Play ball!!

When people talk about accomplished baseball players from the Grinnell area, Jackie Collum (1927-2009) often comes first to people's minds. Collum, who was born in Victor and grew up in Newburg, played for half a dozen major league teams between his signing with the St. Louis Cardinals organization in 1947 and his retirement in 1963 as a Los Angeles Dodger. A 5-foot 7-inch left-handed pitcher, Collum compiled a record of  32-28 with a 4.15 ERA over 9 seasons in the majors. He later settled in Grinnell where for some years he owned and operated the Pioneer Oil station on West Street.

Undated Photograph of Charlie Frisbee in Baseball Uniform
(https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/46057419/charles-augustus-frisbee)

I don't know any major leaguers who had earlier played for Grinnell High school, but, according to one baseball reference site, two major league baseball players attended Grinnell College: Charlie Frisbee (1874-1954) and "Gus" (John Gustave) Thompson (1877-1958). Unfortunately, I could find no evidence for Thompson having attended Grinnell, but Charlie Frisbee did indeed attend (although he never graduated from) Grinnell College. Newspapers report that Frisbee came to Grinnell in the spring of 1894 "to take a course of study at Iowa College and also to assist the baseball team there to win the pennant this year" (Alden Times, April 12, 1894). College reports on baseball, however, mention Frisbee (sometimes "Frisbie") only in the spring of 1895 (The Unit, April 13, 20, May 11, 25, June 1, 1895) when he was the regular catcher for the college team. Immediately thereafter Frisbee abandoned college and pursued a career in professional baseball. A switch hitter who threw right-handed, Frisbee played only two seasons in the majors, but spent ten seasons playing for minor league teams, many of which had memorable names. Today's post follows the life of Charlie Frisbee and his career in baseball.

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Charlie was the first-born of Ellen Young Frisbee (1840-1905) and Dr. Frank P. Frisbee (1845-1905). Although born in Dows, Iowa, Charlie grew up and attended school in Alden, Iowa, where Dr. Frisbee moved his practice shortly after Charlie's birth. Alden was founded in 1855, almost the same time as Grinnell, but the town grew much more slowly than Grinnell. If by 1900 Grinnell counted more than 3800 residents, that same year's census found only 709 people in Alden. Watered by the Iowa River and served by railroad, the flat plains of north central Iowa attracted farming interests, but did not draw the other vectors of nineteenth- and early twentieth-century economy that had helped Grinnell grow. Alden retained the economy and feel of small-town Iowa where townsfolk knew one another well.

Undated Photograph of Alden, Iowa Street
(https://iagenweb.org/hardin/pictures/aldenstreetscene1.jpg)

In his teens Charlie regularly played catcher for the Alden school baseball team which played the kind of baseball that might end when the catcher had to go home to supper (Alden Times, October 4, 1889). And if the Alden boys often beat teams from neighboring towns, the contests were "gentlemanly," said the Alden newspaper, "without the wrangling that has sometimes spoiled games" (ibid., June 13, 1890). 

Young Charlie Frisbee in Catcher's Outfit (ca. 1890)
(C. R. Williams, Cherokee, IA)

Charlie and his sister, Laura, three years his junior, seem to have been popular, sometimes entertaining large groups of friends "royally" at their family home (Alden Times, February 6, 1891). And apparently Charlie was a very conscientious student, because, after completing high school, he jumped right into teaching, as sometimes happened in small schools that could not easily attract teachers from the State Normal school.

Undated Studio Portrait of Charlie Frisbee
(Head and Head, Dows, IA)

Originally Frisbee was to fill in for another teacher suffering "la grippe" (Alden Times, March 11, 1892), but before long Frisbee had the class to himself (ibid., April 22, 1892), teaching in School No. 4, one of a dozen one-room schools in Alden Township (ibid., April 29, 1892).

Photograph of An Abandoned One-Room Schoolhouse, Benton County, Iowa
(https://www.flickr.com/photos/iadeptofeducation/19565208099/in/album-72157653627699364/)

Apparently Frisbee taught school only through the end of the 1891-1892 academic year, because by autumn the local paper announced that Frisbee was working as head clerk at a local business (Alden Times, November 18, 1892). Two summers later Charlie was "waiting on customers in the J. Laird & Son store" (ibid., August 3, 1894). Perhaps this employment potpourri shows only that in Alden, where Charlie Frisbee was well known and popular, small-town dynamics helped guarantee the young man regular employment.

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How Charlie heard of Grinnell I do not know, but, according to the Alden Times, by April 1894 Charlie was living in Grinnell, studying and playing baseball for the college (April 12, 1894). How things went those first months is unclear; local newspapers have nothing to say about Frisbee until the 1895 baseball season when his name regularly surfaces on the sports pages.

Throughout the spring of 1895, Frisbee occupied a prominent place in the box scores, catching the Grinnell pitchers. He also sometimes hit the ball well, as, for example, when Grinnell defeated the State University of Iowa (today's University of Iowa) in April, 1895. The town newspaper reported in thesaurus-laden language that "Frisbie" (often misspelled in the newspaper) "hit the sphere for two bags" and later scored on a passed ball (Grinnell Herald, April 23, 1895; Scarlet & Black, April 20, 1895).

Grinnell Herald, April 17, 1895

During a series of games in Wisconsin and Illinois in mid-May, Frisbee moved to the clean-up spot in the batting order where he seems to have thrived, collecting several doubles and one triple during the trip. To judge by the occasional passed ball that eluded the catcher, his defense was not quite so potent as his batting skills.

That summer Frisbee played for a Marshalltown club (Alden Times, August 16, 1895), and consequently was near Grinnell. But for reasons unexplained, he declined to resume his studies at Grinnell in the fall, the college reporting that Frisbee was then employed as a traveling salesman for an Eldora, Iowa clothing firm (The Unit, v. 11, no. 4 [October 5, 1895]:40; Alden Times, October 18, 1895). But then Frisbee "quit traveling for Smith & Fagg of Eldora," and reported that he would resume teaching (ibid., October 24, 1895; Eldora Herald, December 5, 1895).

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Baseball remained at the center of his ambitions, however, explaining why in spring 1896 he signed to play ball with the Portland (Oregon) Gladiators. The local newspaper claimed that Frisbee, who stood five feet, nine inches tall and weighed about 175 pounds, was "a first class all around ball player and he will be heard from in the baseball games out on the Pacific coast..." (Alden Times, April 3, 1896). Apparently the Gladiators did well in their brief season, going 19-9. Frisbee hit well, going 40 for 118 (.339), including eight doubles, one triple, and one home run. But by late June Charlie had returned to Iowa, "the Pacific coast [league] having disbanded." The Alden newspaper told readers that Charlie had "had a good time and saw lots of sights in his trip out west so he considers himself ahead on the summer's work" (ibid., June 26, 1896).

How he spent the rest of the summer is unknown, but next winter there came word that he had signed to play baseball with the Quincy Little Giants, an Illinois team that was part of the Western Association (Scarlet & Black, March 27, 1897). The Alden newspaper indicated that Frisbee would play outfield (instead of catching), collecting "a gilt edged price for his services" (Alden Times, January 29, 1897). Appraising the baseball season some months later, Frisbee's hometown newspaper declared the season in Quincy "successful," pointing out that Charlie had accumulated a "fine record" (ibid., October 1, 1897). The Alden Times was not exaggerating: playing in 122 games, Frisbee hit .309, leading to rumors that he might soon be drafted into the major leagues. 

For the 1898 baseball season Frisbee played for the Kansas City Blues, a Class A minor-league team (Quincy belonged to Class B). Playing in 138 games for the Blues, Frisbee hit for a .315 average, ninth best in the league. It was in Kansas City where Frisbee's frequent bunting led to his nickname, "Bunt." The Alden newspaper proudly reported that the Kansas City team had won the Western League pennant "and our townsman, Charlie Frisbee, was right in it all the time" (Alden Times, September 23, 1898).

1890s Photograph of Kansas City Blues Baseball Team
(https://www.ebay.com/itm/162871747855)

The excellent season in Kansas City brought Frisbee to the attention of the Boston major league franchise, which acquired him in October 1898. Back in Iowa, Alden newspaper readers learned the next spring that Frisbee had played for Durham, North Carolina "where he will join the Boston Baseball club of the National League for preliminary practice" (Alden Times, March 24, 1899). Before the season began, however, Boston assigned him to the Worcester (Massachusetts) Farmers, another Class-A minor league team. Overcoming his disappointment, Frisbee started off the Farmers' season at a torrid pace, batting over .400, including a game-winning home run in June. The Braves, their regular center fielder now injured, recalled Frisbee to Boston where, on June 22 the Alden phenom patrolled center field. However, once the regular center fielder returned from injury, Boston sent Frisbee back to Worcester where he continued to pound the ball; by season's end Frisbee led the league in batting. 

Photograph of Charlie Frisbee in Uniform of Boston Braves (ca. 1900)
(Elmer Chickering, Boston)

Once the minor league season was over, Frisbee rejoined the Braves and acquitted himself well, batting .329 over all 42 major league games he played that season. His fielding was not nearly so excellent, recording eleven errors in 88 chances, but hometown fans happily overlooked these flubs, jubilant at their neighbor's big league success (Eldora Herald, October 21, 1899). An Alden jewelry store proudly displayed a photo of the seventeen regular Boston Braves, the newspaper noting that "Alden's contribution, Charlie Frisbee, is the best looking one in the lot" (Alden Times, October 27, 1899).

Photograph of the 1897 Boston National League Team
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1897_Boston_Beaneaters_season#/media/File:1897_Boston_Beaneaters.jpg)

Over the winter Boston sold Frisbee to the New York Giants (Joseph L. Reichler, Baseball Trade Register [NY: Macmillan, 1984], pp. 15, 122). While playing for the Giants in spring 1900 Frisbee hurt himself: "he not only wrenched his knee badly but got an ugly cut on his foot from another player's spiked shoes as well as his neck injured in a collision while running for second base " (Alden Times, April 27, 1900). The injuries kept him out of the lineup for three weeks (Alden Times, May 18, 1900). Meantime the Giants' front office, contemplating a reduced, reconfigured National League, proposed to trade Frisbee (Eldora Herald, June 13, 1900). After considerable public debate about baseball's reserve clause, finally abolished decades later, thanks to Curt Flood, Frisbee was sent to the American League Cleveland Lake Shores, a successor to the Grand Rapids minor league team to which he had originally been sold and a predecessor of today's Cleveland Guardians. Frisbee managed to play in only four games for the Giants that year, taking the batter's box just thirteen times. In the 60 games he played for Cleveland he came to the plate more than 200 times, but managed only a .232 average.

Perhaps the early season injuries explain his relatively poor performance. Certainly that's what the folk back in Alden thought, as the newspaper explained: Frisbee "has been playing in hard luck all this season, getting his knee and foot injured in the very first series of games and getting them hurt frequently since then." He returned to Alden in September to rest and recover, hoping that by opening day 1901 he would "be ready for any thing" (Alden Times, September 7, 1900). But recovery did not come as hoped; in March Frisbee told the local newspaper that he would "give up playing ball for the coming season at least." "He has found that the injuries that he received last year when his knee was so badly hurt will not permit him to take such violent exercise as is demanded of a successful player" (Alden Times, March 22, 1901).

He played no baseball during the 1901 season, although he was technically part of the roster of the Rochester Red Wings (Bill Nowlin, "Charlie Frisbee"). As he had done after leaving Grinnell and during the off-season, Frisbee found work in town, clerking for a local store for about eighteen months as he awaited recovery from his injuries (Alden Times, March 7, 1902). For the 1902 season Frisbee returned to Worcester, appearing in 115 games and batting .323. Few of his 152 hits went for extra bases, however, which may explain in part why in June 1903 he was sold to New Orleans in the Southern Association. Frisbee had also been ill, having been hospitalized in Toronto before the sale. In New Orleans, too, he fell ill, and played in only 25 games, hitting .202.

Register of December 31, 1903 Wedding of Charlie Frisbee and Luella Catlin
(Ancestry.com)

In 1903 Charlie Frisbee, then 30 years old, married Luella Catlin (1879-1950). Like Charlie, she had grown up and attended school in Alden where she was born. The details of their courtship remain unknown, but a newspaper report of an 1895 community play performed in Alden points out that both Charlie and Luella Catlin had parts, proving that the two young people had known one another at least eight years before their marriage (Alden Times, February 15, 1895).

After the 1904 season, when Charlie had played for the Toledo Mud Hens in the American Association (Marshalltown Evening Times-Republican, March 24, 1905), appearing in 149 games and posting a respectable .278 average, he and his wife returned to Alden to spend the winter. During that off-season Frisbee worked at the Miller lumber yard, earning money in his hometown as he had done for years. The following spring the Frisbees' first child, Nellie Naomi (1905-2001), was born (Alden Times, March 3, 1905).

Affidavit of Birth of Nellie Naoma Frisbee (March 3, 1905)
(Ancestry.com)

With the approach of a new season, in mid-March 1905 Frisbee resigned his Alden job, preparing to play again for Toledo (Alden Times, March 17, 1905; Waterloo Times-Tribune, March 28, 1905). But in April came news that he had signed with the Des Moines Underwriters (Marshalltown Times-Republican, April 5, 1905), for whom he played in just nineteen games. Within a month his contract was sold to the Colorado Springs Millionaires, but apparently Frisbee never played a single game for the Millionaires or their successor, the Pueblo Indians. 

Soon family emergencies called Frisbee back to Alden. For one thing, his father—Dr. Frank Frisbee—having suffered through several months of illness, died in early June (Livermore Gazette, June 2, 1905). Charlie's presence in Alden was no doubt a help to his mother who, herself having endured cancer for several months, died in November (Marshalltown Evening Times-Republican, November 13, 1905). The problems at home along with a lackluster season may have encouraged Frisbee, as the local newspaper explained, "to take a lay off from his baseball work for a short time, and...get acquainted with his daughter" (Alden Times, June 23, 1905).

The baseball urge was difficult to resist, however, so that, when officials of the Burlington (Iowa) Flint Hills approached him about managing their club, he accepted the offer (Marshalltown Evening Times-Republican, July 5, 1905), becoming a player-manager as he also played center field for Burlington (Marshalltown Times-Republican, August 7, 1905). By all accounts, his performance as manager was exceptional, taking over a club that "was sadly in the hole" and helping them to respectability, even if, by season's end, the team came in dead last (ibid., August 24, 1905; Alden Times, September 15, 1905). 

Postcard Photograph of Waterloo Microbes Baseball Team (ca. 1905)
(https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/baseball-team-w-pc-advert-waterloo-3762578033)

The following year Charlie managed and played for the Waterloo Microbes, boarding in the Germania Hotel when playing at home. Batting .288, Charlie did not put up the numbers he once did, but still ended up as the team's best hitter. By this time, Charlie had bounced around  the minor leagues for years, and perhaps had tired of the demands made on his aging body. In early June 1906 he resigned his Waterloo position. The Alden Times imagined that he would soon be playing elsewhere, "as he is too good a ball player to be out of a job long" (June 8, 1906). In fact, however, Charlie Frisbee's baseball career was over.

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Like his baseball peregrinations, Charlie's post-baseball career featured a series of short-term jobs. In 1908 Luella gave birth to their second child, Frank (1908-1985), who joined sister Naomi in the family's home on Franklin Street, providing more reason for Charlie to secure steady employment. I could not learn where Frisbee worked immediately after he left baseball. Although I did not find evidence to confirm the thought, it might be that he used this time to attend business school in Dubuque, schooling mentioned in his obituary (Iowa Falls, Hardin County Times, November 9, 1954). This would explain why the 1910 US Census described Charlie as a "retail merchant" in the lumber business. However, it might also be that Frisbee simply returned to Miller Lumber where he had often worked in the off-season. If so, that position did not satisfy, because we learn that in 1913 Charlie and his family left Alden for Garner, the county seat of Hancock County. With a population just over 1000 in 1910, Garner was about 50 miles north of Alden. 

A 1918 Photograph of Main Street, Garner, Iowa
(https://sites.google.com/a/garner.k12.ia.us/the-history-of-garner-iowa/photos)

What drew Frisbee to Garner was the offer to acquire and operate a Garner hotel (Alden Times, March 7, 1913). Because it was the county seat, Garner hosted waves of business, depending upon the rhythm of the courthouse. The Alden newspaper told readers that, in a personal letter to an Alden friend, Frisbee had reported that in the early days of his work there the hotel did well (ibid., February 14, 1913). But apparently the prosperity was short-lived or else the work lost its allure for Frisbee, because by the time he registered for the World War I draft in 1918 Charlie told officials that he was working at the State Savings Bank in nearby Goodell, Iowa. 

According to a 1917 history of the area, when the Frisbees settled in Goodell, they joined a tiny community of about 250 people; the bank at which Charlie worked had been incorporated in 1892 with capital stock of only $10,000, numbers which may explain how Charlie, who had no experience in banking, qualified for such a position (History of Winnebago County and Hancock County, Iowa, v. 1 [Chicago: Pioneer Publishing Co., 1917], pp. 225, 287-88). Whether because of inexperience or for other reasons, by 1920 Charlie had changed jobs yet again, moving back to Garner to work as a bookkeeper for a small manufacturing company. The family lived in a house on Rose Avenue.

When changing jobs yet again in January 1923, Charlie received the first of three appointments as postmaster in Garner. According to the Hancock County record of appointments of US Postmasters, he gained reappointment in 1927 and again in 1931. His federal job must have lasted into 1935 by which time Iowa was knee-deep in the Depression. Then past 60 years of age, Charlie had to figure how to keep the wolf from the door. When census officials visited the Frisbee household in 1940 they reported that Charlie owned his own real estate business in Garner, adding yet another line to Frisbee's resume.

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When Garner installed a new athletic field in 1950, officials called on Charlie Frisbee—then 77 years old—to throw out the first pitch. No doubt Charlie reveled in the role, but probably also noticed that the newspaper, announcing his ceremonial throw, misremembered his baseball glory, telling readers that he had "pitched for the Boston Braves, the Cleveland Indians and the New York Giants at the turn of the century" (Mason City Globe Gazette, September 1, 1950). Of course, all that glory was now long past, new generations of baseball players having taken the field and having captured the imagination of fans. His brief obituary in the Mason City Globe Gazette recalled that Frisbee had been a postmaster at Garner and a businessman in Goodell, adding only vaguely that  Frisbee "was at one time a major league baseball player" (November 9, 1954). A more detailed obituary appeared in the Iowa Falls newspaper, and it remembered the numerous stops in Charlie's baseball career, even his brief sojourn at Grinnell College (Iowa Falls, Hardin County Times, November 9, 1954). 

Gravestone for Charles and Luella Frisbie, Alden Cemetery, Alden, Iowa
(https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/128325147/luella-florence-frisbee)

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Many thanks to Jeremy Shapiro who pointed Charlie Frisbee out to me, noting that Frisbee was a Grinnell College alum. I would not otherwise have known of Charlie Frisbee and his story.