Chick Fraser

American baseball player (1873–1940)

Charles Carrolton Fraser (August 26, 1873 – May 8, 1940) was a Major League Baseball right handed pitcher. He pitched for numerous teams between 1896 and 1909. He ranks second all time among major league pitchers in the category of hit batsmen, with 219. He lost 20 games five times, but he threw a no hitter in 1903 and played on World Series championship teams for two years.

Fraser made his major league debut with the Louisville Colonels on April 19, 1896. He often struggled with control. In his rookie season, he finished with a 12–27 record and he led the league in both bases on balls and wild pitches. In 1897, he went 15–19 and led the league in wild pitches again. He was sold to the Cleveland Spiders late in the 1898 season. He pitched for the Philadelphia Phillies for two seasons and then went to the Philadelphia Athletics for the 1901 season where he set the modern day record for most hit batsmen in a season. While a member of the Philadelphia Phillies for a second time between 1902 and 1904, Fraser threw a no hitter on September 18, 1903. The Phillies committed four errors in that game, but they beat the Chicago Cubs 10–0. Fraser was a member of the 1907 and 1908 Chicago Cubs teams that won the World Series. He appeared in his final game on May 3, 1909. In an era in which complete games were the rule, Fraser had large numbers of decisions in each season. He lost 20 or more games five times in the major leagues, but in each of those seasons there were at least two major league pitchers with more losses. Since Fraser's retirement, he has been in second place among all major league pitchers in hit batsmen. Mina Gray died in 1937.