Fred Goldsmith

Fredrick Ernest Goldsmith

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 1", Weight 195 lb.

• Debut October 23, 1875
• Final Game September 10, 1884
• Born May 15, 1856 in New Haven, CT USA
• Died March 28, 1939 in Berkley, MI USA

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Biographical Information

The Chicago White Stockings dominated baseball from 1880 to 1882, and Fred Goldsmith was one of the reasons.

He started with the Troy Trojans in 1879, in the same year that Dan Brouthers broke in. In 1880, he went 21-3 with Chicago, as the # 2 pitcher behind Larry Corcoran. The White Stockings won the pennant by 15 games.

In 1883, the White Stockings finished second and in 1884 they faded to fifth. Goldsmith also started to struggle, and in August 1884 the White Stockings sold him to the American Association Baltimore Orioles, where he finished his major league career.

Prior to his major league career, he pitched for the London Tecumsehs in the International Association, a league made up of U.S. and Canadian teams.

He insisted that he was the inventor of the curveball, having been the first to show it in public demonstration that took place at the Capitoline Grounds, in Brooklyn, NY on August 16, 1870, in which he managed to make the ball bend around three stakes planted parallel in the ground. Henry Chadwick was among the witnesses and reported on it in the next day's papers. His claim was disputed by Candy Cummings, who claimed he was already using the pitch in games before that. It is likely that the two developed the pitch in parallel.

After his playing career, he was an umpire in the National League in 1886 and in the American Association in 1888 and 1889.

Notable Achievements

• NL Winning Percentage Leader (1880)
• 20 Wins Seasons: 4 (1880-1883)
• 200 Innings Pitched Seasons: 5 (1880-1884)
• 300 Innings Pitched Seasons: 3 (1881-1883)
• 400 Innings Pitched Seasons: 1 (1882)

Related Sites

• Fred Goldsmith at the SABR Bio Project
• Fred Goldsmith at Retrosheet.org