Julius Freeman, P

On Saturday, October 8, 1887, the St. Louis Globe-Democrat reported that "Julius Freeman, a young twirler who pitched for and won the championship for the Fort Smith club of the Southwestern League... will be given a trial on Sunday. He will pitch for the champions against the Clevelands." The next day, October 9, 1887 the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, which was put out in the morning, listed the lineups for the game that day, including Freeman as the pitcher for St. Louis. The game was the last game of the season, and the Browns had clinched the pennant weeks earlier. (The Browns finished the season with a 14-game lead over second place Cincinnati.) The Championship Series with Detroit was scheduled to start on April 10, so it made sense to give an untested pitcher a tryout while resting the regular starters. Both papers suggest that Julius Freeman should have made his major league debut on October 9, 1887. Instead, the game was started by Silver King, with no explanation provided as to why Freeman did not start. Freeman would have to wait one year and one day before making his debut with the Browns on October 10, 1888.

Julius Benjamin Freeman was born November 7, 1868 in De Lassus, MO (now mostly annexed by Farmington, MO). His father was William Tell Lightfoot Freeman. According to his entry in "A History of Greene County, Missouri", William Freeman was the grandson of John Freeman, who fought in the Revolutionary War as a scout for George Washington. (He was with the Virginia Scouts.) Julius' grandmother on his father's side was Theresa Eldridge Freeman, a well-known author from St. Louis who was reportedly a direct descendant of Pocahontas. Julius' mother was Emma Bourgeat Freeman, grandniece of Charles Auguste De Lassus, who was the last lieutenant governor of Upper Louisiana. Emma died in 1872, just a few years after Julius was born. His father remarried at some point to Miss Josephine Stagg, and Julius may have had a half-sister, Mayme Freeman, born in 1880. The 1880 Census records identifies Julius, at age 10, as living with his grandmother as boarders in St. Louis.

Freeman's baseball career started in 1886, when he pitched for Fort Smith, Arkansas. In 1887, he pitched for Fort Smith again, as Fort Smith won the Southwestern League. As noted above, his pitching caught the attention of the St. Louis Browns, but for whatever reason he didn't ger a chance to start the game in 1887. Over the winter, Freeman was signed by the Kansas City club in the new Western Association. He pitched for them in spring training, but he was released on May 3 without pitching in a regular season game. Instead he pitched with the independent club in Newton, KS. After returning to St. Louis in September, he worked out with the Browns, leading up to his only major league game on October 10, 1888.

As was the case the season before, the Browns had already clinched the pennant, but in 1888 their pitching staff was hampered all season by injuries and absences. This time, Freeman got the start, in St. Louis against Louisville. He pitched well through three innings, as St. Louis took a 2-0 lead. But Louisville scored five runs in the next three innings and led 5-4 going into the bottom of the seventh. Freeman got the first hitter out before Dude Easterbrook hit a the ball back to Freeman, breaking his finger, and his day (and, it turned out, his major league career) was over.

St. Louis held an option on him for 1889, but after a spring training with mixed results, the Browns sold him on April 18, 1889 to Milwaukee of the Western Association for $1000. Freeman went 0-5 with Milwaukee before he was cut. Omaha gave him a trial late in the season, at which time the Omaha Daily Bee reported that he had a sore arm early in the summer. He pitched one game for Omaha, on September 21, 1889. Omaha lost 7-6, but only three of the runs scored by Des Moines were earned.

By November of 1890, Freeman was in Seattle. In April 1891 he is mentioned in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer on four straight days. On April 10, it was announced he would be pitching a few innings for Seattle in the game coming up. On April 11, it was reported that he had a sore arm and would not be pitching. On April 12, it was reported that he and Camp would be pitching Seattle. And then on April 13, it was reported that he signed with Bellingham Bay. He did pitch with Bellingham Bay through at least mid-June, when the amateur league in which Bellingham played collapsed. In 1892, he played for Helena in the Montana State League; a report when he signed indicated he was coming from Seattle. By July, he was umpiring games in the league. By the end of the month he was released from that position as well. It is unclear if he played professional baseball again after 1892.

At some point, Julius Freeman returned to St. Louis. He married Kathryn Tweedie (daughter of the founder of the Tweedie Footwear Corporation) in Jefferson City, MO in 1897, and they had a daughter, Gladys, born in 1898. They must have separated shortly afterwards, because the census of 1900 identifies Freeman as back living in St. Louis with his grandmother again. Theresa Freeman died in 1909 in St. Louis. Meanwhile, His ex-wife Kathryn remarried William Mueller and remained in Jefferson City. According to the 1900 Census, Julius Freeman was a typesetter. There is no record for Julius Freeman in the 1910 Census, but in the 1920 Census there is a Julius L. Freeman listed with wife Adele Freeman, living as a lodger in St. Louis; this entry, aside from the middle initial, matches everything else about Julius Freeman – a typesetter, parents born in Louisiana, the correct age. Blurbs in the St. Louis Star and Times and the St. Louis Post-Dispatch on July 16, 1920, describe how Julius Freeman, a printer, was taken to City Hospital after smashing a window in an empty storefront of the University Club Building on North Grand avenue with a hatchet. No explanation was given for the action. Less than one year later, Julius Freeman died, on June 10, 1921. He is buried in Bellefontaine Cemetery in St. Louis, MO, along with his father, stepmother and grandmother. According to a biography on FindaGrave.com, his second wife, Stella, died in 1975 in St. Louis.

Posted April 26, 2020