Harry Fisher won one game in the big leagues of baseball, pitching for the Pittsburgh Pirates in the summer of 1952. That makes him an asterisk in sports history. But of course he was much more than that, and a few years ago, I wrote about Harry’s baseball career in an e-book for The Toronto Star. 

Contender: Triumph, Tragedy and Canadian Baseball Player Harry Fisher went MIA from the Star’s e-book website in late 2020. But after a reader of my website alerted me to the fact, the Star was kind enough to let me re-issue Harry’s story—complete with a lovely new—I’m launching it today. Harry’s career was a mid-century adventure, and I thought it was a shame to let the record die again.  

Harry Fisher was a farm kid from southwestern Ontario who had a long career in the minor leagues, playing for teams like the New Orleans Pelicans and the Hollywood Stars of the Pacific Coast League, and heading off to pre-revolutionary Cuba for winter league play.

He was also a member of our family, a cousin of my husband’s grandfather. Since I love social history, I sat down with some of the family elders a few years ago and recorded their memories of Harry’s life and career. Writing his story also gave me an excuse to call up some of Harry’s old teammates. I think I did one of the last interviews with the catcher and broadcaster Joe Garagiola, who was a great raconteur. 

“To win one game in the major leagues, that’s an accomplishment,” Garagiola told me. “How many people can say they did that? Harry Fisher was a big, good-looking kid. I thought he was a good hitter, but they decided to make him a pitcher. He was one of the hot prospects. But things don’t always turn out the way you plan.”

I also spoke to Vernon “Deacon” Law, who knew Harry on the Pirates. A far more accomplished pitcher, Law got the win in two World Series games in 1960 and took home a Cy Young Award. (I spoke to Law again before the 2013 World Series, when he was rooting for the Boston Red Sox—who ended up winning.)

Then there’s Chuck Stevens, who as the first player to get a hit off Satchel Paige in the bigs after Paige’s long career in the Negro Leagues. I also caught up with him again shortly before the 2013 World Series. Stevens was then the 13th oldest veteran of Major League Baseball. He became the oldest before he died in 2018 shortly before his 100th birthday.

Harry was only one of the ballplayers in the Fisher family. The other two who enjoyed successful careers were his sisters Maude and May. The two were twins who played on women’s softball teams, and Maude McDonald enjoyed five years as a league champion when she played for the Florence Chicks. Yes, that was their name, and before Maude passed away, I wrote a story about her here.

I also wrote a story about another relative who disputes details about Harry’s life and death that the rest of the family agrees on. Call it an alternate history. Contrast and compare.

The wonderful new cover was designed by Michel Vrana, and I updated a couple of things in the re-issue without interrupting the flow by noting who has left us—although I’ll note that my mother-in-law, Mary Knox, who is quoted in the story, recently survived a bout of COVID at age 99.

You can download Contender here. Enjoy.