Chick Fraser

{{Infobox baseball biography

|name=Chick Fraser

|image=Chick Fraser.jpg

|position=Pitcher

|birth_date={{Birth date|1873|8|26}}

|birth_place=Chicago, Illinois, U.S.

|death_date={{death date and age|1940|5|8|1873|8|26}}

|death_place=Wendell, Idaho, U.S.

|bats=Right

|throws=Right

|debutleague = MLB

|debutdate=April 19

|debutyear=1896

|debutteam=Louisville Colonels

|finalleague = MLB

|finaldate=May 3

|finalyear=1909

|finalteam=Chicago Cubs

|statleague = MLB

|stat1label=Win–loss record

|stat1value=175–212

|stat2label=Earned run average

|stat2value=3.67

|stat3label=Strikeouts

|stat3value=1,098

|teams=

Louisville Colonels ({{mlby|1896}}–{{mlby|1898}})
Cleveland Spiders ({{mlby|1898}})
Philadelphia Phillies ({{mlby|1899}}–{{mlby|1900}})
Philadelphia Athletics ({{mlby|1901}})
Philadelphia Phillies ({{mlby|1902}}–{{mlby|1904}})
Boston Beaneaters ({{mlby|1905}})
Cincinnati Reds ({{mlby|1906}})
Chicago Cubs ({{mlby|1907}}–{{mlby|1909}})

|highlights=

World Series champion ({{wsy|1908}})
Pitched a no-hitter on September 18, 1903

}}

Charles Carrolton Fraser (August 26, 1873 – May 8, 1940) was a Major League Baseball right-handed pitcher. He pitched for numerous teams between 1896 and 1909. He ranks second all time among major-league pitchers in the category of hit batsmen, with 219. He lost 20 games five times, but he threw a no-hitter in 1903 and played on World Series championship teams for two years.

Career

Fraser made his major-league debut with the Louisville Colonels on April 19, 1896. He often struggled with control. In his rookie season, he finished with a 12–27 record and he led the league in both bases on balls and wild pitches. In 1897, he went 15–19 and led the league in wild pitches again. He was sold to the Cleveland Spiders late in the 1898 season. He pitched for the Philadelphia Phillies for two seasons and then went to the Philadelphia Athletics for the 1901 season where he set the modern day record for most hit batsmen in a season.{{cite web |title=Chick Fraser Stats |publisher=sports-reference.com |url=https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/f/frasech01.shtml |website=baseball-reference.com |access-date=December 31, 2017 |language=en}}{{cite magazine |last1=Baccellieri |first1=Emma |title=Austin Adams Is Hitting Upon Some Weird, Distressing History |url=https://www.si.com/mlb/2021/09/15/austin-adams-hbp-the-opener |access-date=20 October 2021 |magazine=Sports Illustrated |date=September 15, 2021}}

While a member of the Philadelphia Phillies for a second time between 1902 and 1904, Fraser threw a no-hitter on September 18, 1903. The Phillies committed four errors in that game, but they beat the Chicago Cubs 10–0.{{cite news |author= |date= September 19, 1903|title=Chick Pitches One of the Greatest Games of the Season for the Phillies Against Colts |url= |work=Philadelphia Inquirer|location=Philadelphia, Pennsylvania|page=10}}{{cite news |last1=Stark |first1=Jayson |title=Not the no-hitter Hawkins had dreamed of |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/176119392/ |newspaper=The Philadelphia Inquirer |date=July 3, 1990 |page=55}} Fraser was a member of the 1907 and 1908 Chicago Cubs teams that won the World Series.

He appeared in his final game on May 3, 1909. In an era in which complete games were the rule, Fraser had large numbers of decisions in each season. He lost 20 or more games five times in the major leagues, but in each of those seasons there were at least two major-league pitchers with more losses. Since Fraser's retirement, he has been in second place among all major-league pitchers in hit batsmen.

Personal life

Before the 1897 season, Fraser married Mina Gray; she was the daughter of a successful glassmaker in Chicago. Mina Gray's sister, Annette Gray, had been a bridesmaid in the wedding. Baseball player and manager Fred Clarke fell in love with Annette Gray and they later married.{{cite book |last1=Waldo |first1=Ronald T. |title=Fred Clarke: A Biography of the Baseball Hall of Fame Player-Manager |date=2010 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=9780786460168 |pages=29–30 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aLIW4IFait4C&pg=PA29 |language=en}}{{cite web |url=https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/chick-fraser/ |title=Chick Fraser |first1=Mike |last1=Lynch |website=sabr.org |publisher=Society for American Baseball Research |access-date=October 16, 2019}} Mina Gray died in 1937.

Later life

Late in his life, Fraser ran an alfalfa farm, was a minor-league manager, and scouted for the Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Yankees. Fraser died in 1940 and Annette was at his bedside at the time. He had been suffering from an infection that had required the amputation of one of his legs.{{cite web |title=Fraser's obit in The Sporting News |url=http://www.thedeadballera.com/Obits/Obits_F/Fraser.Chick.Obit.html |website=TheDeadballEra.com |access-date=December 31, 2017}}{{cite news |title=Fraser Seriously Ill After Amputation |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=wCAbAAAAIBAJ&sjid=U0wEAAAAIBAJ&pg=6444%2C4655731 |access-date=October 16, 2019 |newspaper=The Pittsburgh Press |date=May 3, 1940 |page=46}}