often referred to as "the last of the great place hitters" on McGraw teams that emphasized advancing runners into scoring position rather than relying on the long ball, Lindstrom in 1931 was led to believe that he would succeed the long-time Giants manager. "We’re making that change we spoke about next year," Lindstrom, recuperating from a broken leg, said he was told by Giants’ club secretary Jim Tierney. "McGraw is going out and we want to make you manager." Instead, for reasons that some traced to Lindstrom's leadership role in a player revolt against their often dictatorial manager (a charge he consistently denied, although admitting that he often spoke out against the feisty skipper nicknamed Little Napoleon), club owner
Horace Stoneham chose first baseman Bill Terry to replace McGraw. Although the two remained friends, Lindstrom demanded a trade, which took him to Pittsburgh in 1933. To the press, Terry said, "Fred no longer has that burst of speed he used to have." Several years later, Lindstrom conceded "It was the worst mistake I ever made. If I could have just accepted that setback, it would have worked out in time. But I fouled the whole thing up -- forever." ==Pirates, Cubs, and Dodgers==