[1][2][3] He played for the Detroit Tigers of Major League Baseball (MLB) in 1939 and 1940, then took a five-season hiatus to serve in the United States Navy during World War II.

Born and raised in Seattle, Washington, Hutchinson was stricken with fatal lung cancer at the height of his managerial career as leader of the pennant-contending 1964 Cincinnati Reds.

A graduate of the medical school at Marquette University in Milwaukee,[4] he was a general practitioner in the Rainier Beach area in the southeast part of Seattle.

[4][8] Sons Bill and John were older than Fred by 10 and seven years,[9] respectively, and both played baseball at Franklin High School and at the University of Washington in Seattle under head coach Tubby Graves.

[5][7] The older brothers mentored young Fred in the game and fostered a competitive spirit; they even taught him to hit left-handed to reach first base quicker.

[14] In 11 major league seasons, Hutchinson compiled a 95–71 (.572) career record and a 3.73 earned run average, all with Detroit – a stellar mark considering his early-career mishaps.

On a dubious note, he is also recalled as the pitcher who gave up the longest homer in Ted Williams' career, a 502-foot (153 m) blast on June 9, 1946, that broke the straw hat of a startled fan sitting in Fenway Park's right-center-field bleachers.

On July 5, 1952, with Detroit in the surprising position of last place in the eight-team American League, the club fired manager Red Rolfe and handed the job to Hutchinson, still an active player and five weeks shy of his 33rd birthday.

However, Detroit's ownership and front office were in flux; at the end of 1954, Hutchinson asked for a two-year contract, through 1956, and was only offered a single season deal.

His success led to his second major league managerial job when he replaced Harry Walker as skipper of the St. Louis Cardinals shortly after the 1955 season.

With general manager "Frantic" Frank Lane constantly revamping the roster through trades and Hutchinson's steady hand at the helm, the Cardinals improved by eight games in 1956, and catapulted to second place in the National League in 1957, behind only the eventual world champion Milwaukee Braves.

[20] Hutchinson won The Sporting News Manager of the Year Award, and his popularity in the Mound City resulted in a new nickname, "The Big Bear", bestowed by Cardinal broadcaster Joe Garagiola.

[20] However, Lane's departure from the front office and the Cardinals' disappointing season resulted in Hutchinson's dismissal;[22] it came on September 17, with the team six games below .500 and in fifth place.

The 1959 team did not have the on-field success of 1955's edition but the Rainiers were by then the top farm club of the Cincinnati Reds, who had stumbled badly in the National League standings coming out of the gate.

Like Detroit and St. Louis before, the Reds also were in front office turmoil, as the general manager who originally hired Hutchinson, Gabe Paul, departed for the expansion Houston Colt .45s and was replaced by Bill DeWitt.

They were buoyed by three other factors: the maturation of young players such as outfielder Vada Pinson and pitchers Jim O'Toole, Ken Hunt and Jim Maloney; the acquisition of key contributors such as pitcher Joey Jay (who became a 20-game winner) and third baseman Gene Freese; and surprise slugging and clutch hitting performances by first baseman Gordy Coleman, Jerry Lynch (one of the greatest pinchhitters in baseball history), and veteran Wally Post.

The Reds surged into contention with a nine-game winning streak in May, and took first place for good August 16 when they swept the Dodgers in a doubleheader in Los Angeles.

However, the 1961 Reds drew one of the best teams of its era as its World Series foe: the New York Yankees of Roger Maris, Mickey Mantle, Whitey Ford, et al., who had won 109 games.

The Reds could muster only one victory, in Game 2, with utility infielder Elio Chacón racing home on a passed ball with the go-ahead run, barely before the crunching body tag of Elston Howard.

In July, Hutchinson was given a contract extension through the 1965 season,[26] and with a solid corps of veterans and a strong farm system, the Reds were considered a contending club in 1964, provided that its pitching staff made a comeback.

[42] SPORT magazine posthumously named him "Man of the Year" for 1964 in tribute to his courage in battling his final illness and the Reds permanently retired his uniform number (1).

Brosnan describes the team's wariness of the manager's hot temper and its respect for his competitive nature and leadership skills, and notes Hutchinson's sense of humor as well.

When Boston Red Sox rookie left-handed pitcher Jon Lester, a Washington native, was diagnosed with anaplastic large cell lymphoma during the 2006 season, he chose to undergo chemotherapy at the Seattle facility.