George Fair

{{Short description|American baseball player (1856–1939)}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2024}}

{{Infobox baseball biography

|name=George Fair

|image=

|position=Second Baseman

|bats=Unknown

|throws=Unknown

|birth_date={{birth date|1856|1|13}}

|birth_place=Boston, Massachusetts

|death_date={{death date and age|1939|2|12|1856|1|13}}

|death_place=Roslindale, Massachusetts

|debutleague = MLB

|debutdate=July 29

|debutyear=1876

|debutteam=New York Mutuals

|finalleague = MLB

|finaldate=July 29

|finalyear=1876

|finalteam=New York Mutuals

|statleague = MLB

|stat1label=Games played

|stat1value=1

|stat2label=Runs scored

|stat2value=0

|stat3label=Hits

|stat3value=0

|stat4label=Batting average

|stat4value=.000

|teams=

• New York Mutuals ({{by|1876}})

}}

George T. Fair (January 13, 1856 – February 12, 1939) was a Major League Baseball second baseman who played one game for the New York Mutuals in {{by|1876}}. The twenty-year-old Fair failed to get a hit in four at-bats in his lone big-league contest on July 29,According to a story in the Chicago Tribune, "Thayer" (described as being "of the Live Oaks club", presumably the team that played in Lynn, Massachusetts) batted sixth and recorded two putouts, four assists and an error in the field. then was dropped by the club. Subsequently, he played for the Rhode Islands of the New England League, making his last professional baseball appearance in {{by|1877}}.{{cite web |title=George Fair Career Stats, Leagues, Statistics, & History |url=https://www.baseball-reference.com/register/player.fcgi?id=fair--001geo |website=Baseball-Reference.com |access-date=27 June 2021 |language=en}} Born in Boston, Fair died in Roslindale, Massachusetts in 1939 at the age of 83.{{cite web |title=George Fair Stats |url=https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/f/fairge01.shtml |website=Baseball-Reference.com |access-date=27 June 2021 |language=en}}{{cite web |title=George Fair |url=https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/F/Pfairg101.htm |website=www.retrosheet.org |access-date=27 June 2021 |language=en}} At the time of his death, Fair was the last living member of the Mutuals National League franchise, which was expelled from the NL after the 1876 season.

The first baseball encyclopedia, Hy Turkin and S. C. Thompson's Complete Encyclopedia of Baseball (first published in 1951), did not list Fair. Instead, his brief accomplishments were credited to Edward L. Thayer; {{cite book |title=The Official Encyclopedia of Baseball |first1=Hy |last1=Turkin |author-link1=Hy Turkin |first2=S. C. |last2=Thompson |author-link2=S. C. Thompson |publisher=A. S. Barnes & Company |location=New York City |date=1956 |LCCN=56-5560}} coincidentally, a player named Edward Thayer played in the minor leagues from {{by|1885}} to {{by|1892}}.{{cite web |title=Edward Thayer Independent & Minor Leagues Statistics & History |url=https://www.baseball-reference.com/register/player.fcgi?id=thayer001edw |website=Baseball-Reference.com |access-date=27 June 2021 |language=en}} Later references rectified this error, and Fair was given his rightful place in baseball history. (Whoever came up with Fair's pseudonym may have been thinking of the real Edward Thayer, or perhaps Ernest Thayer, author of the famous baseball poem Casey at the Bat.)