Carl Fischer

Charles William Fischer

• Bats Right, Throws Left
• Height 6' 0", Weight 180 lb.
• High School Medina (NY) High School
• Debut July 19, 1930
• Final Game July 14, 1937
• Born November 5, 1905 in Medina, NY USA
• Died December 10, 1963 in Medina, NY USA

BR page

Biographical Information

Lefthander Carl Fischer was signed by the Washington Senators as an amateur free agent in 1930 and spent his first season in pro ball with the Cambridge Canners of the Eastern Shore League. Carl went 7-5 while pitching 96 innings and appearing in 17 games. He would spend six more years in the minors before getting a shot at the big league hitters. Carl had four double-digit winning seasons in this six-year run with his best years coming in 1926 (when he went 11-3 with a 3.33 ERA for the Scranton Miners and the Manchester Blue Sox in a split season) and then went 1929 (18-13 with a 3.74 ERA while pitching 248 innings for the Newark Bears of the International League).

Carl was 9-11 with Newark in 1930 when the Senators called him to Griffith Stadium and he made his debut in the show on July 29th, for his first look at major league hitters. He only appeared in eight games this season, pitching just 33 innings, and went 1-1 with a 4.86 ERA. The Senators finished second in the American League, eight games back of the Philadelphia Athletics. Carl was back with the Senators in 1931 and had a very good year, going 13-9 while pitching 191 innings but his team finished third, sixteen games back of the dynastic Athletics that season.

Fischer was back with the Senators in 1932 and got off to a decent start, going 3-2 in 50 innings. He then was traded to the St. Louis Browns for Dick Coffman on June 9th. The trade evidently did not set well with Carl and he went 3-7 with a 5.57 for the Browns. That totaled him out at 6-9 with a 5.36 ERA in 147 innings for the season. Carl was sent back to the Senators by the Browns on December 13th for Dick Coffman, the same player he was traded for in the first place. On the very next day, December 14th, the Senators traded Carl along with Firpo Marberry to the Detroit Tigers for Earl Whitehill.

Fischer spent until May 12, 1935 with the Briggs Stadium club, winning 22 times and losing 26, having an average 4.70 ERA and appearing in 82 games, while pitching 390 innings. The Tigers then put him on a train to Comiskey Park and the Chicago White Sox. Carl finished out the 1935 season with the White Sox at 5-5 with a 6.19 ERA. He spent 1936 back in the minors with St. Paul, Kansas City and Buffalo. Carl must not have looked too bad as on September 9th, the Cleveland Indians purchased him from the Buffalo club. Carl lost his first decision with the Indians on May 8, 1937 he was selected off waivers from Cleveland by his old team, the Washington Senators. He quickly went to 4-5 with a 4.38 ERA for the Senators. On July 21st of that same year, Carl was purchased by the Baltimore Orioles of the International League and his seven-year tour of the big leagues was over. Fischer finished in the show with a 46-50 record and a 4.63 ERA while pitching 823 innings.

Fischer's major league career was over but his pitching surely wasn't... He continued toiling on the hill for eleven more seasons - five in the International League, with Baltimore and Toronto, where he went 38-57 (including a nightmarish 1941 year when he went 0-17 for Toronto) and five years in the Pacific Coast League, with Seattle and Portland, going 59-56. The southpaw finished off his 18-year minor league run as player-manager of the Selma Cloverleafs of the class B Southeastern League with a 7-5 pitching record as the team finished seventh in the league with a 64-76 record, 13 1/2 games back. Boom-Boom Beck replaced Fischer on May 12.

Carl was 41 years old when he left the game. During a span that covered parts of three decades (1925-1947), he had built a 184-178 minor league record with a 3.26 ERA while pitching 2,934 innings. After baseball, Carl returned to his native home in Medina, NY, where he lived and worked until his death on December 10, 1963 at the age of 58.

Further Reading

• Jeff Bower: "Carl Fischer", in Scott Ferkovich, ed.: Detroit the Unconquerable: the 1935 World Champion Tigers, SABR, Phoenix, AZ, 2014, pp. 49-52. ISBN 978-1-933599-78-6

Related Sites

• Carl Fischer at the SABR Bio Project
• BR Minors page