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Robert Roy Fothergill (August 16, 1897 – March 20, 1938), nicknamed "Fats" or "Fatty," was an outfielder in Major League Baseball who played twelve seasons with the Detroit Tigers (1922–1930), Chicago White Sox (1930–1932), and Boston Red Sox (1933). ==Playing career== Born in Massillon, Ohio, Fothergill weighed —standing —and threw and batted right-handed. He first played professional baseball in 1920 with Bloomington. The Tigers then acquired him and sent him to Rochester where he hit .338 in 1921. In 1922, he led the International League with a .383 batting average and was called up to the big leagues. (David Porter, "Biographical Dictionary of American Sports:A-F," p. 494) Despite being a consistent .300 hitter from 1922 to 1925, Fothergill was unable to win a starting spot in a star-studded Tigers outfield that featured Ty Cobb, Harry Heilmann, Bobby Veach, and later Heinie Manush. It was not until 1926 that Fothergill won a starting spot in the outfield, as Cobb's defensive play forced him to withdraw from his spot in center field. Between 1926 and 1929, he was one of the most feared hitters in baseball. In 1926, he hit for a batting average of .367, 3rd highest in the American League behind Babe Ruth and Harry Heilmann. He also had a .421 on-base percentage (7th best in the AL) and hit for the cycle on September 26, 1926.〔(Bob Fothergill | The Baseball Page ) at www.thebaseballpage.com〕 He finished No. 12 in the American League Most Valuable Player voting for 1926. In , Fothergill had his best overall season, as he batted .359 (4th in the AL), drove in 114 RBIs (5th in the AL), had a .516 slugging percentage (7th in the AL), and scored 93 runs (7th in the AL). He was once again among the league leaders in batting with a .354 average in 1929 (6th in the AL). For his career, Fothergill had a .325 batting average—the 40th best in major league history. He hit over .300 in 9 of his 12 major league seasons, including 5 seasons hitting over .340. He also hit 36 home runs, knocked in 582 RBIs, and had 1,064 hits. During the latter half of his career, Fothergill became an accomplished pinch hitter. He is the only big leaguer to garner more than 200 pinch hits with a career batting average over .300. After Cobb's rookie season, Fothergill was the only batter to ever pinch-hit for Cobb. Fothergill holds the Detroit Tigers team record for most hits in a season as a pinch-hitter with 19 in 1929. Fothergill was fearless as a pinch-hitter, even when he was injured. Teammate Ed Wells tells of a time when Cobb was looking for pinch-hitter in the 9th inning with men on base. Cobb looked down the bench and asked, "Who here can hit?" Fothergill had a badly sprained and taped ankle, but he volunteered, "I'll try." Cobb said, "My gosh, you can hardly walk." Cobb sent him in, and Fothergill hit a line drive into the right-field corner that should have been a double, but Fothergill fell about two-thirds of the way to first base. "He crawled the rest of the way and got a single. Just barely.... But that's the way we played ball back there and then." (Richard Bak, "''Cobb Would Have Caught It: The Golden Age of Baseball in Detroit''" (Wayne State 1993))〔(Cobb Would Have Caught It / Richard Bak | BaseballLibrary.com ) at www.baseballlibrary.com〕 He finished his major league career playing for the Chicago White Sox (1930–1932) and Boston Red Sox (1933). He hit .344 in 28 games for the Red Sox, mostly as a pinch-hitter. He played his last major league game on July 5, 1933, was optioned to the Minneapolis Millers, and retired at the end of the 1933 season. (David Porter, "Biographical Dictionary of American Sports:A-F," p. 494. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Bob Fothergill」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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