| Ray Oyler | |
|---|---|
| Shortstop | |
| Born: August 4, 1938 Indianapolis, Indiana |
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| Died: January 26, 1981 (aged 42) Seattle, Washington |
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| Batted: Right | Threw: Right |
| MLB debut | |
| April 18, 1965 for the Detroit Tigers | |
| Last MLB appearance | |
| October 1, 1970 for the California Angels | |
| Career statistics | |
| Batting average | .175 |
| Hits | 221 |
| Sacrifice hits | 29 |
| Teams | |
| Career highlights and awards | |
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Raymond Francis Oyler (August 4, 1938 – January 26, 1981) was an American Major League Baseball shortstop. He played for the Detroit Tigers (1965–1968), Seattle Pilots (1969), and California Angels (1970). He is best remembered as the slick-fielding, no-hit shortstop for the 1968 World Series champion Tigers and as the subject of the endearing "Ray Oyler Fan Club" organized by Seattle radio personality Robert E. Lee Hardwick (of the Pilot's flagship radio station KVI) in Seattle.
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Born in Indianapolis, Indiana, Oyler graduated from Cathedral High School in Indianapolis in 1956 and served in Marine Corps before playing in the major leagues.[1]
Oyler was signed by the Tigers in 1960 as an amateur free agent made his major league debut with Detroit on April 18, 1965.
During his first two seasons, Oyler was a backup shortstop for Dick McAuliffe.
In 1965, Oyler debuted with a .186 average, but he did hit five home runs and six doubles in 82 games. More importantly, he proved himself to be a smooth-fielding shortstop.
In 1966, Oyler's average dropped to .171 in 71 games, and the glimmer of power he displayed in 1965 disappeared, as Oyler hit only one home run in 210 at bats.
In 1967, the Tigers moved Dick McAuliffe from shortstop to second base, opening a spot for Oyler as the Tigers' starting shortstop. Oyler played a career-high 147 games at shortstop in 1967 and had career-highs with 185 putouts, 374 assists, and 61 double plays. As an every day player in 1967, Oyler also increased his batting average to .207—the only year in which he hit above .200. He was also No. 3 in the American League with 15 sacrifice hits in 1967—the only leaderboard appearance in Oyler's career.
In 1968, Oyler's bat cooled to its lowest point yet. In 111 games, Oyler managed only 29 hits (21 of them singles) for a career-low batting average of .135. However, his glove remained valuable as he had a .977 fielding percentage (15 points above the league average for shortstops)
When Oyler, always a light hitter, famously went "0 for August," Smith made one of the boldest and most talked-about managerial moves in baseball history, moving outfielder Mickey Stanley to the shortstop position for the last 9 games of the regular season and for all 7 games of the 1968 World Series. Oyler's batting average had dropped to an abysmal .135, and Smith had four quality outfielders in Willie Horton, Jim Northrup, Al Kaline, and Mickey Stanley. Stanley had not played the shortstop position before the 1968 season, but was a talented athlete with a good glove. Though Stanley made 2 errors in the 1968 World Series, neither error led to a run being scored.
Oyler did not have an official at bat in the 1968 World Series, but he did appear in all four Detroit victories as a defensive replacement and had a sacrifice bunt.[2]
In its "The End of the Century" series, ESPN rated Mayo Smith's decision to move Stanley to shortstop for the 1968 World Series as one of the 10 greatest coaching decisions of the century.[3] (The decision to move Babe Ruth from pitcher to the outfield ranks 3 notches higher.)
Stanley returned to play 59 games at shortstop the next year, while Oyler was allowed to be drafted by the expansion Seattle Pilots.
Oyler was left unprotected in the expansion draft after the 1968 season and was the third player drafted by the Seattle Pilots. Before the Pilots even played their first game in 1969, Seattle radio disc jockey Robert E. Lee "Bob" Hardwick looked over the list of players drafted by the Pilots, discovered Oyler's batting average and created the "Ray Oyler Fan Club," initially as a radio bit on his radio show. (Fred Cavinder, "More Amazing Tales from Indiana" (Indiana Univ. Press 2003) p. 188)[4]
Grabbing onto the popularity of the late-60s Laugh-In TV show's "Sock it to Me" catchphrase, the fan club was called the Ray Oyler "S.O.C. I.T. T.O. M.E. .300" Club, meaning "Slugger Oyler Can, In Time, Top Our Manager's Estimate" and hit .300. Some 15,000 baseball-starved fans signed up,[5] and former Pilots' relief pitcher, Jack Aker recalled that the Ray Oyler Fan Club was out in great number at Sicks Stadium on the Pilots' Opening Day. The fan club even gave Oyler a car to use and an apartment too.[6] When Oyler came to bat for the first time on Opening Day, the Oyler Fan Club went wild. "He got cheers, horns blew, confetti filled the air in his first time at bat." (Fred Cavinder, "More Amazing Tales from Indiana" p. 188) Oyler rewarded his fan club by hitting a game-winning home run in the bottom of the ninth inning to win the game.
In April 1969, Jim Campanis of the Kansas City Royals punched Oyler during a game. The Ray Oyler Fan Club sent a telegram to Royals general manager Cedric Tallis, protesting Campanis' actions and saying: "Please do not misinterpret our motto 'Sock it to Ray Oyler,' as this is an expression of encouragement." (Fred Cavinder, "More Amazing Tales from Indiana" p. 188) The Oyler Fan Club also developed and sang songs, such as "Hey Ray Oyler yer Bat's Too Small." [7] Former fan club members still boast that Oyler holds the all-time Pilots records for assists, putouts, and home runs by a shortstop. (The Pilots played only one year, and Oyler was their shortstop.)
In Ball Four, Seattle teammate Jim Bouton wrote that Oyler's nickname was "Oil Can Harry" because "he always looks as though he had just changed a set of rings."
Oyler loved Seattle, hitting seven home runs for the Pilots and increased his batting average by 30 points to .165, just 10 points below his lifetime average.
In December, 1969, Oyler was traded to the Oakland A's with pitcher Diego Segui for infielder Ted Kubiak and pitcher George Lauzerique. Oyler was sold by Oakland in April, 1970 and played his final 24 games with the California Angels, managing a perfect fielding percentage but only a .083 average at the plate. After his major league career ended, Oyler was a player-coach for the Hawaii Islanders and Salt Lake City teams of the Pacific Coast League before retiring in 1973.[8]
After Oyler retired from baseball, he settled in the Seattle area, working for the Safeway supermarket chain,[8][9] managing a bowling alley in Bellevue, Washington and working at Boeing. ("Seattle Pilots ... Where are they now?" The Seattle Times, July 9, 2006)[10] Oyler played slowpitch softball in Seattle from 1973-1980[11] and also occasionally pitched batting practice for the Tigers when they were in Seattle playing the Mariners.[12] He suffered a heart attack at his Redmond, Washington home on January 26, 1981, and died at the age of 42. He is buried in an unmarked grave at Sunset Hills Memorial Park, Bellevue, Washington (Gethsemane Section, Grave 85).
In a May 2007 article titled "Baseball, Partying, and Alcohol Abuse," Oyler's former Detroit roommate, Denny McLain claimed that Oyler was "an alcoholic" who "died prematurely."[13] One of the authoritative histories of the team also reports that many of the 1968 Tigers drank "a lot," that Oyler was "later in AA" and that "alcohol may have adversely affected (Oyler's) career." (Patrick Harrigan, "The Detroit Tigers: Club and Community 1945-1995" (Univ. Toronto Press 1997), p. 145.)
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