1934 R313-A Gold medal Foods - Fred Marberry

Fred Marberry was one of the toughest for me to find of the set of 12. Back in the olden days, people who collected cards and photos would sometimes put them in scrapbooks. My first Marberry card was one of these. The back was all torn to bits, but the front somehow survived. I rarely (never) saw a Marberry for sale so I sprung for the battered one as a placeholder. Later, as part of the great R card lot purchase of 2017, I got this beauty.

Fred wasn't a star for the Tigers in 1934. But he had been around. He had an interesting career in that he was used as a relief pitcher on purpose. Before this time, the idea of having a designated pitcher at-the-ready to step in and finish a game in danger of getting sideways didn't really exist. Of course there were relief pitchers, but they were usually just the backup pitchers that would come in to ride out the mess left by the starter. The save was not a statistic in use until the 1960s, but retroactively applied, Marberry is revealed to be the first guy to make his living in the closer role, leading the league in saves for 6 seasons.

Fred looks menacing in the photo above. He was known for his menacing look and had the unwelcome nickname of Firpo (named after the boxer). he does look like he could be a boxer. Then again, many of the 1930s players look like they could be boxers. Another name oddity - for some reason Fred signed his last name as Marburry for this autograph facsimile card.

Bill Hallahan

Ducky Medwick

Frankie Frisch

Billy Rogell