This entry will not be the last that depicts a player from the Amazin' Mets of the '60s. In 1965, Jack Fisher didn't just reach 20 losses,he blew past the mark with an 8-24 W/L record. How did he do it? First, he had remarkable durabilility. He started 36 games and had 10 CG. In addition, he was a reliever in 7 additional games. His WHIP wasn't too bad (1.26) and he had a 3.89 ERA (89 ERA+). There have been pitchers with much worse stats who have not lost so many games. How did he end up with a league-leading 24 losses and 111 earned runs allowed?Fisher was not an overpowering pitcher, averaging 4.1 K/9 in 1965 and 4.9 K/9 for his career. I can't give credence to his stuff as a pitcher. However, in 1965, with the poor run support of the newly minted Mets and strangely, two losses in relief, Fisher managed to tie for the most losses in a season since 1935.
He had 9 starts in which he went 8 innings or more and allowed 3 runs or less and got the loss. This included allowing 3 runs in 13 innings in the season finale and .....getting the loss.
Unfortunately, the other feats that Fisher are recognized for are allowing Roger Maris's 60th HR in 1961, allowing Ted William's last HR in his last AB in 1960, and giving up the first HR in Shea Stadium history to Willie Stargell in 1964. The strange part is he really didn't allow many HRs for the context of the times over the course of his career.
Somehow, they just kept scoring more than his team could.
1 comment:
In 1965, Fisher was probably the best pitcher the Mets had, so they had to keep running him out there.
24 losses was most likely due to lack of run support or poor fielding, more than Fisher's performance.
Post a Comment