John Frederick (January 26, 1902 – June 18, 1977) was a Major League Baseball outfielder. He played six seasons for the Brooklyn Dodgers of the National League before making his connection to the state of Oregon with the Portland Beavers.
Frederick, born in Colorado, began his professional baseball career in 1921 at age 19, playing in Canada. He entered the Pacific Coast League (PCL) two seasons later with Salt Lake City, and played three seasons there, followed by two seasons with Hollywood and then a season with Memphis of the South Atlantic League, where he had 185 hits and a .277 batting average.
In 1929, Frederick joined Brooklyn at age 27 and set a Major League record for rookies with 82 extra-base hits. His 52 doubles led the Majors that season. That year he also set a Dodgers rookie record for most leadoff home runs in a season with three.
Frederick recorded 206 hits in both 1929 and 1930, his first two years in the majors. He had four 5-hit games in his six-year major league career. He also led off a game with a home run 10 times with the Dodgers, second in franchise history. In his six seasons with Brooklyn, he collected 954 hits, 85 home runs, 377 RBIs, and a combined batting average of .308 in 805 games.
In 1932, Frederick blasted six pinch-hit home runs, setting a major league record that stood for 68 years. At the time of his retirement in 1934, Frederick held the record for most career home runs by a player born in Colorado (85). Frederick was an effective pinch hitter in his MLB career, batting .300 (21-for-70) with 8 home runs and 25 RBI.
Following the 1934 season, the Dodgers traded him to Sacramento of the Pacific Coast League, where he played just one season and hit a career high .363. In 2005, he was elected to the Pacific Coast League Hall of Fame.
Frederick became a Portland Beaver in 1936 and played 808 games over five seasons. He batted better than .301 in each of those seasons and served as player/manager of the team in 1940. Following the 1940 season, Frederick retired and lived the remainder of his life in Tigard, where his family-owned picnic-oriented Avalon Park for three decades. His son, Johnny Frederick, played at Oregon State in the 1950s.