FRANKIE FRISCH

The Polo Grounds had its whirlwind, and his name was Frank Francis Frisch. Out of Fordham he came, a college man crashing the bigs in 1919, a switch-hitting second baseman with legs that made the old grounds seem small. They called him the Flash, and for years he was the bright, sharp edge of the New York Giants—fast, smart, and loud in the way that wins pennants.

But the whirlwind blew itself out. By December of 1926, the feud with the skipper had curdled, and the Giants shipped Frisch and pitcher Jimmy Ring to St. Louis for Rogers Hornsby. A deal of keystone kings—the Rajah for the Flash. It was a trade that shook the league loose from its moorings.

Out in St. Louis, Frisch found his true home. He settled into the Cardinals’ keystone, the steady hand at second, the switch-hitter barking from the top of the order. The MVP came in 1931, but the real story was the man in charge. Come 1933, he was the player-manager, and by 1934 he had the Gas House Gang—a pack of unkempt, scrapping ballplayers who played like the city itself—running wild to a pennant and a World Series.

Frisch was the bridge between two dynasties, a New York flash who became a St. Louis legend. The old cards tell the tale; the heritage cards you play let you keep it.