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By Scott Barancik, editor
Eye color is not the first thing one notices about Oakland A’s rookie Nate Freiman. Does he part his hair on the left, or the right? No clue.
The first thing every teammate, scout, agent, sportswriter, and fan observes about Freiman (pronounced ‘FRY-men’) is his height. The 26-year-old first baseman stands 6-foot-8-inches above street level, unusually tall for a pro baseball player, and even more so for a non-pitcher.
How unusual, exactly? Jewish Baseball News conducted a search of all non-pitchers who’ve played Major League ball since 1901. And here’s what we found: Nate Freiman isn’t just “tall.” The man dubbed “Green Giant” by one wag is the tallest in baseball history, tied with retired first baseman Tony Parker.
Here’s a table showing the 10 biggest position players in MLB history. Interestingly, two of the 10 are brothers, and the highest career batting average among them is a modest .273.
| Rk | Player | Ht | From | To | Tm | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nate Freiman | 80 | 2013 | 2013 | .273 | .404 | OAK |
| 2 | Tony Clark | 80 | 1995 | 2009 | .262 | .485 | DET-BOS-NYM-NYY-TOT-ARI |
| 3 | Joel Guzman | 79 | 2006 | 2007 | .232 | .321 | LAD-TBD |
| 4 | Damon Minor | 79 | 2000 | 2004 | .232 | .400 | SFG |
| 5 | Ryan Minor | 79 | 1998 | 2001 | .177 | .259 | BAL-MON |
| 6 | Billy Ashley | 79 | 1992 | 1998 | .233 | .409 | LAD-BOS |
| 7 | Desi Wilson | 79 | 1996 | 1996 | .271 | .339 | SFG |
| 8 | Frank Howard | 79 | 1958 | 1973 | .273 | .499 | LAD-WSA-TOT-DET |
| 9 | Walt Bond | 79 | 1960 | 1967 | .256 | .410 | CLE-HOU-MIN |
| 10 | Ron Jackson | 79 | 1954 | 1960 | .245 | .395 | CHW-BOS |
Why does it matter? It doesn’t, really. And odds are, Freiman would like to go down in baseball history for more than a genetic gift. Hopefully he will.
But baseball is a statistics-mad sport. As long as we find it necessary to cite the obvious fact of Freiman’s height, let’s call him the tallest, not just “tall.”
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