Larkin, Fisher and Sisler on First College Hall Ballot
4/13/2006 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
LUBBOCK, Texas -- Two-time University of Michigan All-America shortstop Barry Larkin, legendary Wolverine baseball coach Ray Fisher, and Hall of Famer George Sisler, who played at Michigan from 1913-15, have been nominated for the inaugural College Baseball Hall of Fame.
They are three of 46 former players and coaches nominated with the induction of the first class to be held July 4 in Lubbock, Texas. The site of the Hall museum will be part of the new baseball complex at Texas Tech scheduled to open before the 2008 season. Larkin is being considered as a recent former player, while both Fisher and Sisler are being considered in the pre-1947 category.
Larkin, who lettered as a Wolverine from 1983-85, was a two-time All-America shortstop and the first player ever to be named Big Ten Player of the Year twice (1984 and 1985). Larkin had a .361 career batting average while playing on a pair of Big Ten championship teams and played in the College World Series in 1983 (third-place finish) and 1984. He was a member of the 1985 team that holds the U-M record for wins in a season (55), and he set a school record with 66 RBI that year. Larkin was taken with the fourth pick of the first round, the highest draft of any Wolverine in baseball, by Cincinnati following the 1985 season and had a 19-year Major League career with the Reds.
Fisher, who was suggested for the Michigan coaching position by former Wolverine baseball coach Branch Rickey, coached 38 seasons with an all-time record of 636-295-8 for a .682 winning percentage. A former Major League pitcher, Fisher was national coach of the year in 1953 when his Wolverine squad won the national championship at the College World Series. Fisher's teams won or shared 15 Big Ten titles, and in his 38 years he had just two losing seasons and played .600 baseball in 32 of the 38 years.
Sisler hit .404 and was 13-3 as a pitcher with more than 200 strikeouts in his Wolverine career as legend has it. As a freshman he pitched a one-hitter against the Michigan varsity and its future Hall of Fame coach Branch Rickey. He played 15 years in the Major Leagues with a .340 average and in 1939 was elected to the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y.
Players become eligible five years after their final college season. They must have completed at least one year of competition at a four-year school and been an All-American or made an all-league team.
Coaches become eligible after they end their college careers but cannot be active as coaches at the pro level. They must also have won at least 300 games or 65 percent of their games.
College Baseball Foundation Site
Contact: Jim Schneider (734) 763-4423
