Frederick Brown "Fritz" Fisher (born November 28, 1941) is an American former professional baseball player. A left-handed pitcher who attended the University of Michigan (where he compiled a 21–9 record, including a 9–1 mark in his senior year in 1962), Fisher played five years in minor league baseball and was a standout at the Double-A level, but in his only Major League appearance, in April 1964 for the

Detroit Tigers The Detroit Tigers are an American professional baseball team based in Detroit. The Tigers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the American League (AL) Central division. One of the AL's eight charter franchises, the club was f ...

, he was treated roughly and gained only one

out Out may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Out'' (1957 film), a documentary short about the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 * ''Out'' (1982 film), an American film directed by Eli Hollander * ''Out'' (2002 film), a Japanese film ba ...

. In one-third of an

inning In baseball, softball, and similar games, an inning is the basic unit of play, consisting of two halves or frames, the "top" (first half) and the "bottom" (second half). In each half, one team bats until three outs are made, with the other team ...

, Fisher yielded two

hits Hits or H.I.T.S. may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * ''H.I.T.S.'', 1991 album by New Kids on the Block * ''...Hits'' (Phil Collins album), 1998 * ''Hits'' (compilation series), 1984–2006; 2014 - a British compilation album se ...

, four earned runs and two

bases on balls A base on balls (BB), also known as a walk, occurs in baseball when a batter receives four pitches that the umpire calls '' balls'', and is in turn awarded first base without the possibility of being called out. The base on balls is defined in Se ...

. Fisher was listed at tall and . After a successful professional debut with the Double-A Knoxville Smokies and impressing manager Chuck Dressen during workouts in 1963, Fisher was added to the Tigers' 40-man

spring training Spring training is the preseason in Major League Baseball (MLB), a series of practices and exhibition games preceding the start of the regular season. Spring training allows new players to try out for Schedule (workplace), roster and position spo ...

roster for 1964.''Baseball Digest'', March 1964, page 15 He was kept on the team's early-season 28-man squad. During Detroit's fourth game of the American League campaign, on April 19 at Tiger Stadium, Fisher made his debut in relief the ninth

with the Tigers trailing the

Minnesota Twins The Minnesota Twins are an American professional baseball team based in Minneapolis. The Twins compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central Division. The team is named after the Twin Cities area w ...

, 8–3. The first batter he faced was a future Hall of Famer, Harmon Killebrew, and Fisher struck him out.1964-4-19 box score from Retrosheet
/ref> But that was the only out he recorded; he walked the next two batters and gave up run-scoring hits to Jerry Zimmerman and Camilo Pascual before being relieved by Ed Rakow, who allowed the inherited runners to score. Fisher spent the rest of 1964 with Knoxville and the Triple-A Syracuse Chiefs, and he retired after the 1967 season, never returning to the Majors. His minor league

record A record, recording or records may refer to: An item or collection of data Computing * Record (computer science), a data structure ** Record, or row (database), a set of fields in a database related to one entity ** Boot sector or boot record, ...

of 44 wins and 25 defeats and a 3.05 earned run average in 103 games included a 33–15 (2.66) mark at the Double-A level.Minor league record from Baseball Reference
/ref>

References

Fisher reflects on life in baseball https://www.lenconnect.com/sports/20200419/fisher-reflects-on-life-in-baseball

External links

Career record and playing statistics from Baseball Reference
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fisher, Fritz 1941 births Living people Baseball players from Michigan Detroit Tigers players Knoxville Smokies players Major League Baseball pitchers Michigan Wolverines baseball players Montgomery Rebels players People from Adrian, Michigan Syracuse Chiefs players