Article:Baseball Notebook: Around the Bases April 15th

Players From the Past: Ferris Fain

One of the readers of these articles suggested I write about Ferris Fain the most anonymous two time batting champion.

Ferris Fain March 29, 1921 - October 18, 2001

Born in San Antonio, Texas Died in Georgetown, California

Major League Debut: April 15, 1947 Final Game: September 24, 1955

In 1951 Ferris Fain won the AL batting title with a .344 average playing for the Philadelphia Athletics. In 1952 he again won the AL batting title with a .327 average. He broke his hand in a brawl in 1952 but still won the batting title. In 1953 his average dipped to .256 which was a 71 point drop. He also broke his hand again in 1953 while in another bar fight.

In his 9 year career he walked 904 times while striking out only 261 times. In 1954 he hit .302 the highest average he attained after the two batting title seasons. He was voted to AL All Star team five times with the first three times as an Athletics player and the last two as a White Sox player.

He had an OBP of over .400 every year except 1954 when it was .399. Fain was not a good fielder and made 22 errors in two different seasons at first base. He hit only 48 home runs and drove in 570 runs while hitting .290 for his career.

His father Oscar Fain was a jockey whose horse came in second in the 1912 Kentucky Derby. Fain had to place paper inside his shoes to hide the holes as a youngster.

In 1985 he was placed under house arrest for four months for growing marijuana but not learning his lesson was arrested again in 1988 for growing 400 marijuana plants and was sentenced to 18 months in prison.

Two of his former Athletics teammates remembered Fain as having problems. Gus Zernial said Fain always wanted to fight someone and Eddie Joost said that Fain was his own worst enemy. Fain may have played only nine seasons but he will best remembered for his two AL batting titles and his proclivity for drawing walks and his .424 lifetime on base percentage.