JIM FULLER Born: Bethesda, Maryland 11/28/1950 Currently resides: Houston, Texas Married, with two children Works: Business development for a commercial contractor Major Leagues: Baltimore 1973-74, Houston 1977 ML Totals: 107 Games, .194 11 Home Runs, 41 RBI ------------------------------------------ Fuller with Rochester Red Wings: 1972-76 1973 International League Most Valuable Player 1973 International League Home Run Champion (39) Regular Season Totals: 409 games/.234/266 RBI 91 homers (every 15.5 AB), 515 strikeouts (every 2.7 AB) Wings Record '72-'76 : 416-296 .584 2 Division Crowns, 2 Pennants, 1 Governor's Cup Fuller Red Wings Record: 197 strikeouts in 1973 Inducted into the Rochester Red Wings Hall of Fame, 1994 Height: 6'3" Weight: 215 Bats/Throws: R / R Red Wings Bat Specs: 36 inches/ 34 ounces ------------------------------------------ Fuller Homers Feats and Facts - Hit 91 Homers for the Rochester Red Wings (tied for 3rd place, All-Time Wings Homers List) - Hit a homer every 15.5 at bats - 4/20/72 Homered in his first Silver Stadium game, Wings '72 home opener - Homered off future big league pitching notables Bruce Kison, Scott McGregor, Lynn McGlothen, Gene Garber, Doug Bair, Craig Swan, Joe Niekro - 65 pitchers gave up the 91 homers, 51 of the 65 pitchers played in the majors - Hit two homers in a game 9 times for Rochester - 450-foot homer in Charleston, longest in stadium history - 5/30/73 Silver Stadium, over the left field light towers.. the ball hit on the high chain link fence at the edge of Bastian Street. General Manager Carl Steinfeldt measured the blast and announced that the ball traveled 480 feet on the fly. - 6/30/73 Silver Stadium, center field, landed on the roof of the warehouse beyond the fence, bounced off and rolled about 700 feet from home plate - 7/1/73 MacArthur Stadium, Syracuse, became 3rd player to clear center field wall, at 434 feet - 6/7/76 Hit three homers in a game at Silver Stadium, including a grand slam.. last homer went over center field's 45-foot scoreboard/Midtown Tower Clock of the Nations sign Fuller on Fuller ... wasn't what you'd call a "finesse" player... "I was never accused of being stylish.. or polished. I was pretty-much a blunt instrument, a devout hacker... all or nothing. I didn't own a check swing. I could get so hot that I could carry a team for months. But I could get so cold I couldn't hit myself if I walked across home plate holding a four-foot disco ball. That was my nature. And I had to play every day or I wasn't effective." ... as a young, professional baseball player, trying to make good... "You go through more emotional changes in a game than people get in a month. Hit a homer first time up, make an error, get picked off.. the game is close, battle back, fall behind, tie the game, strike out with the bases loaded.. every day. When you're 20-something years old, living on your own, everything is a learning experience." ... a matter of time... "The guys who used to strike me out a lot kept coming after me. And if they kept coming after me, eventually I caught up with them. And I hit some real bombs. The guys who throw harder, you hit the ball farther. The guys who didn't have that kind of stuff- fastballs or hard sliders- would nibble around the corners and try to get me to strike myself out- which I did pretty often." ... how often Jim was trying to hit a homer... "Oh, just about every time up. I was trying to hit the ball as hard as I could every time I went to the plate. I didn't know how to spray the ball." ... hitting a baseball ... "It takes two-fifths of a second, roughly, for the ball to get to the plate. You've got one-third of that time to recognize the pitch, one-third to determine if you're gonna swing and one-third to actually swing and make contact. It's not like 'Oh, here's a nice pitch.. yeah, it's kinda in the upper half of the strike zone, I think I'll swing at that!' There's no time. It's like a punch." ... some of his longer homers with Rochester... "I hit one over the Midtown Tower sign (at Silver Stadium, 6/7/76).. hit three that day and every one went farther than the one before. Jokingly, I told somebody 'I think I got more yards in one day than OJ Simpson!' I hit some bombs in Rochester. I hit some in Syracuse that I think are still goin'." ... his days playing here... "Overall, I enjoyed the experience in Rochester. They always had good crowds. They actually felt 'I like you guys, this is my team, I want to be here!'" ... understood the boos... "The fans wanted the team to succeed. If you struck out or made an error, they could go from avid to rabid pretty quickly. My first game in Rochester, a trio was playing the National Anthem. About two-thirds of the way through, some guy up in the seats figured they just weren't playing it fast enough and yelled out 'Come on, let's play ball!' And I thought 'Wow, these guys are serious about their baseball!'" ... hitting all those long balls for Rochester ... "People talk about my 91 homers.. they say, 'Wow, that's impressive!' To me, it means I was there too long." ... was a line drive hitter... "You see some guys with loopy-type swings, hitting those big, tall, fly balls for homers. I never hit those- mine left the yard in a hurry. And sometimes they were up in the light towers. You just go up there and hack and every once in a while you hit it." ... never was a so-called "guess" hitter ... "I wasn't that smart, looking for a fastball or a breaking ball in this or that situation. I used to 'zone' hit. If a guy tried to get it inside corner and I hit it over the light towers, the next time up he's probably not gonna do that again. So I would give him the inside one-quarter and I'd take the outside three-quarters. And if anything came in there, I was gonna bust it." ... whether pitching mistakes most frequently lead to home runs ... "A guy can hang a breaking ball or a change up and it'll end up in the upper deck. But with fastballs, a lot of times, the guy is just challenging you and it wasn't a mistake and you just caught up with it." ...talent in the International League then... "Really competitive- with and against... Dale Murphy, Gary Carter, Eddie Murray, Fred Lynn, Jim Rice, Dave Parker... those guys were gamers! It was really fun competing against those guys." ... Bob Hyatt Stereo promotion at Silver Stadium... "Every time I hit a homer over the Bob Hyatt sign in left field, I got one-hundred dollars in stereo equipment. I spent a lot of time in Bob's place at the warehouse." ... Rochester memories... "I don't remember the championships or the stats or the scores- I remember the goofy guys I played with. We had some great bench-jockeys with Tom Shopay and Ray Miller. And we had some great story-tellers. Bill Kirkpatrick, he was something! He would have the bullpen so involved in a story, they'd have to get the PA guy to call out about getting somebody up in the bullpen." ... real life ... "The radio guys Joe Cullinane and Pete Brown would take us to visit people at the County hospital with Muscular Dystrophy. I went out there a bunch of times. Robach, Cool Willie, Big Lou... I still remember those guys- they knew all of my stats. But at twenty-two, twenty-three years old, it's hard to put things in perspective. We were there to encourage them but they were encouraging to me!" ... wasn't used much in Baltimore... "They had a platoon system and I was a full-time pinch hitter, sometimes a week to ten days between starts. It was like: 'Sit over there and watch and then we'll give you a start against Mickey Lolich or Vida Blue or Ken Holtzman.' Oh boy, thanks!" [in the majors, Fuller hit 0-7 vs. Lolich, 2-9 vs. Blue, and 2-10 vs. Holtzman] "The Baltimore situation then, they (couldn't afford) to lose a single game. Sometimes, I wish I had been with a team like San Diego- they weren't going to a World Series for another 25 years and I could play every day there. My first spring training with Baltimore, I killed, I was wearing it out. (Orioles Manager Earl) Weaver calls me aside, I figure he's gonna tell me I'm his right fielder. He says, 'You had a great spring. I'm gonna try and get you 100 at bats this year.' Five hundred at bats is a whole season. I said, 'What are you gonna do, send me home for three months?'" ... making the big leagues ... "The first time that the Orioles called me up, Joe (Altobelli) called me into his office. And I said, 'I've been working on everything: base running, hitting cutoffs, defense!' And he gave me a funny look, and he says, 'Don't kid yourself, the only reason you're going up is because you can hit it in the parking lot.'" ... final stop in baseball was in 1978 with Omaha in the Kansas City Royals organization... "I had a chance to go to Japan as a replacement for an American player. But I had a young son then of 18 months. That didn't work out. (Former Red Wings pitcher) Orlando Pena called me once. He was managing in Vera Cruz, Mexico. He said, 'Wanna come down? I'll get you back in the big leagues!' And I said, 'I've been there.' So I figured that was enough." ... most disappointing time in baseball occurred during the 1976 Expansion Draft, when players were selected to fill the rosters of new teams being added in Toronto and Seattle... "I was in Rochester and had been working on my game: cut-offs, relays, defense.. ran the bases like a kamikaze.. like every game was a tryout. And they drafted guys that never put up numbers like I did. And I wasn't selected at all.. very discouraging." .. after baseball, Jim spent about 10 very successful years playing professional slo-pitch softball. He was a member of the legendary 1992 Ritch's/Superior/TPS team- the only club to win the Grand Slam (champions of the ISA, NSA, ASA and USSSA). Louisville Slugger and Worth featured 'Jim Fuller Signature' bats. Conservatively, Fuller estimates he slammed well over 3000 career softball homers, hitting for an average over .770 ! "It was like Home Run Derby- with fielders.. one of the funnest times I had in sports. My wife and I would tour around the country. I was one of the top hitters in the country for quite a few years and broke the all-time batting average record." ...a baseball career... "When I was a little kid, I didn't want to be a cowboy or an astronaut. All I wanted to do was be a baseball player. A guy comes over to your house and offers you pay to do it, you think 'Wow, I get a chance to do what I've always wanted to do- even on a bad day- how bad can this be?' And, when it's good it's really good.. but when it's bad it's pretty rugged." Folks on Fuller "Jim had power as good as anybody that ever played. There were balls he hit that you wouldn't believe. When I coached third base he could scare the hell out of me so I would move into short left field. During spring training, I forgot to tell the Orioles about Fuller and Jim almost killed third base coach Billy Hunter with a shot." Joe Altobelli, Rochester Red Wings Hall of Famer, Manager "My best friend in baseball, just a great athlete and not a nicer guy on the planet. We talked hitting for hours on end. He had more power than I ever saw. I remember him hitting one homer in Rochester that the shortstop jumped for." Royle Stillman, Rochester Red Wings Hall of Famer, Jim Fuller's Red Wings roommate "For distance, he could hit the ball as far as anybody I ever saw. Serious power. We all were in awe of the distance. There was a green metal building in dead center field (at Silver Stadium) that he used to just pepper during batting practice- those were Jim Fuller dents you saw out there. He was a very pleasant guy, and a good teammate." Jim Hutto, Rochester Red Wings Hall of Famer "A big guy and powerful, his arms were huge... a home run hitter who struck out a lot. But the home runs- they were just mammoth, they cleared everything in the outfield. When he connected, they went a looong way! And he had a great arm in the outfield.. he could throw guys out at the plate." Norma McNair, Wings season seat holder since 1974 "I was in the bleachers at Silver for one of the games when Fuller hit two homers to left. Both monster blasts. Tidewater's left fielder Jim Gosger got ready with his hands on his knees but didn't even flinch both times. One homer would have cleared twelve decks of signs!" Kevin Hoock, Red Wings fan "I saw him play when I was around 10 years old and met him at the ballpark and at Altier Shoe Store promotions. I remember him then as very, very tall and friendly. He used to have my mom step up on the shoe stool to talk to her face to face because she was so short. I was thrilled when he went into our hall of fame!" Kathy O'Neill, long-time Red Wings season ticket holder Research thanks to the Rochester Red Wings, Rochester Public Library, Katie Papas- University of Rochester River Campus Libraries, Democrat and Chronicle and Times-Union newspapers, retrosheet.org, baseball-reference.com Local sports historian Bill Flynn's web site is at www.flynnflam.com -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- raw data research... MISSING PITCHING VICTIM CONFIRMATION FOR ONE GAME: -- AUG 4, 1973 .... could be GILBERT# OR BABCOCK - PENINSULA JIM FULLER's 91 HOME RUNS FOR THE ROCHESTER RED WINGS 1. 4/16/72 AWAY BRITTON MAJORS PENINSULA 2. 4/16/72 AWAY BRITTON MAJORS PENINSULA 3. 4/18/72 AWAY GLASS ----- TIDEWATER 4. 4/18/72 AWAY DILLMAN MAJORS TIDEWATER 5. 4/29/72 AWAY GARBER MAJORS CHARLESTON 6. 4/30/72 AWAY MARRUJO ----- CHARLESTON 7. 5/5/72 HOME HARDIN MAJORS RICHMOND 8. 5/13/72 AWAY CURTIS# MAJORS LOUISVILLE 9. 5/20/72 HOME McGLOTHEN MAJORS LOUISVILLE 10. 5/26/72 HOME FRONDORF ----- SYRACUSE 11. 6/9/72 HOME RAUCH MAJORS TIDEWATER 12. 4/19/73 AWAY STERLING MAJORS TIDEWATER 13. 4/22/73 AWAY REID MAJORS PENINSULA 14. 4/22/73 AWAY TAYLOR MAJORS PENINSULA 15. 4/29/73 HOME CAPRA MAJORS TIDEWATER 16. 5/1/73 AWAY GRILLI MAJORS TOLEDO 17. 5/7/73 HOME J.NIEKRO MAJORS TOLEDO 18. 5/9/73 AWAY CHEADLE# MAJORS SYRACUSE 19. 5/11/73 AWAY CLOSTER# MAJORS SYRACUSE 20. 5/16/73 AWAY CLOSTER# MAJORS SYRACUSE 21. 5/19/73 AWAY PANTHER MAJORS RICHMOND 22. 5/24/73 HOME DUKES# MAJORS PENINSULA 23. 5/25/73 AWAY CASKEY# MAJORS PENINSULA 24. 5/30/73 AWAY McGLOTHEN MAJORS PAWTUCKET 25. 5/31/73 HOME BEHNEY MAJORS PAWTUCKET 26. 6/1/73 HOME NEAL ----- PAWTUCKET 27. 6/3/73 AWAY CAPRA MAJORS TIDEWATER 28. 6/4/73 AWAY STERLING MAJORS TIDEWATER 29. 6/8/73 AWAY KISON MAJORS CHARLESTON 30. 6/9/73 HOME CASKEY# MAJORS PENINSULA 31. 6/10/73 HOME BABCOCK MAJORS PENINSULA 32. 6/24/73 HOME LEMANCZYK MAJORS TOLEDO 33. 6/30/73 AWAY CLOSTER# MAJORS SYRACUSE 34. 7/1/73 AWAY KLIMKOWSKI MAJORS SYRACUSE 35. 7/4/73 HOME S.BARR# MAJORS PAWTUCKET 36. 7/4/73 HOME BOMBACK MAJORS PAWTUCKET 37. 7/6/73 HOME SKOK# MAJORS PAWTUCKET 38. 7/10/73 HOME PIRTLE MAJORS SYRACUSE 39. 7/11/73 AWAY CHEADLE# MAJORS SYRACUSE 40. 7/16/73 AWAY CHEADLE# MAJORS SYRACUSE 41. 7/19/73 HOME GLASSCO MAJORS PENINSULA 42. 8/1/73 AWAY BAIR MAJORS CHARLESTON 43. 8/1/73 AWAY BAIR MAJORS CHARLESTON 44. 8/3/73 AWAY D'ETTORE MAJORS CHARLESTON 45. 8/4/73 HOME ?GILBERT# or ?BABCOCK MAJORS PENINSULA 46. 8/6/73 HOME MONTAGUE MAJORS PENINSULA 47. 8/11/73 HOME SWAN MAJORS TIDEWATER 48. 8/11/73 HOME SWAN MAJORS TIDEWATER 49. 8/27/73 AWAY GLASSCO ----- PENINSULA 50. 8/27/73 AWAY TAYLOR MAJORS PENINSULA 51. 8/10/74 AWAY WARTHEN# MAJORS MEMPHIS 52. 8/14/74 HOME LEFEVRE ----- MEMPHIS 53. 8/18/74 HOME SIMPSON MAJORS CHARLESTON 54. 8/18/74 HOME SIMPSON MAJORS CHARLESTON 55. 8/31/74 HOME CULVER MAJORS TOLEDO 56. 4/20/75 HOME ABRAHAM# ----- MEMPHIS 57. 4/21/75 HOME WARTHEN# MAJORS MEMPHIS 58. 4/21/75 HOME ENYART# MAJORS MEMPHIS 59. 4/25/75 AWAY ENYART# MAJORS MEMPHIS 60. 4/27/75 AWAY ABRAHAM# ----- MEMPHIS 61. 5/7/75 AWAY McGREGOR# MAJORS SYRACUSE 62. 5/16/75 AWAY SIMPSON MAJORS TOLEDO 63. 5/17/75 AWAY THOMAS MAJORS TOLEDO 64. 5/17/75 AWAY HILL# ----- TOLEDO 65. 5/18/75 AWAY PAUL# MAJORS TOLEDO 66. 5/26/75 AWAY FIGUEROA# ----- RICHMOND 67. 5/26/75 AWAY TORREALBA# MAJORS RICHMOND 68. 6/2/75 HOME SWAN MAJORS TIDEWATER 69. 6/2/75 HOME SWAN MAJORS TIDEWATER 70. 6/6/75 HOME CASKEY# MAJORS CHARLESTON 71. 8/24/75 HOME SUNDATE# ----- TOLEDO 72. 8/26/75 HOME M.BARR ----- PAWTUCKET 73. 5/12/76 HOME FARIAS ----- RHODE ISLAND 74. 5/22/76 HOME PARKER MAJORS TOLEDO 75. 5/23/76 HOME KLINE MAJORS TOLEDO 76. 5/28/76 AWAY KLINE MAJORS TOLEDO 77. 5/28/76 AWAY ARSENAUT ----- TOLEDO 78. 5/31/76 AWAY MINSHALL MAJORS CHARLESTON 79. 6/7/76 HOME WILLIAMS# ----- CHARLESTON 80. 6/7/76 HOME NEWHAUSER MAJORS CHARLESTON 81. 6/7/76 HOME MINSHALL MAJORS CHARLESTON 82. 6/9/76 HOME SADOWSKI MAJORS CHARLESTON 83. 6/10/76 HOME AUTRY MAJORS RICHMOND 84. 6/15/76 HOME GROSE# ----- TIDEWATER 85. 6/19/76 AWAY OSBORN MAJORS RICHMOND 86. 6/27/76 HOME SELAK ----- MEMPHIS 87. 6/29/76 HOME BOMBACK MAJORS RHODE ISLAND 88. 6/30/76 AWAY BEATTIE MAJORS SYRACUSE 89. 7/8/76 AWAY M.BARR ----- RHODE ISLAND 90. 7/18/76 AWAY McLAUGHLIN MAJORS MEMPHIS 91. 8/29/76 AWAY JONES# MAJORS RHODE ISLAND #- LEFT HANDER Homers versus teams CHARLESTON 14 PENINSULA 13 TOLEDO 13 TIDEWATER 12 PAWTUCKET/RHODE ISLAND 11 SYRACUSE 11 MEMPHIS 9 RICHMOND 6 LOUISVILLE 2 Multi-homer victims SWAN 4 CASKEY 3 CHEADLE 3 CLOSTER 3 SIMPSON 3 ABRAHAM 2 M.BARR 2 BAIR 2 BOMBACK 2 BRITTON 2 CAPRA 2 ENYART 2 GLASSCO 2 KLINE 2 McGLOTHEN 2 MINSHALL 2 STERLING 2 TAYLOR 2 WARTHEN 2