Louis Henry William Fette (March 15, 1907 – January 3, 1981) was an American

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Modern professional ...

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. The native of Alma, Missouri, was a

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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 ...

who appeared in 109 games in

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), ...

—107 of them for Boston's

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—during all or parts of five seasons between 1937 and 1945. He was listed as tall and . He attended

Missouri Valley College Missouri Valley College is a private college that is affiliated with the Presbyterian Church (USA) and located in Marshall, Missouri. The college was founded in 1889 and supports 40 academic majors and an enrollment close to 1,500 students. Mis ...

Playing career

Fette's pro career began in 1928. He spent nine years (1928–1936) in minor league baseball, including eight full seasons in the top-level

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, before his big-league debut as a member of the 1937 Boston Bees. That year, the 30-year-old Fette and another MLB

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and minor-league veteran, 33-year-old Jim "Milkman" Turner, each won 20 games for the fifth-place Bees. Fette enjoyed three strong seasons with the Bees, posting a 41–33 won–lost record and an even 3.00

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 95 games pitched from 1937 to 1939. He threw 14

shutouts In team sports, a shutout ( US) or clean sheet ( UK) is a game in which one team prevents the other from scoring any points. While possible in most major sports, they are highly improbable in some sports, such as basketball. Shutouts are usuall ...

and 51

complete games In baseball, a complete game (CG) is the act of a pitcher pitching an entire game without the benefit of a relief pitcher. A pitcher who meets this criterion will be credited with a complete game regardless of the number of innings played—pitche ...

. In 1939 he was named to the National League All-Star team, and hurled two scoreless innings during the Senior Circuit's 3–1 defeat at

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, allowing only one

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and fanning future

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Joe Gordon Joseph Lowell Gordon (February 18, 1915 – April 14, 1978), nicknamed "Flash" in reference to the comic-book character ''Flash Gordon'', was an American second baseman, coach and manager in Major League Baseball who played for the New York Yank ...

. But 1939 also saw a decline in Fette's workload and he ended the year with six consecutive losses. Then in 1940, he remained ineffective, losing all five decisions with Boston and posting a poor 5.57 ERA before being

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to the pennant-contending Brooklyn Dodgers on June 21. Fette appeared in only two games for the Dodgers as a

relief pitcher In baseball and softball, a relief pitcher or reliever is a pitcher who enters the game after the starting pitcher is removed because of fatigue, ineffectiveness, injury, or ejection, or for other strategic reasons, such as inclement weat ...

, and was sent back to the minor leagues. After spending 1943 and 1944 out of baseball, he returned to the majors with the 1945 Boston Braves—they had returned to their longtime nickname in 1941—for the last year of the World War II manpower shortage, and lost two more decisions, including his final big-league starting assignment. All told, for his five-year MLB career, Fette posted a 41–40 record with 194 strikeouts and a 3.15

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in 691 innings pitched. He allowed 658 hits and 248 bases on balls. He did not record a victory, complete game or shutout after 1939, losing his last 13 decisions. Lou Fette died in

Warrensburg, Missouri Warrensburg is a city in and the county seat of Johnson County, Missouri, United States. The population was 20,313 at the 2020 census. The Warrensburg Micropolitan Statistical Area consists of Johnson County. The city is a college town as it is ...

, at the age of 73 after suffering a heart attack.

Best season

*1937: 20 wins, 2.88 ERA, five

shutout In team sports, a shutout ( US) or clean sheet ( UK) is a game in which one team prevents the other from scoring any points. While possible in most major sports, they are highly improbable in some sports, such as basketball. Shutouts are usuall ...

s, 23

, 259 innings – all career-highs

Highlights

* 1939 National League All-Star *Twice led NL in shutouts (1937, five – 1939, six)

References

External links

Lou Fette
at Baseball Library {{DEFAULTSORT:Fette, Lou 1907 births 1981 deaths Baseball players from Missouri Boston Bees players Boston Braves players Brooklyn Dodgers players Kansas City Blues (baseball) players Knoxville Smokies players Major League Baseball pitchers Montreal Royals players Missouri Valley Vikings baseball players National League All-Stars People from Lafayette County, Missouri Pueblo Steelworkers players St. Paul Saints (AA) players Springfield Rifles players