Ray Fisher

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Ray Fisher baseball card

Ray Lyle Fisher (October 4, 1887 in Middlebury, Vermont -November 3, 1982) was an American pitcher in Major League Baseball. His debut game took place on July 2, 1910. His final game took place on October 2, 1920. During his career he played for the New York Yankees and Cincinnati Reds.

Fisher is known for being one of the few people to be re-instated into baseball after being banned for life. At the end of the 1920 season, Fisher asked to be released by the Reds after they offered him $1,000 less than the previous season. The Reds refused and Kenesaw Mountain Landis, the commissioner at the time, banned Fisher. Fisher than took the head coaching position at the University of Michigan's baseball team. While at Michigan, he would lead the team to the 1953 College World Series. The baseball stadium of U of M is named after him, Ray Fisher Stadium. In 1980, Bowie Kuhn re-instated Fisher.

In 1920, the spitball was declared a banned pitch. However, a few pitchers known to rely on the pitch were "grandfathered" and allowed to continue to throw it. Fisher was one of those allowed to continue it.

He died in Ann Arbor, Michigan.