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Eddie Gene Fisher
Chicago White Sox
Pitcher
Born: July 16, 1936, Shreveport, LA
Signed: Signed by the San Francisco Giants as an amateur free agent before 1958 season
Major League Teams: San Francisco Giants 1959-1961; Chicago White Sox 1962-1966; Baltimore Orioles 1966-1967; Cleveland Indians 1968; California Angels 1969-1972; Chicago White Sox 1972-1973; St. Louis Cardinals 1973
Long-time reliever and knuckleballer Eddie Fisher was one of the more effective late-inning relievers of his era. Fisher began his career with the Giants and spent parts of three seasons with them before getting a regular chance to relieve with the White Sox following a trade to Chicago in November 1961. Fisher was a workhorse for the White Sox appearing in 57 games in 1962, 59 in 1964 and a league-leading 82 in 1965, which was his career year (see below). Dealt to the Orioles in June 1966, Fisher helped that team reach the World Series although only reliever Moe Drabowsky (#439) saw action in the Series given the dominant performance of the Orioles' starting pitchers. Nevertheless, Fisher was the proud recipient of a World Series ring after the Orioles swept the Dodgers.
Fisher would continue to pitch in the majors for another seven seasons, crossing the 30 game threshold in each of those seasons. He had a late career resurgence with the Angels going 21-19 with a 3.22 ERA for the team over four seasons while recording 17 saves. Fisher retired following the 1973 season with an 85-70 record to go along with a 3.41 ERA, 82 saves and 812 strikeouts over 1,538 2/3 innings pitched.
Building the Set
December 4, 2021 from The Philly Show (Uncle Dick's Cards, Babylon, NY) - Card #417
You'll be seeing this particular passage on my 1965 Topps blog for quite some time as we added a whopping 97 cards to our set during the December Philadelphia Sports Collectors Show. If I'm ambitious and compose posts for five cards a week, I should be completely caught up by the end of May. If I'm not as ambitious, I might still be going through this stack by the time we hit July. Either way, I'll enjoy the process and I'm looking forward to taking my time. I've posted a complete summary of this fantastic show over at The Phillies Room.
The Card / White Sox Team Set
Looking at this card now, I don't know if I ever fully realized the White Sox had a different logo on their hat than they did on their jersey. Seems odd now to have two completely different logos as part of your everyday uniform. The back of the card rightfully points out how dominant Fisher and fellow knuckleballer Hoyt Wilhelm (#276) were out of the bullpen for the White Sox in 1964. In what would be considered unusual today, the two pitchers essentially shared closer duties for a few seasons. Wilhelm finished 140 of the White Sox games between 1963 and 1965 (about 29%), with Fisher finishing 96 games (about 20%) in the same span.
1965 Season
Fisher made his only All-Star team in 1965 and he threw two scoreless innings to close out the game. Although the National League won, 6-5, Fisher retired future Hall of Famers Henry Aaron (#170), Roberto Clemente (#160) and Ron Santo (#110), in order, in the top of the ninth. Fisher dominant season as the White Sox closer helped guide the team to a second place finish in the league. In 82 games, he was 15-7 with a 2.40 ERA and 24 saves. His fantastic year saw him finish fourth in the league's MVP voting behind winner Zoilo Versalles (#157), Tony Oliva (#340) and Brooks Robinson (#150).
Other Notable Baseball Cards
First Mainstream Card: 1960 Topps #23
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (13): 1960-1961, 1963-1973
Most Recent Mainstream Card: 1973 Topps #439
59 - Fisher non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 1/9/22.
Sources:
Baseball Reference
Beckett Database
The Trading Card Database
December 4, 2021 from The Philly Show (Uncle Dick's Cards, Babylon, NY) - Card #417
You'll be seeing this particular passage on my 1965 Topps blog for quite some time as we added a whopping 97 cards to our set during the December Philadelphia Sports Collectors Show. If I'm ambitious and compose posts for five cards a week, I should be completely caught up by the end of May. If I'm not as ambitious, I might still be going through this stack by the time we hit July. Either way, I'll enjoy the process and I'm looking forward to taking my time. I've posted a complete summary of this fantastic show over at The Phillies Room.
After securing Doug's Jim Thome autograph, I returned to Uncle Dick's and their neon green shirts, pulled up a chair, and settled in. Over the course of 45 minutes or so, I found 79 cards needed for our set, including this Fisher card which was a little less than $2 after the dealer discount. I was surrounded by six or seven other seated collectors, all who looked similar to me, with a touch of gray, focused on their individual quests. I wiped out Uncle Dick's two 1965 Topps commons binders, paid for my haul and then retreated to a table with Doug to update our checklist.
The Card / White Sox Team Set
Looking at this card now, I don't know if I ever fully realized the White Sox had a different logo on their hat than they did on their jersey. Seems odd now to have two completely different logos as part of your everyday uniform. The back of the card rightfully points out how dominant Fisher and fellow knuckleballer Hoyt Wilhelm (#276) were out of the bullpen for the White Sox in 1964. In what would be considered unusual today, the two pitchers essentially shared closer duties for a few seasons. Wilhelm finished 140 of the White Sox games between 1963 and 1965 (about 29%), with Fisher finishing 96 games (about 20%) in the same span.
1965 Season
Fisher made his only All-Star team in 1965 and he threw two scoreless innings to close out the game. Although the National League won, 6-5, Fisher retired future Hall of Famers Henry Aaron (#170), Roberto Clemente (#160) and Ron Santo (#110), in order, in the top of the ninth. Fisher dominant season as the White Sox closer helped guide the team to a second place finish in the league. In 82 games, he was 15-7 with a 2.40 ERA and 24 saves. His fantastic year saw him finish fourth in the league's MVP voting behind winner Zoilo Versalles (#157), Tony Oliva (#340) and Brooks Robinson (#150).
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First Mainstream Card: 1960 Topps #23
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (13): 1960-1961, 1963-1973
Most Recent Mainstream Card: 1973 Topps #439
59 - Fisher non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 1/9/22.
Sources:
Baseball Reference
Beckett Database
The Trading Card Database
Wikipedia
Previous Card: #327 Denis Menke - Milwaukee Braves
Previous Card: #327 Denis Menke - Milwaukee Braves
Next Card: #329 Hawk Taylor - New York Mets
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