Howard Earl Freigau (August 1, 1902 – July 18, 1932), nicknamed "Ty", was an American

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Modern professional ...

third baseman A third baseman, abbreviated 3B, is the player in baseball or softball whose responsibility is to defend the area nearest to third base — the third of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. In the scoring system us ...

and

shortstop Shortstop, abbreviated SS, is the baseball or softball fielding position between second and third base, which is considered to be among the most demanding defensive positions. Historically the position was assigned to defensive specialists wh ...

. He played seven seasons in

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

(MLB) between 1922 and 1928 for the

St. Louis Cardinals The St. Louis Cardinals are an American professional baseball team based in St. Louis. The Cardinals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Since the 2006 season, the Cardinals ha ...

, Chicago Cubs, Brooklyn Robins and Boston Braves."Howard Freigau Statistics and History"
"baseball-reference.com. Accessed May 24, 2017. The , Freigau batted and threw

right-handed In human biology, handedness is an individual's preferential use of one hand, known as the dominant hand, due to it being stronger, faster or more dextrous. The other hand, comparatively often the weaker, less dextrous or simply less subjecti ...

. Freigau attended Ohio Wesleyan University, alma mater of Branch Rickey, the

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities ...

of the Cardinals during Freigau's tenure in St. Louis. On May 23, 1925, Rickey traded Freigau to the Cubs in a deal to obtain starting

catcher Catcher is a position in baseball and softball. When a batter takes their turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the ( home) umpire, and receives the ball from the pitcher. In addition to this primary duty, the ca ...

Bob O'Farrell Robert Arthur O'Farrell (October 19, 1896 – February 20, 1988) was an American professional baseball player and manager. He played in Major League Baseball as a catcher for 21 seasons with the Chicago Cubs, St. Louis Cardinals and the New Yo ...

, and the third baseman went on to post his most successful season,

batting Batting may refer to: * Batting (baseball), the act of attempting to hit a ball thrown by the pitcher with a baseball bat, in order to score runs * Batting (cricket), the act of defending one's wicket with the cricket bat while attempting to score ...

.299 (including .307 as a Cub) and posting career highs in hits (150), home runs (8) and

runs batted in A run batted in (RBI; plural RBIs ) is a statistic in baseball and softball that credits a batter for making a play that allows a run to be scored (except in certain situations such as when an error is made on the play). For example, if the ba ...

(71). Freigau also was the Cubs' starter at third in , but lost his regular job the following season and was briefly sent to the minor leagues. He divided his season, his last in the Majors, between Brooklyn and Boston and played in 69 games before returning to the minor leagues for the rest of his abbreviated career. In July 1932, when playing for the

Knoxville Smokies Knoxville is a city in and the county seat of Knox County in the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of the 2020 United States census, Knoxville's population was 190,740, making it the largest city in the East Tennessee Grand Division and the state's ...

of the

Southern Association The Southern Association was a higher-level minor league in American organized baseball from 1901 through 1961. For most of its existence, the Southern Association was two steps below the Major Leagues; it was graded Class A (1902–1935), Cla ...

, Freigau went for an evening swim in

Chattanooga, Tennessee Chattanooga ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Hamilton County, Tennessee, United States. Located along the Tennessee River bordering Georgia, it also extends into Marion County on its western end. With a population of 181,099 in 2020 ...

. He dove headfirst into the shallow end of a swimming pool, broke his neck, and drowned at the age of 29. Freigau's 537 big-league hits included 99 doubles and 25 triples, as well as 15 home runs.

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1902 births 1932 deaths Accidental deaths in Tennessee Baseball players from Dayton, Ohio Boston Braves players Brooklyn Robins players Buffalo Bisons (minor league) players Chicago Cubs players Deaths by drowning in the United States Indianapolis Indians players Kansas City Blues (baseball) players Knoxville Smokies players Major League Baseball shortstops Major League Baseball third basemen Mobile Marines players Ohio Wesleyan Battling Bishops baseball players St. Louis Cardinals players Syracuse Stars (minor league baseball) players Toledo Mud Hens players {{US-baseball-third-baseman-stub