Bill Fischer pitched in the Majors for 9 seasons. (1956-1964) He toed the hill for the White Sox, Tigers, Senators, A’s, and the Twins, racking up a career 45-58 record with a 4.34 ERA. Not the stuff of legends.
In 1962 while pitching for the Kansas City A’s, Fischer put together a streak of pitching control excellence that may never be matched. On August 3rd Fischer walked Bubba Phillips of the Cleveland Indians to lead off the game. A game he went on to lose 1-0, dropping his record to 2-3 on the season.
Including that game and his next 11 appearances Bill Fischer went 84 1/3 innings without walking a batter, the Major League record. After walking Bubba Phillips in the 1st inning on 8/3/1962, Fischer amazingly issued his next walk on 9/30/1962, in the 5th inning against the Tigers, to, you guessed it, Bubba Morton. And oh yeah he won just twice during that span, finishing the season with a 4-12 record. “Oh those bases on balls.”
Bubba Morton is, of course, now a member of the Reservoir Dogs franchise in the GAPL. I’m happy to have him.