View source for Ford Frick

{{Short description|Major League Baseball Commissioner from 1951 to 1965}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=December 2021}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name           = Ford C. Frick
| image          = 1962 Baseball Guide p2.jpg
| caption        = Frick as commissioner in 1962
| imagesize    = 200px
| office         = Commissioner of Baseball
| order          = 3rd
| term_start     = September 20, 1951
| term_end       = November 16, 1965
| predecessor    = [[Happy Chandler]]
| successor      = [[William Eckert]]
| office1         = 11th [[List of National League presidents|President of the National League]]
| term_start1     = 1934
| term_end1       = 1951
| predecessor1    = [[John Heydler]]
| successor1      = [[Warren Giles]]
|birth_name=Ford Christopher Frick
| birth_date  = {{birth date|1894|12|19}}
| birth_place = [[Wawaka, Indiana]], U.S.
| death_date  = {{Death date and age|1978|4|8|1894|12|19|mf=yes}}
| death_place = [[Bronxville, New York]], U.S.
| nationality =
| other_names =
| alma_mater = [[DePauw University]]
| spouse = {{marriage|Eleanor Cowing|1916}}
| children = 1
| module =
{{Infobox baseball biography | embed=yes
|name=
|hoflink = National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum
|hoftype = National
|hofdate = [[1970 Baseball Hall of Fame balloting|1970]]
|hofmethod = Veterans Committee
}}
}}

'''Ford Christopher Frick''' (December 19, 1894 – April 8, 1978) was an American [[sportswriter]] and baseball executive. After working as a teacher and as a sportswriter for the ''[[New York Journal-American|New York American]]'', he served as public relations director of the [[National League (baseball)|National League]] (NL) and then as the league's president from {{baseball year|1934}} to {{baseball year|1951}}. He was the third [[Commissioner of Baseball|commissioner of Major League Baseball]] (MLB) from 1951 to {{baseball year|1965}}.

While Frick was NL president, he had a major role in the establishment of the [[Baseball Hall of Fame]] as a museum that honors the best players in baseball history. He extinguished threats of a player strike in response to the racial integration of the major leagues. During Frick's term as commissioner, expansion occurred and MLB faced the threat of having its antitrust exemption revoked by Congress. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1970. The [[Ford C. Frick Award]] recognizes outstanding MLB broadcasters.

==Early life==
Frick was born on a farm in [[Wawaka, Indiana]], and went to high school in [[Rome City, Indiana]].<ref name=Honored/> He took classes at [[International Business College (Fort Wayne, Indiana)|International Business College]] in Fort Wayne, then worked for a company that made engines for windmills.<ref name=Honored/><ref name=Boyle>{{cite magazine|last1=Boyle|first1=Robert|title=Perfect man for the job|url=https://www.si.com/vault/1962/04/09/620279/perfect-man-for-the-job|access-date=November 19, 2014|magazine=[[Sports Illustrated]]|date=April 9, 1962}}</ref> He attended [[DePauw University]], where he played first base for the DePauw baseball team and ran track.<ref name=Honored>{{cite web|title=Baseball Hall of Famer Ford Frick '15 to be honored tomorrow night|url=http://www.depauw.edu/news-media/latest-news/details/19588/|publisher=[[DePauw University]]|access-date=November 19, 2014|archive-date=August 20, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160820122347/http://www.depauw.edu/news-media/latest-news/details/19588/|url-status=dead}}</ref> He graduated in 1915.<ref name=MLB>{{cite web|title=Ford Christopher Frick|url=http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/history/mlb_history_people.jsp?story=com_bio_3|publisher=[[Major League Baseball]]|access-date=November 15, 2014}}</ref> He had been a member of [[Phi Kappa Psi]] fraternity.<ref name=UCR>{{cite web|title=Phi Kappa Psi|url=http://ucrphipsi.com/page.php?pageid=3|publisher=[[University of California, Riverside]]|access-date=November 19, 2014|url-status = dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141219035809/http://ucrphipsi.com/page.php?pageid=3|archive-date=December 19, 2014}}</ref> Frick went to Colorado to play semipro baseball in [[Walsenburg, Colorado|Walsenburg]].<ref name=Kangaroos/>

After his stint as a baseball player, Frick lived in [[Colorado Springs, Colorado|Colorado Springs]]. He taught English at [[General William J. Palmer High School|Colorado Springs High School]] and at [[Colorado College]]. Frick moonlighted for ''[[The Gazette (Colorado Springs)|The Gazette]]'', covering sports and news until he left to work for the [[United States Department of War|War Department]] near the conclusion of [[World War I]]. When the war was over, Frick worked in Denver for the ''[[Rocky Mountain News]]''. Frick returned to Colorado Springs to take a job with the ''Evening Telegraph'', which later merged with ''The Gazette''.<ref name=Kangaroos>{{cite web|last1=Summers|first1=Danny|title=Baseball, kangaroos and Ford Frick|url=http://pikespeakcourier.net/stories/Baseball-kangaroos-and-Ford-Frick,144481|publisher=Pikes Peak Courier|access-date=November 19, 2014|archive-date=November 29, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141129091230/http://pikespeakcourier.net/stories/Baseball-kangaroos-and-Ford-Frick,144481|url-status=dead}}</ref> Around this time, he had given some thought to starting his own advertising agency.<ref name=Montreal>{{cite news|title=Owners elect Ford Frick as commissioner of baseball|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1946&dat=19510921&id=lYMtAAAAIBAJ&pg=7093,3087134|access-date=November 19, 2014|work=[[Montreal Gazette]]|date=September 21, 1951}}</ref>

In 1921, a flood devastated much of [[Pueblo, Colorado]]. When other reporters had flown in to cover the flood their airplanes had become stuck in muddy conditions, leaving them stranded in Pueblo. Frick had a pilot fly him there, but instead of landing they circled low over the city while Frick took notes and photographs. He was able to file his story a day earlier than other reporters. The recognition from the flood helped Frick get a position with the ''[[New York Journal-American|New York American]]'' in 1922.<ref name=Kangaroos/> Frick was also a broadcaster for [[WOR (AM)|WOR]] in New York.<ref name=Lomax>{{cite news|title=Sportscaster Stan Lomax dies|url=https://www.mcall.com/1987/06/27/sportscaster-stan-lomax-dies-moravian-prep-grad/|access-date=November 19, 2014|work=[[The Morning Call]]|date=June 27, 1987}}</ref>

==NL President ==
In {{baseball year|1934}}, he became the NL's public relations director, and then became president of the league later that year.

In June 1937, Cardinals pitcher [[Dizzy Dean]] began to publicly criticize the NL and Frick. In response, Frick said that he was suspending Dean until the pitcher issued a written apology. Dean indicated that he would not apologize and that he would boycott the [[1937 Major League Baseball All-Star Game|1937 All-Star Game]], suspended or not. The Cardinals made peace with Frick so that Dean could return to play. He appeared in the All-Star Game, but he sustained a toe injury in the game. The injury altered his delivery and he later injured his arm, never returning to All-Star form.<ref name=BND>{{cite web|title=The apology that ruined Dizzy Dean's career|url=http://www.bnd.com/2012/08/17/2287779_the-apology-that-ruined-dizzy.html|archive-url=https://archive.today/20141120003906/http://www.bnd.com/2012/08/17/2287779_the-apology-that-ruined-dizzy.html|url-status = dead|archive-date=November 20, 2014|publisher=[[Belleville News-Democrat]]|access-date=November 19, 2014|date=August 17, 2012}}</ref>

A [[Communist Party USA]] newspaper known as the ''[[Daily Worker]]'' asked Frick in 1937 about the feasibility of racially integrating baseball. Frick said that there was no rule discriminating against players on the basis of race. He said that professional baseball required ability, good habits and strong character, and asserted that he was not aware of a case in which race had played a role in the selection of a major league player.<ref name="Bruns2012">{{cite book|author=Roger A. Bruns|title=Negro Leagues Baseball|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RqIEUDvjPGMC&pg=PA65|access-date=November 19, 2014|year=2012|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-0-313-38648-0|pages=64–65}}</ref>

In the late 1930s, Frick played a central role in establishing the [[National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum]] in [[Cooperstown, New York]].<ref name=HOF>{{cite web|title=Frick, Ford|url=http://baseballhall.org/hof/Frick-Ford|publisher=[[Baseball Hall of Fame]]|access-date=November 15, 2014}}</ref> He gathered a team of representatives from the major news wire services, including [[Davis Walsh]] of the [[International News Service]], [[Alan J. Gould]] of the [[Associated Press]], and [[Henry L. Farrell]] of [[United Press International]]. They took the idea to the [[Baseball Writers' Association of America]] and that organization became the voting body for Hall of Fame elections.<ref name=Expertise>{{cite news|last1=Holtzman|first1=Jerome|title=Hall Electorate Long On Numbers, Short On Expertise|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/1996/01/11/hall-electorate-long-on-numbers-short-on-expertise/|access-date=November 19, 2014|work=[[Chicago Tribune]]|date=January 11, 1996}}</ref>

[[File:Ford Frick at 1937 All-Star Game (cropped and adjusted).jpg|thumb|upright=0.8|left|Frick at the [[1937 Major League Baseball All-Star Game|1937 All Star Game]]]]
When several members of the [[St. Louis Cardinals]] planned to protest [[Jackie Robinson]]'s breaking of baseball's [[Baseball color line|color barrier]], Frick threatened any players involved with suspension.<ref name=SPT/> While president of the NL, Frick served on DePauw University's board of trustees.<ref name=Slocum>{{cite web|title=National League President Ford Frick '15 receives Slocum Award|url=http://www.depauw.edu/news-media/latest-news/details/26412/|publisher=[[DePauw University]]|access-date=November 19, 2014|archive-date=March 4, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304051203/http://www.depauw.edu/news-media/latest-news/details/26412/|url-status=dead}}</ref> He was also president of the school's alumni association, helping to create the DePauw Alumni Fund.<ref name=DePauw/>

In {{baseball year|1951}}, some baseball owners had become displeased with [[Happy Chandler]]'s service as commissioner and did not want to renew his contract. In September, the owners elected Frick to replace Chandler in a twelve-hour meeting that the ''[[Chicago Tribune]]'' called "their all-time peak in dilly-dallying".<ref name=Vote>{{cite news|title=Frick heads baseball after 12 hour vote|url=http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1951/09/21/page/53/article/frick-heads-baseball-after-12-hour-vote/index.html|access-date=November 19, 2014|work=[[Chicago Tribune]]|date=September 21, 1951}}</ref> The owners were able to quickly narrow the candidates down from five unnamed nominees to two frontrunners, Frick and [[Warren Giles]]. The owners deadlocked until Giles decided to remove his name from consideration.<ref name=Vote/> Giles, who had been president and general manager of the [[Cincinnati Reds]], succeeded Frick as NL president.<ref name=GilesHOF>{{cite web|title=Giles, Warren|url=http://baseballhall.org/hof/giles-warren|publisher=[[Baseball Hall of Fame]]|access-date=November 19, 2014}}</ref>

==Baseball Commissioner==

Frick agreed to a seven-year contract worth $65,000 each year. When he assumed the office, Frick said that he was surprised to be elected even though he knew he was a candidate for the position. Just before his announcement, the major league team owners voted that the commissioner's office should be located in a city with two major league teams. Frick decided to relocate the office from Cincinnati to New York.<ref name=Miller>{{cite news|last1=Miller|first1=Norman|title=Top baseball post goes to Frick, major loop chief|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1665&dat=19510922&id=mEIaAAAAIBAJ&pg=6925,3811190|access-date=November 19, 2014|work=[[Times-News (Hendersonville, North Carolina)|Times-News]]|date=September 21, 1951}}</ref>

In 1957, Frick addressed an organized campaign of [[ballot stuffing]] for that year's [[1957 Major League Baseball All-Star Game|All-Star Game]] in which most of the ballots originated from [[Cincinnati]] and had stacked the NL team with [[Cincinnati Reds|Reds]]. In response, Frick overruled the fan vote, removed two Reds from the starting lineup and appointed two replacements from other teams. He then took the vote away from the fans and kept it that way for the remainder of his tenure.<ref name=Cronin>{{cite news|last1=Cronin|first1=Brian|title=All-Star Game: Did Ford Frick stop two Cincinnati Reds from starting?|url=https://www.latimes.com/sports/la-xpm-2012-jul-10-la-sp-sn-all-star-game-20120710-story.html|access-date=November 15, 2014|work=[[Los Angeles Times]]|date=July 10, 2012}}</ref>

Frick presided over the expansion of the American and National Leagues from eight to ten teams. Faced with a Congress threatening to revoke baseball's antitrust exemption, Frick had initially favored the development of a [[Continental League|third major league]] within organized baseball, but relented when the established league owners objected and pursued their own expansion plans. Following expansion, the regular season was extended to 162 games from 154 in order to maintain a balanced schedule.

Inaction was sometimes cited by Frick's critics as one of his weaknesses. Writers often derided Frick for his hands-off approach to baseball matters.<ref name=Boyle/> Writer [[Jerome Holtzman]] described Frick's term as commissioner by saying that he "sailed a smooth course and seldom descended from his throne. When asked why he absented himself from the many battles below, he often said, 'It's a league matter.'... In retrospect, he understood his role. He was a caretaker, not a czar."<ref name=Fay>{{cite news|last1=Holtzman|first1=Jerome|title=To survive, Fay should sit this one out|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/1992/07/26/to-survive-fay-should-sit-this-one-out/|access-date=November 19, 2014|work=[[Chicago Tribune]]|date=July 26, 1992}}</ref> Frick's critics also accused him of favoring the NL in his rulings, such as how the 1960s expansion teams would be stocked.

===The "Asterisk"===
Frick's most highly criticized decision as commissioner was to request baseball record-keepers to list the single-season home run records of [[Babe Ruth]] and [[Roger Maris]] separately in {{baseball year|1961}}, based on the length of the season played. Frick called a press conference to issue a ruling that a player must hit more than 60 home runs in his first 154 games in order to be considered the record holder, giving birth to a misunderstanding that an [[asterisk]] was placed next to Maris' record when Maris did so in a newly expanded 162-game season. Frick indeed called for some "distinctive mark"<ref name=Salon>{{cite web|last1=Barra|first1=Allen|title=The myth of Maris' asterisk|url=http://www.salon.com/2001/10/03/asterisk/|work=[[Salon.com]]|access-date=November 15, 2014|date=October 3, 2001}}</ref> next to it in the "record books"—the asterisk as a designation was immediately suggested by [[New York Daily News|New York ''Daily News'']] sportswriter [[Dick Young (sportswriter)|Dick Young]]<ref name=Salon/>—but MLB actually had no direct control over any record books until many years later. It all was merely a suggestion on Frick's part; while he and Ruth had been friends, enough for Frick to have been at Ruth's deathbed, he lacked any authority as baseball Commissioner to make any of it so. Within a few years, the controversy died down and all prominent baseball record keepers listed Maris as the single-season record holder.<ref name=Salon/>

===The Strike Zone Change===
Early in the 1960s, the individual achievements of the batter impressively ruled. Highlighted in all of this was, undoubtedly, Roger Maris' aforementioned shattering of Babe Ruth's single-season home run record. Alarmed by such increased home run numbers across the Majors, Frick convinced the owners to agree to having the strike zone widened before the 1963 season. The change led to a significant decrease in batting averages and scoring. While it consequently resulted in a remarkable era for the decade's top pitchers, attendance stagnated. The trend reached its peak in 1968 when American League teams batted a collective .230. 
A year later, the strike zone was corrected back to its previous dimensions.<ref>{{cite web|title=The 1960s: Welcome to My Strike Zone|date=July 3, 2020 |url=https://thisgreatgame.com/1960s-baseball-history/ }}</ref>

===Retirement===
In 1960, Frick said that he would probably retire when his contract expired in 1965. He said that his remaining goals for his term as commissioner were to complete the expansion process and to convince Congress to allow each baseball league to set its own television policies.<ref name=Daniel>{{cite news|last1=Daniel|first1=Dan|title=Ford Frick awaits majors' expansion, then retirement|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1144&dat=19600827&id=Y0YqAAAAIBAJ&pg=7126,3279345|access-date=November 15, 2014|work=[[The Pittsburgh Press]]|date=August 27, 1960}}</ref>

He maintained involvement with the Baseball Hall of Fame, serving as chairman of the board in 1966 and serving on the Veterans Committee from 1966 to 1969.<ref name=Corcoran>{{cite book|last1=Corcoran|first1=Dennis|title=Induction Day at Cooperstown: A History of the Baseball Hall of Fame Ceremony|date=2010|publisher=McFarland|isbn=978-0786491476|page=100|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3dF2PsAeDeYC&pg=PA100|access-date=November 19, 2014}}</ref> Frick himself was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame by the Veterans Committee in {{baseball year|1970}}. He was said to have chastised Hall of Fame voters at a meeting of the Baseball Writers' Association of America after they elected no major league candidates in the [[1971 Baseball Hall of Fame balloting|1971 Hall of Fame balloting]].<ref name=Rest>{{cite news|last1=Holtzman|first1=Jerome|title=This class will help Frick rest in peace|url=http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1999-01-03/sports/9901030150_1_cooperstown-shrine-strikeout-king-nolan-ryan-baseball-writers-association|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141129034631/http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1999-01-03/sports/9901030150_1_cooperstown-shrine-strikeout-king-nolan-ryan-baseball-writers-association|url-status=dead|archive-date=November 29, 2014|access-date=November 19, 2014|work=[[Chicago Tribune]]|date=January 3, 1999}}</ref>

==Legacy==
The Baseball Hall of Fame created the [[Ford C. Frick Award]] in {{baseball year|1978}}, and presents the award annually to a baseball broadcaster for major contributions to the game. Frick was posthumously inducted into the DePauw University Athletic Hall of Fame.<ref name=DePauw>{{cite web|title=Ford C. Frick|url=http://depauwtigers.com/honors_awards/hall_of_fame/bios/ford-frick.html|publisher=[[DePauw University]]|access-date=November 15, 2014|archive-date=June 6, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190606042538/https://www.depauwtigers.com/honors_awards/hall_of_fame/bios/ford-frick.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>

In the 2001 [[Television film|made-for-television film]], ''[[61*]]'', Frick was portrayed by actor [[Donald Moffat]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/bs-xpm-2001-04-28-0104280186-story.html|title = '61*' is Yankee doodle dandy| date=April 28, 2001 }}</ref>

==Personal life==
Frick married Eleanor Cowing in 1916.<ref name="Porter2000">{{cite book|author=David L. Porter|title=Biographical Dictionary of American Sports: A-F|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AUFUw01sIWYC&pg=PA516|date=January 1, 2000|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|isbn=978-0-313-31174-1|page=516}}</ref> His son Fred attended [[Fordham Preparatory School]] with future baseball executive [[Buzzie Bavasi]]. Bavasi was planning to attend law school, but Frick introduced him to [[Larry MacPhail]] of the [[Los Angeles Dodgers|Brooklyn Dodgers]] and Bavasi was given a job in minor league baseball, where he began to work his way up the organization.<ref name=Bavasi>{{cite news|last1=Henson|first1=Steve|title=G.M. helped put together Dodgers champions|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2008-may-02-me-bavasi2-story.html|access-date=November 20, 2014|work=[[Los Angeles Times]]|date=May 2, 2008}}</ref>

Near the end of Frick's term as commissioner, he purchased a second home in [[Broadmoor, Colorado]], though he maintained his primary residence in New York.<ref name=Kangaroos/>

Frick died on April 8, 1978, at age 83, at a hospital in [[Bronxville, New York]]. He had suffered a series of strokes in his later years. Upon his death, commissioner [[Bowie Kuhn]] said Frick "brought the game integrity, dedication and a happy tranquility far removed from the turbulence of today."<ref name=SPT>{{cite news|title=Baseball world mourns death of Ford Frick|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=888&dat=19780410&id=f2xQAAAAIBAJ&pg=6499,2122288|access-date=November 15, 2014|work=[[St. Petersburg Times]]|date=April 10, 1978}}</ref> He is interred in Christ Church Columbarium in Bronxville.

==References==
{{reflist|30em}}

==External links==
*{{bbhof|frick-ford}}
*{{Find a Grave|10239}}

{{NL Presidents}}
{{MLB Commissioners}}
{{1970 Baseball HOF}}
{{Baseball Hall of Fame members}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Frick, Ford}}
[[Category:1894 births]]
[[Category:1978 deaths]]
[[Category:Major League Baseball commissioners]]
[[Category:National Baseball Hall of Fame inductees]]
[[Category:People from Noble County, Indiana]]
[[Category:National League presidents]]
[[Category:Ghostwriters]]
[[Category:Sportswriters from Indiana]]
[[Category:DePauw Tigers baseball players]]
[[Category:DePauw Tigers men's track and field athletes]]
[[Category:Semi-professional baseball players]]
[[Category:New York Journal-American people]]