1934-1936 Diamond Stars: #73 "Fritz" Ostermueller

Sunday, February 20, 2022

#73 "Fritz" Ostermueller - Boston Red Sox

Frederick Raymond Ostermueller

Boston Red Sox

Pitcher

Bats: Left Throws: Left Height: 5'11" Weight: 175

Born: September 15, 1907, Quincy, IL

Major League Teams: Boston Red Sox 1934-1940; St. Louis Browns 1941-1943; Brooklyn Dodgers 1943-1944; Pittsburgh Pirates 1944-1948

Died: December 17, 1957, Quincy, IL (50)

A starting pitcher for most of his career, Fritz Ostermueller spent 15 seasons in the majors, winning at least ten games in seven of those seasons. He came up with the Red Sox at the age of 26, pitching as part of that team's starting rotation for seven seasons. One of his best seasons in the majors was also his first as Ostermueller was 10-13 with a 3.49 ERA for the 1934 Red Sox, pitching 198 2/3 innings. He'd move to the Browns in 1941, then briefly to the Dodgers in 1943, before settling in with the Pirates for the final five years of his big league career. He threw a career-high 246 1/3 innings in 1944 with the Dodgers and Pirates, and was again a 13 game winner. Ostermueller would win 13 games one more time in 1946 and he'd pitch until the age of 40 in 1948. His quote, "Home run hitters drive Cadillacs, singles hitters drive Fords," has been often mis-attributed to Pirates' teammate Ralph Kiner.

Ostermueller was portrayed in the movie 42 as the Pirates pitcher who hit Dodgers' star Jackie Robinson in the head during a game on May 17, 1947 at Forbes Field, sparking a bench-clearing brawl. In reality, the pitch hit Robinson in the wrist and newspaper accounts from the day contain no mention of a brawl. The movie also incorrectly portrayed Ostermueller as a right-handed pitcher. In 390 career games, Ostermueller was 114-115 with a 3.99 ERA in 2,066 2/3 innings pitched.

Building the Set

January 21, 2022 from Key West, FL (Quality Baseball Cards) - Card #43

Mid-January is never a fun time for me, and needing a break during a long work day I found myself on eBay looking for the remaining Dick Bartell (#15 and #101) variations I needed. I had recently added his most commonly found card from the set, noting his team as the Giants on the back, but I wanted to try to find his other two cards from the set as well.

In my travels, I found what I considered to be extremely unusual for this pandemic-induced collecting age - a large group of auctions from seller quality*cards from the Diamond Stars set with no bids, including the elusive Bartell card from the set's third series. I set my opening bids, and waited a few days for the auctions to close. Again, much to my surprise, there was little to no action on the auctions until their closing minutes. I lost a few auctions as the seconds ticked away, but I came away with six new cards overall, including this Ostermueller card for less than $40.

Variations Available

1 - 1935 / green back / 1934 statistics / 1935 copyright ✅

2 - 1935 / blue back / 1934 statistics / 1935 copyright

3 - 1936 / blue back / 1935 statistics / 1935 copyright

Cards 73 through 84 were issued in 1935 with either green or blue ink on the back and statistics from 1934. These same 12 cards were issued again in 1936 with blue ink on the back and statistics from 1935. The Ostermueller card for my set is the first of the three variations available.

The Card / Red Sox Team Set

There's so much to appreciate with the design of this card. I think National Chicle went the horizontal route in order to have room for Ostermueller's lengthy name. We get a shot of the bleachers in front of a city skyline and a first baseman in the background waiting for a potential play. I'm going to pretend that it's Ed Morgan making a cameo, as he was the Red Sox primary first baseman during the 1934 season. The tip on the back of the card is a bit ironic, given Ostermueller struggled with control his entire career. He often had more walks than strikeouts in any given season, and his career totals were 774 strikeouts to 835 walks.

1935 Season

This was Ostermueller's sophomore season in the majors, and he'd appear in only 22 games for the Red Sox, making 19 starts. He went 7-8 with a 3.92 ERA for the fourth place team. Injuries took a toll on the lefty as he injured is knee in spring training and then was hit in the face with a line drive off the bat of the Tigers' Hank Greenberg (#54) on May 25th. After recovering from that, he was struck again by a batted ball, this time off the bat of the Browns' Moose Solters (#85) on August 18th, breaking Ostermueller's fibula. He somehow managed to make four more appearances that season with the broken fibula, including pitching a complete game against the Indians on August 25th.