13 Facts About Fred Lieb

Frederick George Lieb was an American sportswriter and baseball historian.

Fred Lieb received the J G Taylor Spink Award from the Baseball Writers' Association of America in 1972.

Fred Lieb was born on March 5,1888, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; his favorite team growing up as a child was the Philadelphia Athletics.

Fred Lieb is credited with coining the term "The House that Ruth Built," referring to the New York Yankees' brand new stadium that was christened by a Babe Ruth home run on their opening day, April 18,1923.

In October 1931, Fred Lieb took a team, headlined by Gehrig, Lefty Grove, Mickey Cochrane, Al Simmons, and Lefty O'Doul, to Hawaii and Japan for a profitable exhibition tour.

In 1935, Taylor Spink convinced Fred Lieb to write a regular weekly column and select obituaries for The Sporting News; Fred Lieb did this at his leisure from his home in St Petersburg, Florida, for 35 years.

Fred Lieb remained a member of the Baseball Writers' Association of America for 68 years, serving as president from 1921 to 1924.

In what turned to be an early cross-generational tribute, Fred Lieb received the first SABR salute from the Society for American Baseball Research in 1976.

Over his career, Fred Lieb covered every World Series game from 1911 to 1958,30 All-Star games, and over 8,000 major-league baseball games.

Fred Lieb was a prolific writer, contributing to The Sporting News from 1935 to 1980, the St Petersburg Times from 1965 until his death, The Saturday Evening Post from 1927 to 1933, as well as freelancing for other numerous publications, scoring games in New York, and authoring several books.

Fred Lieb initiated a rule change on February 9,1920, when he suggested that a game-winning home run with men on base always be counted as a home run, even if its run was not needed to win the game.

On May 15,1922, Ty Cobb beat out a grounder to shortstop Everett Scott, and Fred Lieb scored it a hit in the box score he filed with the Associated Press.

Fred Lieb reversed his call, but AL president Ban Johnson went with the hit call.