#12 Most Underrated Athlete in Philly Sports History: Freddy Leach
Posted: March 7, 2012 | Author: Johnny Goodtimes | Filed under: Baseball | Tags: 1920s, Freddy Leach, Phillies | 1 Comment »
Your first reaction to this was probably a lot like mine: who in the hell is Fred Leach? An online search turns up a wiki page that is a full two sentences long. His facebook page has all of two likes. Well I guess that’s why Art though he should make the list. After all, the outfielder batted .312 during his 6 years with the squad, with 44 homers and 301 RBIs. That’s pretty damn impressive, especially when you consider he never picked up a baseball bat until he was 21 years old. And perhaps that’s what makes him a bit more special…he never played baseball until he reached an age when he needed a job, so he thought he’d give baseball a try. Four years later, he was in the Big Show. And his six years in Philly were good enough to make him #77 all time on the Phillies Nation’s 100 Greatest Phillies of all Time list. So what are you waiting for? Like old Freddy on facebook already!
Fred Leach (Bopie) was my grandfather and I have fond memories of fishing and working on the farm with him. He loved to do both. Sturgeon fishing was a challenge with a bamboo rod and penn reel, but he could always cast where the fish were and he didn’t go home without fish very often.