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Wednesday, April 25, 2018

Jack Fisher, Home Runs - 2

What made Jack Fisher memorable to fans so many years after his career, The Baltimore Sun asked him in 2010.

Fisher pointed to the homers: The hurler who pitched in the bigs from 1959 to 1969 gave up Ted Williams' last, Roger Maris' 60th of 1961 and the first home run at Shea Stadium, according to The Sun.

"People are going to remember you however they want to remember you," Fisher told The Sun. "I can live with that."

Fisher played primarily for the Orioles and Mets, but also got time with the White Sox, Giants and Reds. He later had a brief coaching career.

Fisher's long career in baseball began in 1957, signed by the Orioles out of the University of Georgia.

He played his first season at single-A Knoxville, then 1958 mostly at Class B Wilson. He then made his debut in Baltimore in April 1959.

Fisher got into 27 games for the Orioles that first year, starting seven. He got into another 40 games in 1960. He went 12-11, with a 3.41 ERA, giving up the Williams home run Sept. 28. He then went 10-13 in 1961, with a 3.90 ERA. The Maris home run came Sept. 26.

Fisher played one more season with Baltimore, then a year with San Francisco. He arrived with the Mets in 1964, where he went 10-17, with a 4.23 ERA. Willie Stargell tagged him April 17 for the first Shea round-tripper.

Fisher stayed with the Mets through 1967. He saw at least 30 starts each year between 1964 and 1967, enough to be called a workhorse by teammates, according to the book The Amazin' Mets, 1962-1969.

"That's what I thought you should do," Fisher told the author. "Give me the ball and I'll go out and pitch. I had a fairly fluid delivery that didn't take a lot out of me."

Fisher played his final two seasons with the White Sox and Reds. Fisher returned in 1989 and 1990 with the Mets as pitching coach at single-A Columbia.
1990 Minor League Tally
Players/Coaches Featured: 2,932
Made the Majors:1,089-37.2%
Never Made Majors:1,843-62.8%
5+ Seasons in the Majors: 451
10+ Seasons in the Minors:271

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