One of the top shortstops in the early days of major league baseball, Sanford’s Freddy Parent enjoyed playing in games at his beloved hometown field, Goodall Park. FILE PHOTO

SANFORD — Revered by the early legends of major league baseball, Sanford’s own Alfred “Freddy” Parent is remembered today as one of the greatest players ever to appear in games at Goodall Park.

Born in Biddeford in 1875, Parent played for 11 years in the early days of major league games as a right-handed shortstop. Small in stature standing just 5 foot 7, Parent was a slick fielder, but also could come up with timely hits in the clutch.

It’s said he talked his way into a backup role for Sanford’s semi-pro team and his aggressive ability running the bases on Goodall Park led to his signing by New Haven of the Connecticut League in 1898. A year later he was in the International League appearing in games for Providence and by 1901 he was a fixture in the big leagues.

Lifetime he was a .262 hitter in the majors, but batted .300 twice and on defense he soared, saving four no-hitters, including Hall of Famer Cy Young’s perfect game in 1904. He was also a tough out in the World Series, scoring eight runs and adding four RBI in eight October Classic games.

Parent was the first shortstop ever for the Red Sox, playing in Boston from 1901 to 1907.

When his MLB career ended in 1911 after being traded by Boston to the Chicago White Sox, Parent continued to play for and coached the Baltimore Orioles of the International League. It just so happens that one of his Orioles teammates was a kid by the name of George Herman Ruth.

Parent also played in the minor leagues for Toronto of the International League and was player-manager of the Springfield, Massachusetts Eastern League team in 1918. He then guided the Lewiston squad in the New England League in 1919.

When Colby College needed a baseball coach, Parent took the job and was in the Colby dugout from 1922 to 1924, before joining Harvard University as junior varsity baseball coach from 1926 to 1928.

After that, he returned to Maine and could often be seen at his beloved Goodall Park in Sanford. He once ran a boarding home in Springvale and operated his own gas station in Sanford too. That was before he launched an unsuccessful bid to become York County Sheriff.

In 1960, Parent was a guest on the television show I’ve Got A Secret as one of the players who competed in the very first World Series in 1903 between Boston and Pittsburgh.

All-time baseball greats said he was among the best they had played against.

Honus Wagner, Pittsburgh’s Hall of Fame shortstop considered among the best ever to play the position said he greatly admired how Parent left it all on the field every game he played.

“Fred Parent is a great ballplayer who never got all the credit he deserved. He was so graceful he made hard plays look easy. I think Parent is the greatest shortstop I ever saw in starting and finishing double plays,” Wagner said in 1923 recalling the early days of major league baseball. “As a runner, he excelled in breaking up the double-play ball, and he was a good hitter as well. He had a great throwing arm and could peg the ball from any position as accurately as a bullet shot from a rifle. Parent was especially good at tagging out base runners when they slid.”

Parent died in Sanford at the age of 96 on Nov. 2, 1972, and at the time of his death, he turned out to be the last surviving participant of the inaugural 1903 World Series. He is buried at St. Ignatius Cemetery in Sanford.