Frank Olin

Franklin Walter Olin

• Bats Left, Throws Unknown

• School Cornell University
• Debut July 4, 1884
• Final Game June 10, 1885
• Born January 9, 1860 in Woodford, VT USA
• Died May 21, 1951 in St. Louis, MO USA

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Biographical Information

Frank Olin was a successful major leaguer, albeit in a short career, but is much more famous for starting and running the company that grew into the Fortune 500 Olin Corporation. By the time he retired, the company was large and successful. A photo of Olin as a corporate bigwig can be found at the corporate website.

He was born in a logging camp and graduated from Cornell University, going into engineering as a profession after that. He was a college baseball star as well as in track (the shotput), and also was on the rowing team and the rifle team.

He played for three different teams in 1884: the Washington Nationals and the Toledo Blue Stockings of the American Association, and the Washington Nationals of the Union Association. He only played one game for the latter team, which used a slew of players, many of them for very brief periods; one of these is known simply as "Franklin" and there is some speculation that he was in fact Olin, although proof of this is missing.

Olin's lifetime major league Adjusted OPS+ was 147 (in 177 at-bats). If he could have kept that up for years, he would clearly have been a Hall of Famer. Players in the Hall of Fame with a lifetime Adjusted OPS+ of 147 include Willie McCovey, Mike Schmidt and Willie Stargell.

Related Sites

• Frank Olin at the SABR Bio Project