Terry Fox

Terrence Edward Fox

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 0", Weight 175 lb.

• Debut September 4, 1960
• Final Game September 25, 1966
• Born July 31, 1935 in Chicago, IL USA

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Biographical Information

Terry Fox is a former relief pitcher who played seven seasons in the majors from 1960 to 1966 and also spent seven years in the minor leagues. He played for the Milwaukee Braves, Detroit Tigers and Philadelphia Phillies. Though Fox never started a major league game, he finished his career with an impressive 2.99 ERA and a .604 winning percentage (highly unusual for a reliever).

1954-1955: New Iberia

Fox started his career in 1954 with the New Iberia Pelicans of the Evangeline League. He was 13-4 with a 3.39 ERA that year and followed with a 21-12, 2.95 campaign. He tied Jack M. Fuller for the league lead in wins and was in the top 10 in ERA. After the season, he was acquired by the Braves.

1956-1960: Braves minor leaguer

He had a rough first year in the Braves organization, going 5-14 at three stops - he was 1-4 with a 4.42 ERA for the Topeka Hawks, 4-8 with a 4.85 ERA for the Atlanta Crackers and 0-2 with a 6.00 ERA as a member of the Jacksonville Braves.

With the 1957 Austin Senators, Terry had a 11-14, 3.49 record. He was part of a three-way tie (with Howie Nunn and Gaylord Lemish) for the Texas League lead with five shutouts but was not near the league lead in anything else.

Fox was better with Austin in 1958 (9-6, 2.62) but struggled with Atlanta (2-4, 4.67). He had a fine year for the 1959 Sacramento Solons, going 9-3 with a 2.70 ERA. Returning to Sacramento, he was 12-9 with a 3.70 ERA. His minor league record to this point was 82-66.

1960: Big league debut and trade

A September call-up, he made his big league debut for the Braves on September 4, 1960 at the age of 25 and wearing the number 36, pitching two-thirds of an innings against the Cincinnati Reds. He gave up one hit and walked a batter, but came away otherwise unscathed. He ended up pitching in a total of 5 games for the Braves]]n his rookie season, posting a 4.32 ERA.

He was traded along with Dick Brown, Bill Bruton and Chuck Cottier from the Braves to the Tigers for Frank Bolling and Neil Chrisley. The Tigers would end up getting the better of the deal - although Cottier didn't amount to much with the Braves, Brown and Bruton both had the best seasons of their careers when it came to home run output, but the real gem of the trade was Fox himself.

1961-1965: Detroit fireman

In his first two seasons with the Tigers in 1961 and 1962, he led all pitchers on the team (with over 20 appearances) in ERA with marks of 1.41 and 1.71. Also their main closer (though the role as defined in modern terms did not yet exist - clubs used their top reliever in the most important situations, not only to pitch the 9th inning when they had a lead) those two years, he posted marks of 12 and 16 saves - which were a lot back in the day. His 12 saves put him at fifth most in the 1961 AL, while his 16 put him at 3rd most in the 1962 AL. One interesting note about his 1961 season is that he surrendered Roger Maris' 58th home run of that year. Here is the tale, according to BaseballLibrary.com:

"September 17, 1961: In Detroit, Roger Maris triples off Terry Fox in the 7th to put the Yanks ahead, Detroit ties it and, then in the 12th, Maris faces Fox again with Tony Kubek on 2B. Maris steps out of the box to watch a long skein of Canadian geese fly over Tiger Stadium, then steps in a belts the first pitch for his 58th homer of the year."

His 1963 season was not nearly as stellar, but still worth noting - he again led his team in saves with 11, and also posted a respectable 3.59 ERA. He was not the team's leading save-getter in 1964. In fact, he was third on the team, with 5 saves. He trailed both Larry Sherry (11) and Fred Gladding (7). His ERA was 3.39. Injured for part of the year, he had a rehab stint with the Knoxville Smokies, going 1-1 with a 2.70 ERA.

He was again the team's leading closer in 1965, collecting 10 saves. He also posted a nice 2.78 ERA, which tied him for second among all relievers who had over 20 appearances on the team. During his first five years in Detroit, his ERA+ was at least 104 each year, topping 240 twice.

1966-1967: Decline

His career took a total turn for the worst in 1966. He started the season off with the Tigers, but after posting a 6.30 ERA in the first four games of the season, he parted from them after being purchased by the Phillies. In his final 36 games with the Phillies that season, he posted a 4.47 ERA. In an era of low offense, his ERA+ was a poor 81. He ended his big league career on September 25th. While with the Tigers, he wore number 18. In his short time with the Phillies, he wore 34 and 19. While with the Phillies, he earned $19,000.

Fox signed on with the 1967 San Diego Padres and went 3-0 with a 5.23 ERA. In 28 relief appearances, he gave up 57 hits in 43 innings. It was not a good performance in that low-scoring era - San Diego's team ERA was 2.90.

Career statistics

Overall, he went 29-19 in his major league career with 59 saves and a solid 2.99 ERA and an impressive 125 ERA+. He was a horrible batter, striking out in 40 of his 65 career at-bats (3 of his 8 career hits were for extra-bases, though). He committed 7 errors in his career for a .942 fielding percentage.

He was 86-67 overall in the minors, giving him a 115-86 record in professional baseball.

As of early 2007, the similarity scores method says his career statistics are most similar to those of Minnie Rojas and Chuck Taylor.

At last check, Fox lived in New Iberia, LA.

Sources include 1968 Baseball Guide, main B-R page, Pat Doyle's Professional Baseball Player Database