Frederick Morris Fussell (October 7, 1895 – October 23, 1966) was a

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the 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 ...

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

. He played for the

Chicago Cubs The Chicago Cubs are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The Cubs compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as part of the National League (NL) Central division. The club plays its home games at Wrigley Field, which is located ...

and

Pittsburgh Pirates The Pittsburgh Pirates are an American professional baseball team based in Pittsburgh. The Pirates compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Founded as part of the American Associati ...

. Fussell was 5 feet, 10 inches tall and weighed 155 pounds."Fred Fussell Statistics and History"
baseball-reference.com. Retrieved November 18, 2011.

Career

Fussell was born in

Sheridan, Missouri Sheridan is a city in northwest Worth County, Missouri, United States, near the Platte River. The population was 195 at the 2010 census. History A post office called Sheridan has been in operation since 1887. Sheridan was the name of a local fam ...

, in 1895. He started his professional baseball career in 1922 with the Chicago Cubs."Fred Fussell Minor League Statistics & History"
baseball-reference.com. Retrieved November 18, 2011. That season, he played in three MLB games in September and October and had a

win–loss record In sports, a winning percentage is the fraction of games or matches a team or individual has won. The statistic is commonly used in standings or rankings to compare teams or individuals. It is defined as wins divided by the total number of match ...

of 1–1. In 1923, Fussell mostly pitched in

relief Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces are bonded to a solid background of the same material. The term ''relief'' is from the Latin verb ''relevo'', to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that the ...

for Chicago. He appeared in 28 games, going 3–5 and tying for the team-lead with three saves. Fussell spent the next several years in the minor leagues. He played for the

Pacific Coast League The Pacific Coast League (PCL) is a Minor League Baseball league that operates in the Western United States. Along with the International League, it is one of two leagues playing at the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A level, which is one grade bel ...

Seattle Indians Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest region of ...

in 1924 and 1925 and then went to the

Texas League The Texas League is a Minor League Baseball league which has operated in the South Central United States since 1902. It is classified as a Double-A league. Despite the league's name, only its five South Division teams are actually based in the ...

Wichita Falls Spudders The Wichita Falls Spudders were a minor league baseball team that formed in 1920 and played its last game in 1957. They were based in Wichita Falls, Texas. The first Spudders team ran from 1920–1932 and played in the Texas League as an affiliat ...

. In 1927, he won a career-high 21 games for the Spudders, and he was traded to the Pittsburgh Pirates that December for

Mike Cvengros Michael John Cvengros (December 1, 1900 – August 2, 1970) was a Major League Baseball pitcher. He played all or part of six seasons in the majors, between 1922 and 1929, for the New York Giants, Chicago White Sox, Pittsburgh Pirates, and Chicago ...

and

Ike Danning Isaac Danning (January 20, 1905 – March 30, 1983) was an American Major League Baseball catcher who played for the St. Louis Browns in . His brother, Harry Danning, played for the New York Giants from to . He was Jewish. He attended Polytechni ...

. He pitched well the following spring and made the Pirates roster.Finoli, David and Rainer, Bill (2003).
The Pittsburgh Pirates Encyclopedia
'. Sports Publishing LLC. pp. 61-65. Fussell was a major league starter during the 1928 season. In 159.2

innings pitched In baseball, innings pitched (IP) are the number of innings a pitcher has completed, measured by the number of batters and baserunners that are put out while the pitcher is on the pitching mound in a game. Three outs made is equal to one innin ...

, he went 8–9 with a 3.61

earned run average In baseball statistics, earned run average (ERA) is the average of earned runs allowed by a pitcher per nine innings pitched (i.e. the traditional length of a game). It is determined by dividing the number of earned runs allowed by the number ...

. In 1929, he was a reliever, and his ERA jumped up to 8.62. He was released after the season and never played in the majors again. During the 1930s, Fussell pitched for various teams in the

International League The International League (IL) is a Minor League Baseball league that operates in the United States. Along with the Pacific Coast League, it is one of two leagues playing at the Triple-A level, which is one grade below Major League Baseball ...

, including the

Buffalo Bisons The Buffalo Bisons (known colloquially as the Herd) are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League and the Triple-A affiliate of the Toronto Blue Jays. Located in Buffalo, New York, the team plays their home games at Sahlen Fiel ...

and

Syracuse Chiefs Syracuse may refer to: Places Italy *Syracuse, Sicily, or spelled as ''Siracusa'' *Province of Syracuse United States *Syracuse, New York **East Syracuse, New York **North Syracuse, New York *Syracuse, Indiana * Syracuse, Kansas *Syracuse, Miss ...

. In 1933, he threw a

no-hitter In baseball, a no-hitter is a game in which a team was not able to record a hit. Major League Baseball (MLB) officially defines a no-hitter as a completed game in which a team that batted in at least nine innings recorded no hits. A pitcher wh ...

in a night game; he was subsequently nicknamed "Moonlight Ace".Kavanagh, Jack
"The Ballplayers - Fred Fussell"
. baseballlibrary.com. Retrieved November 18, 2011. Fussell's professional baseball career ended in 1939. He retired with a career minor league record of 150–118 to go along with his 14–17 major league one. In his later years, Fussell lived in

Syracuse, New York Syracuse ( ) is a City (New York), city in and the county seat of Onondaga County, New York, Onondaga County, New York, United States. It is the fifth-most populous city in the state of New York following New York City, Buffalo, New York, Buffa ...

, and worked as a lathe operator.James, Bill (1995).
Whatever Happened to the Hall of Fame?
'. Simon and Schuster. p. 151. Late in Fussell's life,

Baseball Hall of Fame The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is a history museum and hall of fame in Cooperstown, New York, operated by private interests. It serves as the central point of the history of baseball in the United States and displays baseball-r ...

historian

Lee Allen Lee Allen may refer to: *Lee Allen (wrestler) (1934–2012), wrestler and coach * Lee Allen (baseball) (1915–1969), baseball historian *Lee Allen (musician) (1927–1994), saxophone player *Lee Allen (artist) Lee Allen (1910 – May 5, 2006), bor ...

wrote a piece about him in a ''

Baseball Digest ''Baseball Digest'' is a baseball magazine resource, published in Orlando, Florida by Grandstand Publishing, LLC. It is the longest-running baseball magazine in the United States. History and profile It was created by Herbert F. Simons, a spor ...

'' article. He died in 1966.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fussell, Fred Major League Baseball pitchers Chicago Cubs players Pittsburgh Pirates players Wichita Falls Spudders players Seattle Indians players Buffalo Bisons (minor league) players Albany Senators players Syracuse Chiefs players Binghamton Triplets players Dallas Steers players Rochester Red Wings players Baseball players from Missouri 1895 births 1966 deaths People from Worth County, Missouri