Fred Massey was born in Nyesville, Indiana, just north of Terre Haute and his great uncle Mordecai Brown. Fred and his older brother Joe grew up under the watchful eye of their Uncle “Mort” and inevitably followed in the family tradition of baseball. While his brother Joe took to the pitcher’s mound, Fred covered the outfield for minor league teams, such as the Rockville Merchants and Bloomingdale of the Wabash Valley League.

Scouted by the Cleveland Indians and the Philadelphia Phillies, Fred chose to serve his country on the battlefield over a professional career in baseball. However even his service during WWII, as a demolition expert and combat engineer, could not hide Fred’s natural born gift for the diamond. At war’s end Fred was tapped to play centerfield for General Patton’s own 3rd Army Battalion team during the European Theater World Series in Munich, Germany. For the series Fred received the MVP award, playing along side several professional baseball notables.

Upon returning to the states Fred continued to follow a life of baseball passion as a player and mentoring countless budding, young athletes. He also became a preservationist of the game’s history. In the early1990s Fred Massey fulfilled a twenty year dream by spearheading a drive to fund a memorial to his great uncle. On July 9th, 1994 , surrounded by family and friends, Fred Massey erected a monument to the great “Three Finger” Brown on his Nyesville, Indiana birthplace.