Fred Osborne

Frederick W. Osborne

• Bats Left, Throws Left

• Debut July 14, 1890
• Final Game September 1, 1890
• Born 1865 in CAN
• Died August 31, 1907 in Medical Lake, WA USA

BR page

Biographical Information

Fred Osborne played 41 games for the Pittsburgh Alleghenys in 1890, seeing action 35 times as an outfielder and 8 times as a pitcher. For the longest time, little was known about him except that he was from Alberta.

Research by Peter Morris led to uncovering facts regarding his later years. A clipping from the Walla Walla Evening Statesman on August 19, 1905 states that he had gone insane as a result of conjugal troubles and had to be arrested. He had been working as a painter while supporting one child after his wife had left for Portland, OR. A week later, he was formally declared insane and ordered committed to an asylum in Medical Lake, WA. He was apparently convinced that he was on the verge of death and refused to be moved or to take in any food or medicine. He died there from exhaustion caused by dementia on August 31, 1907, his death also being reported in the local paper.

His father was a miner who had immigrated from England and in the 1860 Census, prior to his birth, his family was living in Shullsburg, WI. In 1870, they were in Hampton, IA and Fred was listed as being 7 years old and born in eastern Canada, whereas all his siblings have Wisconsin listed as their place of birth. Note that some sources mention Alberta as a place of birth, but the Canadian province did not exist at the time, and the area corresponding to the future province was still very sparsely populated, so that makes it even more unlikely. The family was still at the same place in 1880, when Fred was now 16. He was still living in Hampton as of 1895, but his daughter Ruth was born in Walla Walla, WA in 1898, by which time city listings also not his occupation of painter. While his date of birth is listed as 1865, it is more likely to be 1864 given the above.

Further Reading

• "Fred Osborne Found", in Bill Carle, ed.: Biographical Research Committee Report, SABR, September/October 2019, pp. 1-2.
• "Fred Osborne", in Bill Carle, ed.: Biographical Research Committee Report, SABR, July/August 2022, p. 1.

Related Sites

• Fred Osborne at the SABR Bio Project