Page 47 - 1975 BoSox

HE ARRIVED ON THE BIG- league scene like a bolt of lightning through the evening sky. Fred Lynn
played in his rst game on September 5, 1974, and proceeded to smash major-league pitching to the tune of a .419 batting average and a .698 slugging percentage over his rst 15 games. He followed that up with one of the greatest rookie seasons of all time, leading the Red Sox to the World Series and earning the Rookie of the Year, Most Valuable Player, and Gold Glove awards for the 1975 season. Lynn was the rst player to achieve this trifecta, an accomplish- ment matched only by Ichiro Suzuki of the Seattle Mariners in 2001.
Fredric Michael Lynn was born on February 3, 1952, in Chicago to Fred and Marie Lynn. When he was one year old his family moved to Southern California. He was an only child, and after his parents’ divorce in 1965 he lived with his father, a textile service executive. Lynn grew up in the Lutheran Church. His ancestry is English, French, Spanish, Native American, Norwegian, German, and Bohemian.
As a youngster Fred loved sports and enjoyed playing football, basketball, baseball, marbles, and track. Despite being raised in the Los Angeles suburbs, he was a San Francisco Giants fan. He preferred not the great-pitching/weak-hitting Dodgers, but the big bats of Giants sluggers Willie Mays and Willie McCovey. His favorite players as a child were Mays and Roberto Clemente. He respected them as all-
around players, with hitting ability, power, speed, defensive excellence, and strong throwing arms.
Lynn won batting titles in Little League, Pony League, and at El Monte High School. In high school, he lettered in baseball, football, and basketball. While at El Monte, he became acquainted with
Diane May Minkle, known as Dee Dee, a fellow student and a cheerleader. e two were married in February 1974 and had two children, Jason Andrew (born 1978) and Jennifer Andrea (1979). Fred and Dee Dee later divorced. As of 2014 Lynn had three grand- children. Daughter Jenny has two sons, Tyler, 15, and Hayden, 11. His son Jason is the father of Carter, 4.1
During his high-school years, Lynn pitched and played center eld. In one game during his sophomore year, he pitched 13 innings. He could throw hard and also had good breaking stu , but was a raw pitcher. No one worked with him on technique. As a junior he was 11-1 with a 1.01 ERA and many strikeouts. As a senior he went 6-5 with a sub-1.00 ERA. In football, he kicked and returned punts and kicko s.
Lynn wanted to be the rst person in his family to attend college. e family told teams not to draft him, that it would take a lot of money to prevent him from attending college. Nonetheless, the New York Yankees selected Lynn in the third round of the 1970 baseball draft. He declined to sign, and entered the University of Southern California on a football scholarship. He also played baseball. Lynn was a teammate of future Pittsburgh Steelers star (and Pro Football Hall of Famer) Lynn Swann. On the gridiron on the freshman squad, he played wide receiver and defensive back, as well as kicker, punter, and returner of punts and kick- o s. Lynn said he played both o ense and defense, and never came o the eld. Although he enjoyed
success as a football player, during his sophomore year Lynn switched his schol- arship over to baseball.
Lynn had met the Trojans head baseball coach, Rod Dedeaux, for the rst time the summer after he graduated from high school. He played on a team of mostly high-school seniors that played the USC varsity. Lynn faced future major leaguer
Fred Lynn
by Tom Nahigian
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