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Frenchy Bordagaray was a deluxe pinch-hitter for the Cardinals.

Bordagaray, 5 feet 7, 175 pounds, led the major leagues in pinch-hitting batting average in 1938.

Using a short right-handed swing, Bordagaray, 28, hit a club-record .467 (21-for-45) as a Cardinals pinch-hitter in 1938.

Proud to be Basque

Stanley George Bordagaray was born Jan. 3, 1910, in the California town of Coalinga, near Fresno. His mother nicknamed him Frenchy, according to the New York Times. (Bordagaray told an interviewer, “I had five brothers and we were all called Frenchy. But I’m not a Frenchman. I’m a Basque. Nobody ever got that right.”) His father, a sheepherder who immigrated to the United States from the Basque region between Spain and France at 15, wanted Stanley to become a violinist, but the youth preferred sports.

An outfielder and third baseman, Frenchy Bordagaray made his big-league debut in 1934 with the White Sox and was traded to the Dodgers at the end of the year. After the 1935 season, Bordagaray got a bit part in the John Ford film “The Prisoner of Shark Island.” When Frenchy showed up at Dodgers spring training camp in 1936 still sporting the moustache and goatee he had grown for the movie role, manager Casey Stengel ordered him to shave, saying, “If anyone is going to be a clown on this club, it’s going to be me.”

After the 1936 season, the Dodgers dealt Bordagaray, pitcher Dutch Leonard and infielder Jimmy Jordan to the Cardinals for outfielder Tom Winsett.

Boys in the band

Bordagaray hit .293 as a utility player for the 1937 Cardinals, but he became best known as a member of teammate Pepper Martin’s Mudcats band. The one-time violinist played washboard and fiddle.

Showing no signs of what was to come in 1938, Bordagaray was abysmal as a pinch-hitter in 1937, getting one hit in 16 at-bats for an .063 average.

In 1938, he had three doubles, nine RBI and scored 13 runs in his 21-for-45 performance as a pinch-hitter. Overall, he hit .282 for the 1938 Cardinals.

The Cardinals traded Bordagaray to the Reds for outfielder Dusty Cooke in December 1938. Bordagaray played for the Yankees and returned to the Dodgers before ending his 11-year big-league playing career in 1945.

Bordagaray appeared in the 1939 World Series for the Reds and in the 1941 World Series for the Yankees, but never had a World Series at-bat. His two appearances in the 1939 World Series were as a pinch-runner for Ernie Lombardi. His lone appearance in the 1941 World Series was as a pinch-runner for Bill Dickey.

In two seasons with the Cardinals, Bordagaray batted .289 (132-for-456).

His big-league career batting average as a pinch-hitter was .318 (62-for-195).