Former All-Star Eddie Fisher passed away on Monday at 88. His obituary was provided by an Oklahoma funeral home.
Born in Shreveport, Louisiana, Fisher moved to Oklahoma as a child. He attended OU before signing with the Giants in 1958. A knuckleballer, Fisher reached the majors within a year of signing his pro contract. He pitched sparingly over three seasons with San Francisco. The Giants included the 6’2″ righty in a trade package to the White Sox for veteran pitchers Billy Pierce and Don Larsen during the 1961-62 offseason.
Fisher spent parts of five seasons in Chicago. Working primarily as a long reliever, he rattled off four straight years with at least 120 innings and a sub-4.00 earned run average. Fisher had his best season in 1965, when he turned in a 2.40 ERA while leading the American League in appearances (82) and WHIP (0.974). He made his lone All-Star appearance, where he tossed two scoreless innings. Fisher finished fourth in AL MVP balloting behind Zoilo Versalles and future Hall of Famers Tony Oliva and Brooks Robinson.
It was more of the same in ’66. Fisher carried a 2.29 ERA over 35 1/3 innings for the White Sox, who swapped him to the Orioles for middle infielder Jerry Adair that June. Fisher tossed 71 2/3 frames with a 2.64 mark down the stretch for Baltimore. The O’s went on to win the World Series, getting Fisher the only ring of his career. He didn’t make an appearance in the Fall Classic. Baltimore’s sweep of the Dodgers included complete game shutouts from Jim Palmer, Wally Bunker and Dave McNally, so they had little need to use their bullpen.
Fisher continued to soak up innings out of the ’pen for multiple teams into the 1970s. He pitched one more season with Baltimore and spent four years with the California Angels, for whom he turned in a 3.22 ERA. He had a brief second stint with the White Sox and wrapped his career with the Cardinals in ’73.
He concluded a 15-year big league run with a 3.41 earned run average in more than 1500 innings. Fisher won 85 games and recorded 812 strikeouts. He finished 344 contests and was credited with 82 saves (most of them retroactively because the stat wasn’t officially tracked by MLB until 1969). MLBTR sends condolences to Fisher’s family, friends and loved ones.
Finished 4th in MVP voting in 1965 while pitching in more than 1/2 the season’s game as a reliever. That’s bad ass. RIP Eddie.
Interesting that he was 4th in MVP but didn’t rank at all in CY. That shows how respect for relievers has grown. 165 innings as a reliever is insane.
He should have been the first every day Eddie. They used to work the heck out of him.
He owned a baseball camp in Oklahoma that I attended in the summer of 1971. One of the AL’s best relievers in the days before firemen became a thing. RIP
Meh, he was no Tom Emanski
RIP
He was pretty good with the White Sox. Remember him and his knuckle ball. RIP Eddie.
In 1965 and 1966, Eddie Fisher shared White Sox bullpen duties with two other knuckleball pitchers, Bob Locker and HOF’er Hoyt Wilhelm. I pitied the catchers, trying to corral all those flutterballs with oversized mitts while keeping their opponents running game in check.
I didn’t know Bob locker was a knuckler. He was a sidearmed sinkerball pitcher unless I remember wrong.
Still, these long relievers were under appreciated by us fans in those days. The teams that realized they needed a strong pen were the teams that won consistently.
RIP
BOOMER
And somewhere, Reinsdorf smokes a cigar.
May the force be with you, Eddie.
Thought Darth Vader croaked earlier. My vad. RIP
RIP. He did what so many of us dream of, actually play on a World Series winning team and a ring to show for it. 15 seasons of playing the game we all love. Condolences to his friends and family.
RIP Eddie…..
From an era when baseball was baseball. He was one of the best.
Carrie’s father. Husband of Debbie Reynolds & Liz Taylor
Out of respect, there will be no name related puns based on his name.
From Me.
He was a bit before my time, but I had some of his old baseball cards. I heard he was a good one though. RIP Eddie.