Reuben Walter Fischer (September 19, 1916 – July 16, 1997) 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 ...

player and right-handed

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 108 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), ...

for the New York Giants (1941; 1943–1946). Born in Carlock, South Dakota, he threw and batted right-handed, stood tall and weighed . Fischer began his

minor-league Minor leagues are professional sports leagues which are not regarded as the premier leagues in those sports. Minor league teams tend to play in smaller, less elaborate venues, often competing in smaller cities/markets. This term is used in No ...

career in 1937, spending a year in the Detroit Tigers' organization before being acquired by the Giants. Four years later, in September 1941, he made his

MLB 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), ...

debut. He appeared in two games, a scoreless

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 th ...

effort against the Cincinnati Reds on September 12, then a start against the Boston Braves eight days later—which resulted in a complete game, 7–3 victory. The

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' entry into

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in December 1941 began a depletion of MLB playing talent as athletes were called into the military. But Fischer did not return to the majors until June 1943, spending 1 years in the high minors. He was a member of the Giants' pitching staff from mid-June 1943 to mid-July 1946, as both a starter and reliever. His statistics were poor: counting his 1941 trial, he won only 16 of 50 decisions with a subpar 5.10

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 his 108 appearances and 382 career innings pitched, Fischer permitted 416 hits, 222 bases on balls, and 217

earned run In baseball, an earned run is any run that was fully enabled by the offensive team's production in the face of competent play from the defensive team. Conversely, an unearned run is a run that would not have been scored without the aid of an erro ...

s. He was credited with 136 strikeouts and four saves. In 41

games started In baseball statistics, games started (denoted by GS) indicates the number of games that a pitcher has started for his team. A pitcher is credited with starting the game if he throws the first pitch to the first opposing batter. If a player is li ...

, he threw seven complete games and one

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 ...

, a five-hit, 8–0 blanking of Cincinnati on July 30, 1944, in which he helped his cause with three

runs batted in A run batted in (RBI; plural RBIs ) is a statistic in baseball and softball that credits a batter for making a play that allows a run to be scored (except in certain situations such as when an error is made on the play). For example, if the ba ...

Retrosheet Retrosheet is a nonprofit organization whose website features box scores of Major League Baseball (MLB) games from 1906 to the present, and play-by-play narratives for almost every contest since the 1930s. It also includes scores from every major ...

br>box score (30 July 1944/Game 1): "New York Giants 8, Cincinnati Reds 0"
/ref> Fischer returned to the minors in mid-1946, played through 1949, then—after a seven-year hiatus—made a brief comeback at age 40 in the Class A Western League in 1957, appearing in four games. He died in Ashwaubenon, a village of Green Bay, Wisconsin, in 1997 at age 80.

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* 1916 births 1997 deaths Baseball players from South Dakota Clinton Giants players Dallas Eagles players Jersey City Giants players Major League Baseball pitchers Minneapolis Millers (baseball) players New York Giants (NL) players Oakland Oaks (baseball) players People from Gregory County, South Dakota Sioux City Cowboys players Sioux City Soos players Tulsa Oilers (baseball) players {{US-baseball-pitcher-1910s-stub