Ray Fisher
Encyclopedia
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
professional baseball
Professional baseball
Baseball is a team sport which is played by several professional leagues throughout the world. In these leagues, and associated farm teams, players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system....
pitcher
Pitcher
In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throwsthe baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw a walk. In the numbering system used to record defensive plays, the...
. He pitched all or part of ten seasons in Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...
. His debut game took place on July 2, 1910. His final game took place on October 2, 1920. During his career he played for the New York Yankees
New York Yankees
The New York Yankees are a professional baseball team based in the The Bronx, New York. They compete in Major League Baseball in the American League's East Division...
and Cincinnati Reds
Cincinnati Reds
The Cincinnati Reds are a Major League Baseball team based in Cincinnati, Ohio. They are members of the National League Central Division. The club was established in 1882 as a charter member of the American Association and joined the National League in 1890....
.
Early life
Nicknamed "Pick" (short for the freshwater fish pickerelPickerel
Pickerel may refer to:*Esox, the genus of fish commonly known as the pickerels which includes pike and muskellunge as well as other pickerel*American pickerel*Chain pickerel*Walleye, or Yellow Pickerel * Pickerel Frog...
), Fisher was an all-around athlete who played football, basketball, and baseball- though his father only permitted sports if the farm work was done. He played on Vermont's 1904 State Championship football team and received multiple college scholarships in football, but his real love was baseball and he stayed on in his hometown attending Middlebury College
Middlebury College
Middlebury College is a private liberal arts college located in Middlebury, Vermont, USA. Founded in 1800, it is one of the oldest liberal arts colleges in the United States. Drawing 2,400 undergraduates from all 50 United States and over 70 countries, Middlebury offers 44 majors in the arts,...
.
Semi-pro and minor leagues
After stellar performances on the college mound, he was offered a position pitching with a semi-pro team in Valleyfield, Quebec in the summer of 1907. In 1908 and 1909 he pitched in the minor leagues for HartfordHartford Senators
The Hartford Senators were a minor league baseball team based in Hartford, Connecticut. They operated in the Connecticut League from 1902-1912, the Eastern Association from 1913-1914, the Eastern League from 1916-1932 and the Northeastern League in 1934. For the 1932 season they were affiliated...
in the Connecticut League
Connecticut League
The Connecticut League, also known as the Connecticut State League is a now defunct minor baseball league based in Connecticut. The league began as off-shoot of the original Connecticut State League in 1902 as a Class D league with teams in eight cities...
, going 12-1 in his first partial season (batting .304) and 25-4 the following year with 243 strikeouts. His contract was sold to the New York Highlanders
New York Yankees
The New York Yankees are a professional baseball team based in the The Bronx, New York. They compete in Major League Baseball in the American League's East Division...
(Yankees), and he reported there in 1910 following his graduation from Middlebury, bringing along- to the amusement of his new teammates- his homemade bat from off the farm.
New York Yankees
Dubbed the "Vermont Schoolmaster" because he taught Latin during his first offseason, Ray pitched for New York from 1910–17, spending 1918 in the Army stationed at Fort Slocum off New Rochelle. As a rookie, the newspapers were frequently comparing Fisher to Highlander's spitball pitcher Jack ChesbroJack Chesbro
John Dwight Chesbro was a Major League Baseball pitcher for the Pittsburgh Pirates , New York Highlanders , and Boston Red Sox . His 41 wins during the 1904 season remains an MLB record for the modern era...
, and early in his tenure with the Yankees Fisher was also cited by Ty Cobb
Ty Cobb
Tyrus Raymond "Ty" Cobb , nicknamed "The Georgia Peach," was an American Major League Baseball outfielder. He was born in Narrows, Georgia...
and Nap Lajoie
Nap Lajoie
Napoléon "Nap" Lajoie , also known as Larry Lajoie, was an American Major League Baseball second baseman. He was born in Woonsocket, Rhode Island...
as one of the 12 best pitchers in the American League
American League
The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, or simply the American League , is one of two leagues that make up Major League Baseball in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western League, a minor league based in the Great Lakes states, which eventually aspired to major...
, both players also listing Ed Walsh
Ed Walsh
Edward Augustine Walsh was a Major League Baseball pitcher. He holds the record for lowest career ERA, 1.82.-Baseball career:Born in Plains Township, Pennsylvania, Walsh had a brief though remarkable major league career...
, Russ Ford
Russ Ford
Russell William Ford was a Major League Baseball pitcher during the dead-ball era of the early 1900s.- Emery Ball :...
, Walter Johnson
Walter Johnson
Walter Perry Johnson , nicknamed "Barney" and "The Big Train", was a Major League Baseball right-handed pitcher. He played his entire 21-year baseball career for the Washington Senators...
and Smoky Joe Wood. His ERA ranked fifth in the league in 1915. The following year, a bout of pleurisy was to cripple his effectivness. From 1911 to 1915, during the offseason, Fisher was also employed as Middlebury College's first Physical (Athletic) Director.
Cincinnati Reds
About the time of his discharge from the Army, Fisher was selected off waivers by the Cincinnati RedsCincinnati Reds
The Cincinnati Reds are a Major League Baseball team based in Cincinnati, Ohio. They are members of the National League Central Division. The club was established in 1882 as a charter member of the American Association and joined the National League in 1890....
, thereby taking a $3,100 cut in pay from his $6,600 with the Yankees. Ray pitched for the Reds in 1919 and 1920. He went 14-5 in 1919 and pitched Game 3 in the infamous 1919 World Series
1919 World Series
The 1919 World Series matched the American League champion Chicago White Sox against the National League champion Cincinnati Reds. Although most World Series have been of the best-of-seven format, the 1919 World Series was a best-of-nine series...
, a game in which the Reds were shut out by Chicago's Dickie Kerr
Dickie Kerr
Richard Henry "Dickey" Kerr was a starting pitcher for the Chicago White Sox from -. As a rookie, he won 13 games and both his starts in the 1919 World Series, which would lead to the permanent suspensions of eight of his teammates in the Black Sox Scandal...
. In the spring of 1920 the American and National Leagues agreed to outlaw use of the spitball
Spitball
A spitball is an illegal baseball pitch in which the ball has been altered by the application of saliva, petroleum jelly, or some other foreign substance....
, though 22 spitball pitchers were exempted from the ban for the season. The following year a permanent ban went into effect, with 17 pitchers "grandfathered" for the remainder of their pitching careers. Though he had largely discontinued use of the spitter by 1914, Fisher was one of those allowed to continue to use the pitch.
Lifetime ban
Fisher is known for being one of the few players to be re-instated into professional baseball after being banned for life. Prior to the 1921 season, the Reds offered him a contract in which his salary was $1,000 less than that of the previous season. After making his objections known in a letter to Reds president August HerrmannAugust Herrmann
August Garry Herrmann was an American executive in Major League Baseball.-Biography:He was born on May 3, 1859. He served as president of the Cincinnati Reds of the National League from 1902 to 1927...
, Fisher signed the contract. Before the season began, however, Fisher learned that the position of head baseball coach had again become available at the University of Michigan
University of Michigan
The University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...
, a position for which he had belatedly applied the previous year on the recommendation of Branch Rickey
Branch Rickey
Wesley Branch Rickey was an innovative Major League Baseball executive elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1967...
. Fisher requested, and was apparently given by manager Pat Moran
Pat Moran
Patrick Joseph Moran was an American catcher and manager in Major League Baseball. As a manager, he led two teams to their first-ever modern-era National League championships: the 1915 Philadelphia Phillies and the 1919 Cincinnati Reds...
, permission to go and look into the job.
When he was offered the position at Michigan, the Reds' management tried to induce Fisher to remain with the team by offering to restore the $1,000 cut from the previous year's contract. Fisher thought the Michigan position held greater long-term promise and accepted the job, believing that he would be given his release from Cincinnati or placed on the list of voluntarily retired players (both of which were subsequently reported in the local papers).
After Michigan's playing season was over, other teams began contacting Fisher, inquiring as to his availability to pitch, Rickey's St. Louis Cardinals
St. Louis Cardinals
The St. Louis Cardinals are a professional baseball team based in St. Louis, Missouri. They are members of the Central Division in the National League of Major League Baseball. The Cardinals have won eleven World Series championships, the most of any National League team, and second overall only to...
among them. Fisher contacted the Reds for clarification on his status, noting that he realized they had first call on his services. He learned that he was being placed on the list of those ineligible to play, the Reds citing his having given them only seven days notice, rather than the required ten, prior to leaving the club. Fisher appealed to the commissioner of baseball, Kenesaw Mountain Landis
Kenesaw Mountain Landis
Kenesaw Mountain Landis was an American jurist who served as a federal judge from 1905 to 1922 and as the first Commissioner of Baseball from 1920 until his death...
, and the commissioner promised to look into the matter.
After obtaining the Reds' version of the negotiations, the commissioner upheld the Reds' position and banned Fisher for leaving the team after having signed a contract. Ray ended his major league career with a 100-94 record and a 2.82 ERA. His final game was pitched on October 2, 1920, and it was part of the only tripleheader played in the 20th century. Following the determination of his ineligibility, Ray signed on with one of the "outlaw" teams, pitching only briefly for the Frankin, Pennsylvania, Oilers before the team folded. In 1951 Ray was called to Washington, D.C., to testify about his "blacklisting" in a House Judiciary Committee investigation into the alleged monopoly of power in professional baseball.
Coaching
Fisher remained head coach for the University of MichiganUniversity of Michigan
The University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...
's baseball team for 38 seasons, also serving as freshman football coach and assistant basketball (1927-1941) coach for a number of years. (In football he coached Gerald Ford
Gerald Ford
Gerald Rudolph "Jerry" Ford, Jr. was the 38th President of the United States, serving from 1974 to 1977, and the 40th Vice President of the United States serving from 1973 to 1974...
and Tom Harmon
Tom Harmon
Thomas Dudley Harmon was a star player in American college football, a sports broadcaster, and patriarch of a family of American actors...
.) While at Michigan, he led his teams to 14 Big Ten championships and the 1953 College World Series
1953 College World Series
The 1953 College World Series was played at Johnny Rosenblatt Stadium in Omaha, NE from June 11 to June 16. The seventh tournament's champion was Michigan, coached by Ray Fisher. The Most Outstanding Player was J.L. Smith of Texas....
championship, after which he was named Coach of the Year. In 1923, Ray became Michigan's first coach in the 20th century to integrate a varsity sport.
In 1929 and 1932 Fisher's Michigan teams played against teams in Japan at the invitation of Meiji University. Fisher was active in the startup of the National Association of College Baseball Coaches and served as its first vice president. During the 1940s he was hailed by Esquire Magazine as a close second to Jack Barry
Jack Barry (baseball)
John Joseph "Jack" Barry was an American shortstop, second baseman, and manager in Major League Baseball, and later a college baseball coach...
of Holy Cross
College of the Holy Cross
The College of the Holy Cross is an undergraduate Roman Catholic liberal arts college located in Worcester, Massachusetts, USA...
as the top college baseball coach in the country, and Fisher was generally regarded as one of the nation's premiere instructors of college pitchers. While coaching summer teams in Vermont's Northern League
Northern League (baseball, 1902-71)
This article refers to the original incarnations of the Northern League, which operated between 1902 and 1971. For the more recent league, see Northern League ...
, Fisher mentored Robin Roberts who sent many accolades in Fisher's direction once he was signed into the major leagues.
Retirement and later life
By the time he retired in 1958, Fisher had compiled a 636-295-8 record with only two losing seasons, and he held the record as the University of Michigan's winningest coach for 70 years (1930–2000). For five years during the 1960s Fisher coached pitchers for the farm teams of the Milwaukee Braves and the Detroit TigersDetroit Tigers
The Detroit Tigers are a Major League Baseball team located in Detroit, Michigan. One of the American League's eight charter franchises, the club was founded in Detroit in as part of the Western League. The Tigers have won four World Series championships and have won the American League pennant...
, and into his 80's Ray was still working with pitchers at the request of subsequent University of Michigan baseball coaches. After a reinvestigation into the circumstances surrounding his leaving the Cincinnati Reds
Cincinnati Reds
The Cincinnati Reds are a Major League Baseball team based in Cincinnati, Ohio. They are members of the National League Central Division. The club was established in 1882 as a charter member of the American Association and joined the National League in 1890....
, Commissioner of Baseball Bowie Kuhn
Bowie Kuhn
Bowie Kent Kuhn was an American lawyer and sports administrator who served as the fifth Commissioner of Major League Baseball from February 4, , to September 30,...
re-instated Fisher in 1980, declaring him a "retired player in good standing" with professional baseball. In an interesting twist of fate, following the 1981 players' strike the Cincinnati Reds came to the University of Michigan for workouts at Ray Fisher Stadium
Ray Fisher Stadium
Ray Fisher Stadium is a baseball stadium in Ann Arbor, Michigan. It is the home field of the University of Michigan Wolverines college baseball team. The stadium holds 4,000 people and opened in 1923. Ray Fisher Stadium received extensive renovations and was reopened as part of the University's...
.
In the summer of 1982, Fisher was invited to the yearly Old Timers' Day at Yankee Stadium
Yankee Stadium
Yankee Stadium was a stadium located in The Bronx in New York City, New York. It was the home ballpark of the New York Yankees from 1923 to 1973 and from 1976 to 2008. The stadium hosted 6,581 Yankees regular season home games during its 85-year history. It was also the former home of the New York...
, his first visit to the famous facility which had been built after he'd left the team. Approaching age 95, he was then the oldest former Yankee, Cincinnati Red and World Series
World Series
The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball, played between the American League and National League champions since 1903. The winner of the World Series championship is determined through a best-of-seven playoff and awarded the Commissioner's Trophy...
player. He received two standing ovations from the fans and threw out the opening pitch for that day's Yankees-Rangers game. He died three months later in Ann Arbor, Michigan
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Ann Arbor is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the county seat of Washtenaw County. The 2010 census places the population at 113,934, making it the sixth largest city in Michigan. The Ann Arbor Metropolitan Statistical Area had a population of 344,791 as of 2010...
and is buried in Washtenong Memorial Park. In 2003, through the efforts of the Vermont chapter of the Society for American Baseball Research
Society for American Baseball Research
The Society for American Baseball Research was established in Cooperstown, New York, in August 1971 by Bob Davids of Washington, D.C. The Society's mission is to foster the research and dissemination of the history and record of baseball, while generating interest in the game...
, the State of Vermont placed an historic site marker near Ray Fisher's birthplace, at the intersection of U.S. Route 7 (Court Street) and Creek Road in Middlebury, Vermont.
Legacy
In 1970, twelve years after Ray's retirement, the baseball stadium at U of M, until then unnamed, was dedicated as Ray Fisher StadiumRay Fisher Stadium
Ray Fisher Stadium is a baseball stadium in Ann Arbor, Michigan. It is the home field of the University of Michigan Wolverines college baseball team. The stadium holds 4,000 people and opened in 1923. Ray Fisher Stadium received extensive renovations and was reopened as part of the University's...
. Thirty-eight years later, in 2008, a renovated Ray Fisher Stadium was incorporated into the university's new Wilpon Baseball and Softball Complex, Fred Wilpon
Fred Wilpon
Fred Wilpon is a real estate developer, baseball executive and the majority owner of the New York Mets.-Biography:...
having pitched for Michigan under Ray.
Ray Fisher's influence on pitchers was still being felt many years after his death. In the 2010 American League Championship Series
2010 American League Championship Series
The 2010 American League Championship Series was the best-of-seven game series pitting the winners of the 2010 American League Division Series for the American League Championship. The American League wild card-winning New York Yankees faced the American League Western Division champions Texas...
, Texas Rangers
Texas Rangers (baseball)
The Texas Rangers are a professional baseball team in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, based in Arlington, Texas. The Rangers are a member of the Western Division of Major League Baseball's American League, and are the reigning A.L. Western Division and A.L. Champions. Since , the Rangers have...
pitcher Cliff Lee
Cliff Lee
Clifton Phifer "Cliff" Lee is a Major League Baseball left-handed starting pitcher for the Philadelphia Phillies. Lee has also played for the Cleveland Indians, the Seattle Mariners, and the Texas Rangers....
gave an amazing performance using a cut fastball taught to him by "Ace" Adams, who had learned the pitch from Fisher at Michigan after Ray's retirement.