Jack Fournier
| Jack Fournier | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 | |||
| First baseman | |||
|
Born: September 28, 1889 Au Sable, Michigan | |||
|
Died: September 5, 1973 (aged 83) Tacoma, Washington | |||
| |||
| MLB debut | |||
| April 13, 1912, for the Chicago White Sox | |||
| Last MLB appearance | |||
| October 2, 1927, for the Boston Braves | |||
| MLB statistics | |||
| Batting average | .313 | ||
| Home runs | 136 | ||
| Runs batted in | 859 | ||
| Teams | |||
| Career highlights and awards | |||
| |||
John Frank "Jack" Fournier (September 28, 1889 – September 5, 1973) was an American baseball first baseman who played fifteen seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB). He played for the Chicago White Sox, New York Yankees, St. Louis Cardinals, Brooklyn Robins, and Boston Braves from 1912–1918 and 1920–1927. Fournier died on September 5, 1973 at a nursing home in Tacoma, Washington.
Fournier was notorious for having outstanding batting abilities, but subpar fielding abilities.
Career
When purchased by the White Sox from the Boston Red Sox in 1912, Fournier presented Clarence "Pants" Rowland and a half-dozen other managers with the dilemma of what to do with his pure hitting, but poor fielding abilities. Rowland solved that problem in 1916, a year after Fournier had led the AL in slugging, by replacing him at first base with the marginal Jack Ness. Before 1920, a first baseman was one of the key fielding positions because of the constant threat of the bunt; Fournier could not field the bunt with any degree of competence.
Fournier hit .350 for the Yankees in limited duty in 1918 before they passed him off to the Cardinals. After three productive years in St. Louis, Fournier was dealt to Brooklyn on February 15, 1923. Fournier said he would quit the game rather than leave St. Louis, but he eventually ended his holdout and reported to the Dodgers. Fournier had found his spot, among an offensive unit that included Zack Wheat, Milt Stock, and Zack Taylor. He turned in a six-for-six performance on June 29 of that year, hit .351, and made a league-high 21 errors. In 1924, Fournier led the NL with 27 home runs, and in 1925 was second to Rogers Hornsby with 130 RBI.
Fournier hit 136 career home runs in 14 seasons while rapping .313 with a .392 on-base percentage. He also racked up three straight seasons (1923–25) with 20+ home runs, 20+ doubles, a .400 or higher on-base percentage, a .330 plus batting average, and 90+ runs. Bill James ranked him as the 35th best first baseman of all-time.[1]
Post-playing career
Following his playing career, Fournier was the head coach at UCLA from 1934 to 1936. He later scouted for the St. Louis Browns (1938–1942, 1944–1949), Chicago Cubs (1950–1957), Detroit Tigers (1960), and Cincinnati Reds (1961–1962).
See also
- List of Major League Baseball annual home run leaders
- List of Major League Baseball career triples leaders
- List of Major League Baseball single-game hits leaders
References
- ↑ James, Bill. The New Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract, 2001.
External links
- Career statistics and player information from Baseball-Reference, or Baseball-Reference (Minors)