Terry Fox (baseball)

Terrence Edward Fox (born July 31, 1935) is an American former right-handed Major League Baseball relief pitcher/closer who played seven MLB seasons from 1960 to 1966 for the Milwaukee Braves, Detroit Tigers and Philadelphia Phillies.

For other uses, see Terry Fox (disambiguation).
Terry Fox
Pitcher
Born: (1935-07-31) July 31, 1935
Chicago, Illinois
Batted: Right Threw: Right
MLB debut
September 4, 1960, for the Milwaukee Braves
Last MLB appearance
September 25, 1966, for the Philadelphia Phillies
MLB statistics
Win–loss record29–19
Earned run average2.99
Strikeouts185
Saves59
Teams

Fox played at Thornton Township High School in Harvey, Illinois, graduating in 1953. Standing 6 feet (1.8 m) tall and weighing 175 pounds (79 kg), Fox found his way into the Braves organization before the 1956 season. The New Iberia Pelicans (or Indians) of the Evangeline League sent Fox to the Braves in an unknown transaction. 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 inning 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 in 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 Detroit, 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.

In his first two seasons with the Tigers, he led all pitchers on the team with over 20 appearance in ERA each season with marks of 1.41 and 1.71. Also their main closer those two years, he posted save marks of 12 and 16. His 12 put him at fifth most in the league in 1961, while his 16 put him at third most in the league in 1962. 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 Canada geese fly over Tiger Stadium, then steps in a belts the first pitch for his 58th homer of the year.[1]

He again led his team in saves with 11 in 1963, and also posted a respectable 3.59 ERA. He was not the team's leading save-getter in 1964, finishing third on the team with 5 saves. He trailed both Larry Sherry (11) and Fred Gladding (7). His ERA was 3.39.

He was again the team's leading closer in 1965, collecting 10 saves. He also posted a 2.78 ERA, which tied him for second among all relievers who had over 20 appearances on the team.

His career took a total turn-for-the-worse 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 signed by the Phillies. In his final 36 games with them that season, he posted a 4.47 ERA. He ended his big league career on September 25, 1966. 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.

Overall, he went 29–19 in his career with 59 saves and a 2.99 ERA. As a batter, he struck 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.

Baseball-Reference.com says his career statistics are most similar to those of Minnie Rojas and Chuck Taylor.

Fox has lived in New Iberia, Louisiana.

See also
  • Best pitching seasons by a Detroit Tiger

References
  1. "Terry Fox from the Chronology". baseballlibrary.com. Retrieved August 22, 2015.
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