Jack Fee

Hopelessly out of contention in the 1889 National League pennant chase, the Indianapolis Hoosiers devoted their September schedule to auditioning new talent. Among the club’s recruits was Jack Fee, a 21-year-old pitching prospect with little previous professional experience. In seven late-season appearances, Fee posted two victories and showed enough promise to be placed on the Hoosiers’ reserve list for the 1890 season. But over the ensuing winter, the financially shaky Indianapolis franchise was liquidated by the NL, and Fee was released. Undiscouraged, he continued playing into the 1895 season but never received another shot at the major league level, his promotion chances undermined by illness, arm trouble, drinking, and brawling. A look back at the life and baseball career of this obscure 19th-century figure follows.

John Fee was born on December 23, 1867, in Carbondale, Pennsylvania, a coal mining community situated about 15 miles northeast of Scranton. He was the third of at least six children1 born to foundry worker Michael Fee (1840-1907), and his wife Catherine (née Mahon, 1841-1916), both Irish Catholic immigrants. The childhood of our subject was brief. By age 13, he was working in local coal mines.2

Jack (as he was called) spent his free time on Carbondale sandlots, and first attracted attention as a 15-year-old pitching for the amateur Young Americas team.3 By 1888, “it was a common feat for [Fee] to strike out twenty to twenty-four men in a game.”4 Modern authority and contemporary sources differ regarding Fee’s entrance into professional ranks. Baseball-Reference starts Fee with the Portsmouth (New Hampshire) Lillies in the 1888 New England League and gives him a 1-2 record in three outings. But at the time, the Carbondale Leader reported that after averaging 13 strikeouts per game for the amateur Carbondale club, Fee was signed in June 1888 by Binghamton of the Central New York League.5 Whichever the case, Fee inarguably began the following season with the Canandaigua club in the New York State League.6 Toiling for a third-place (27-24, .529) ball club, the youngster pulled his weight, going 13-11 (.542), with a solid 2.52 ERA in 250 innings pitched.

At the conclusion of the NYS League schedule, Indianapolis secured Fee’s release from Canandaigua.7 Reportedly, the youngster was recommended to Indianapolis shortstop-manager Jack Glasscock by a friend of Hoosiers outfielder Jack McGeachey.8 Upon arrival, the right-handed Fee presented an impressive physical specimen, being “about the size of [rookie phenom Amos] Rusie,”9 “Big Jack” was also said to be a “quiet young fellow” with “good work habits.”10

On September 14, 1889, Fee made an eye-catching major league debut in the second half of a doubleheader in Philadelphia. Summoned in relief of Rusie in the third inning with the score knotted at six, he threw seven innings of four-hit relief, striking out three and holding the Quakers to an unearned run until a three-run ninth-inning rally gave Indianapolis and reliever Fee a 10-7 victory. The Indianapolis Journal was duly impressed, informing back-home readers that the club’s new hurler “is a strapping big fellow, and undoubtedly a great young pitcher. He has terrific speed, fine command of the ball, and very good curves.”11

That appraisal needed reassessment after Fee’s second appearance. Given a start against the Chicago White Stockings, he was pounded mercilessly, yielding 19 runs (eight earned) on 15 base hits and eight walks in a rout called after seven innings.12 Four days later, he redeemed himself with another sterling relief effort. Coming on early in relief of Pretzels Getzien, Big Jack threw six innings of three-hit relief in a 9-6 Indianapolis setback.13 He was less effective in his next relief appearance, allowing nine hits and four walks in a four-inning stint against Boston. Postgame reviews of the effort in the hometown press were mixed. Fee “had poor control of the ball and was hit very freely,” said the Indianapolis News,14 while the Indianapolis Journal opined that “aside from his wildness, the young man did very well.”15

Fee “pitched fairly well”16 in his second start but was undone by the loose Indianapolis fielding that cost him five unearned runs in a 7-4 setback in Philadelphia. He ended the campaign on a triumphant note, working his way out of a 10th-inning bases-loaded jam to notch a complete game 6-5 victory over Washington in the season’s penultimate contest.17 Fee then played in several postseason exhibition games before heading home to Carbondale.

Although plagued by wildness – 31 walks, six hit batsmen, and four wild pitches as compared to only 10 strikeouts – Fee made a positive impression on club management. Pitching for a seventh-place (59-75, .440) Indianapolis club, he posted a respectable 2-2 record, with a 4.28 ERA in 40 innings pitched. Big Jack also fielded his position reasonably well, committing only one error in 14 chances (.929 FA). The presumably righty batter, however, had done himself little good with the bat, managing only three singles in 21 at-bats (.143 BA). But with youth, size, and a lively arm in his favor, Fee was deemed a comer and reserved by Indianapolis for the 1890 season.18

Once he got home, the Carbondale Leader was quick to bestow both praise and advice on its local hero. “The sudden rise of young John Fee of this city shows what the great American game of baseball will do for one who is possessed of talent in that line of athletics,” the newspaper observed.19 “Two years ago he was working in the mines at a small daily stipend; now he is ‘on top of the heap’ and if his strong arm holds out and his head is equal to the strain … he can make himself famous among the millions of baseball enthusiasts in the country and comfortably wealthy on his income if he is saving. … A splendid future lies before Fee if he does not allow prosperity to spoil him.”20

Sadly for Jack Fee, circumstances largely beyond his control frustrated his attainment of that splendid future. In early December, a bout of pneumonia left him “dangerously ill.”21 Meanwhile, the Indianapolis franchise was in terminal condition. In anticipation of the oncoming war with the newly arrived Players League, the National League decided to liquidate its weakling Washington and Indianapolis clubs. Thereafter, the crème of the Hoosiers roster – Amos Rusie, Jack Glasscock, Jerry Denny, and five others – was dispatched eastward to shore up the fortunes of the NL’s cornerstone franchise, the New York Giants. Jack Fee, however, was released outright.22 Had he been in better health, Fee might have been transferred to the Giants, as well – or been given a shot with another NL club, as the Philadelphia Quakers were reportedly interested in acquiring Fee’s services.23 As it was, he remained home, sick and without a job.

Even though three major league circuits (National League, American Association, and Players League) took the field in 1890, no job offers came Fee’s way. When he recovered his health, the best that Big Jack could do was land a berth with the Olean (New York) club in the independent minor Western New York-Pennsylvania League.24 There, Fee demonstrated that he was back at full strength, starting almost every other game for Olean. But his form was a letdown: he posted a losing (14-15, .483) record25 for a winning (43-31, .588) Olean club. And for the first time, reports surfaced that Fee had a drinking problem.26

Not wanted back by Olean, Fee signed for the 1891 season with a New York-Pennsylvania League rival, the Elmira (New York) Gladiators. Pitching for a club that would finish with a losing (47-49, .490) record, Fee began well, going 11-7 (.611) and completing all but one of his 19 starts. Such work did not go unnoticed, and in mid-July Fee was drafted by the Minneapolis Millers of the high-minor Western Association.27 After a brief wrangle over Fee’s draft price was resolved,28 the pitcher reported to his new club. Despite a complete-game 6-4 victory over Duluth in his Minneapolis debut, Fee’s 12-hit/four walk performance was panned by the local press, the judgment of the Minneapolis Times being “that Fee will not do as a fielding, batting or pitching pitcher.”29 Promptly released, Jack hooked on with another Western Association club, the Omaha Lambs, but enjoyed little success, going 1-5 (.167) in seven appearances.

Released by Omaha, Fee spent the 1892 season bouncing around the Class B Pennsylvania State League, pitching for the Lebanon Pretzel Eaters, Scranton Indians, and the Danville club and posting a 9-11 (.450) log overall, but with an excellent 2.14 ERA in 177 innings pitched. He toured the PSL again the following season, where difficulty adjusting to the elongation of the pitching distance to the modern 60 feet, six inches contributed to an 11-16 (.407) record combined for Scranton and Allentown.

But the new pitching distance was not Fee’s only problem in 1893. His departure from the Scranton Miners touched off a public row between club management and the local press. In early August, Fee was released at his own request following a 23-10 drubbing by the Altoona Mud Turtles.30 Responding to the assertion by club management that its reportage had “driven [Fee] out of the city,” the Scranton Tribune replied that it “did no such thing. The management of the team is responsible. [Fee] was not disciplined as he should have been, but was, instead, allowed to stay in saloons the better portion of the night, and this was done with full knowledge of the management. No effort was made to prevent his acting so.”31

Over the ensuing winter, health problems returned. Complications from “a severe case of the grippe” sent Fee’s weight plummeting from its normal 195 pounds down to 130; for a while his recovery was deemed “very doubtful.”32 By April, however, Fee was hale enough to return to the Pennsylvania State League for a third straight year, signing with the Hazelton Barons.33 Early in the campaign, his assault upon an umpire suggested that he had recovered his physical energy.34 Two months later, a 1-0 no-hitter thrown against the eventual PSL champion Pottsville Colts demonstrated that Fee could still flash top-notch stuff on occasion.35 But other clubs often had no trouble hitting Fee (369 base hits allowed in 306 innings), and he finished the season with another losing (15-20, .429) record.

When Carbondale entered a PSL club for the 1895 season, their signing of hometown hero Jack Fee was predictable – but complicated because Fee had already signed a contract to pitch for Pottsville.36 For his part, Fee regretted both signings, as he claimed to have a better offer from the Detroit Tigers of the Class A Western League.37 Shortly thereafter, the issue of which team he was to play for was almost rendered academic when Fee nearly killed himself in a snow plowing accident, but escaped with only facial cuts.38 Back on the ball field, Fee began the season with Carbondale, but was ineffective (39 base hits allowed in 25 innings) despite a 2-0 record. In June, he was traded to Pottsville,39 where he promptly blew out his arm.40 Fee left the club shortly thereafter, his professional career over at age 26. A month later, he attempted a comeback as a shortstop with a picked Carbondale nine in an amateur county league game. but “his work wasn’t worth two cents of sour apples” in the estimation of the local press.41

From there, the life of Jack Fee spiraled downward. In March 1896, he was arrested after being on the losing end of a fistfight in Scranton.42 Fee returned to working in the mines, his name appearing in newsprint only when making sporadic appearances for area amateur teams.43 In April 1902, by then 34, Fee resurfaced briefly as a hurler for the amateur Carbondale Crescents.44 But his tenure with the Crescents was brief, as age, arm troubles, and chronic drinking had deprived him of his former talent.

In May 1907, Fee was reported as approaching death from an unidentified illness,45 but he rallied. The longtime bachelor took a bride in October 1910, marrying local resident Mary Ann Doyle at St. Rose of Lima Church in Carbondale.46 The union, however, was both childless and unhappy. In June 1912, Fee was arrested and fined for threatening his wife.47 Six months later, he was back in police custody, charged with spousal abuse.48 Fee subsequently pled guilty to assault and battery and was sentenced to probation upon condition that he “give up drinking.”49

Suffering from nephritis (kidney disease), Fee underwent emergency surgery at a Carbondale hospital in late February 1913, but the procedure failed to arrest the disease.50 Death came at the hospital several days later.51 John “Jack” Fee was 45. Following a Requiem Mass said at St. Rose, the deceased was laid to rest in the parish cemetery. Some months later, an unidentified Scranton sportswriter lamented, “Had Fee taken good care of himself he would have rivaled the fame of the best of twirlers. He had the speed of wind and the arm of a giant. He could hurl the sphere as though it were shot from a gun. But he would not keep himself in condition, and when a few hits were made off of him, he usually went into the air. Therefore, he did not last long in fast company, and even State league teams elbowed him to one side.”52

Acknowledgments

The writer is indebted to Nineteenth Century Committee colleague and Carbondale native Paul Browne for his pre-submission feedback on the bio. Paul also supplied an 1896 Carbondale team photo which includes Fee, the only image of him known to exist.

This biography was reviewed by Rory Costello and Norman Macht and fact-checked by Tim Herlich.

Sources

Sources for the biographical info include the Jack Fee file at the Giamatti Research Center, National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, Cooperstown, New York; the Fee profile in David Nemec, The Rank and File of 19th Century Major League Baseball: Biographies of 1,084 Players, Owners, Managers and Umpires (Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland, 2012); US and Pennsylvania State Census data accessed via Ancestry.com; and certain of the newspaper articles cited in the endnotes, particularly the Fee profile published in the Carbondale (Pennsylvania) Evening Herald, July 6, 1895. Unless otherwise specified, stats have been taken from Baseball-Reference.

Notes

1 The other known Fee children were Mary (born 1864), Patrick (1866), Bridget (1871), James (1873), Ann (1875), and Martin (1879).

2 Per the 1880 US Census.

3 As subsequently related in “‘Jack’ Fee, A Pitcher,” Carbondale (Pennsylvania) Evening Herald, July 6, 1895: 3.

4 “‘Jack Fee,’ A Pitcher,” above.

5 See “We Lose Pitcher Fee,” Carbondale (Pennsylvania) Leader, June 19, 1888: 4.

6 See “Canandaigua Gets Pitcher Fee,” Carbondale Leader, April 15, 1889: 4. Fee’s stipend was pegged at $100 per month.

7 See “Will Try Pitcher Fee,” Indianapolis Journal, September 14, 1889: 3; “Wanted by Indianapolis,” Carbondale Leader, September 10, 1889: 4.

8 Per “The Club’s Eastern Trip,” Indianapolis Journal, September 15, 1889: 7.

9 “The Club’s Eastern Trip,” above.

10 Modern baseball reference works list Rusie as 6-feet-1 and 200 pounds. Fee’s height and weight as well as his batting and throwing sides, are currently listed as unknown. However, contemporary reportage establishes that “the Carbondale Giant” was likely over six feet and weighed 195 pounds. See “Sick at Home,” Carbondale Evening Herald, February 9, 1894: 4. Also, he was apparently a right-handed thrower. See “Lowered Their Colors,” (Pottsville, Pennsylvania) Miners’ Journal, June 18, 1894: 1.

11 “Yesterday’s Games,” Indianapolis Journal, September 15, 1889: 7. See also, “Fee’s Successful Debut,” Carbondale Leader, September 16, 1889: 4.

12 See “Ball Game Without Merit,” Indianapolis Journal, September 18, 1889: 3; “It Was a Chilly Breeze,” Indianapolis Times, September 18, 1889: 4.

13 See “Continuing His Fine Work,” Carbondale Leader, September 23, 1889: 4; “They Made It Ten Apiece,” Indianapolis Journal, September 22, 1889: 7.

14 “More Poor Pitching,” Indianapolis News, September 28, 1889: 8.

15 “Too Many Bases on Balls,” Indianapolis Journal, September 28, 1889: 3.

16 “Boston Takes the Lead,” Indianapolis News, October 2, 1889: 4. See also, “Fee Not Well Supported,” Indianapolis Journal, October 2, 1889: 3.

17 See “Washington Beaten Again,” Indianapolis News, October 5, 1889: 1.

18 As reported in “Official Reserve List,” New York Herald, October 21, 1889: 6; “Reserve List,” Wheeling (West Virginia) Sunday Register, October 20, 1889: 1; and elsewhere.

19 “As Seen and Heard,” Carbondale Leader, October 21, 1889: 4.

20 “As Seen and Heard,” above.

21 As reported in the Carbondale Leader, December 5, 1889: 4. Jack’s father Michael was also laid up.

22 See “John Fee Released by Indianapolis,” Carbondale Leader, February 11, 1890: 4.

23 Per “May Play with Philadelphia,” Carbondale Leader, February 17, 1890: 4.

24 See “Fee’s First Game,” Carbondale Leader, May 5, 1890: 4.

25 As calculated by the writer from line/box scores published in the Olean (New York) Democrat, Dunkirk (New York) Evening Observer, Meadville (Pennsylvania) Republican, and other newspapers covering action in the NY-P League. Baseball-Reference provides no stats for Fee’s 1890 season.

26 It was subsequently reported that Olean declined to re-sign Fee for the 1891 season because “the people thought him to be too much of a lusher.” See “Ball Notes,” Elmira (New York) Gazette, July 16, 1891: 8.

27 See “They Are After Me Cries Mr. Fee,” Elmira Gazette, July 10, 1891: 7. See also, “Local News Condensed,” Carbondale Leader, July 20, 1891: 4.

28 See “More Base Ball,” Elmira Gazette, July 14, 1891: 7; “Fee Leaves the Club,” Elmira Gazette, July 13, 1891: 8. Ultimately, Elmira received the standard $300 draft fee for the pitcher, while Fee got a $200 advance on his $750 salary for the remainder of the 1891 season.

29 “Smothered Fireworks,” Minneapolis Times, July 19, 1891: 2. Fee went 0-for-4 at the plate and muffed one of his two fielding chances.

30 See “Fee Will Leave Scranton,” Carbondale Evening Herald, August 7, 1893: 4.

31 As quoted in “About Baseball Players,” Carbondale Evening Herald, August 8, 1893: 3.

32 Per “Sick at Home,” Carbondale Evening Herald, February 9, 1894: 4.

33 See “John Fee Goes to Hazelton,” Carbondale Evening Herald, April 14, 1894: 6.

34 See “Fee Lost His Temper,” Carbondale Leader, May 4, 1894: 2.

35 Among other places, the Fee no-hitter was reported in “Pottsville Was Shut Out,” (Hazelton, Pennsylvania) Plain Speaker, July 26, 1894: 4, and “State League,” Carbondale Evening Herald, July 26, 1894: 4.

36 Per “Baseball Prospects,” Carbondale Leader, January 4, 1895: 4.

37 According to “In the Field of Sports,” Scranton (Pennsylvania) Times, January 7, 1895: 5.

38 “John All Right,” Carbondale Evening Herald, January 14, 1895: 4.

39 “Fee Goes to Pottsville,” Carbondale Leader, Jun 12, 1895: 2.

40 As noted in the Carbondale Leader, June 17, 1895: 2, quoting the Miners’ Journal.

41 “County League Ball,” Carbondale Evening Herald, August 14, 1895: 3.

42 As reported in “Punched Pitcher Fee,” Carbondale Leader, March 13, 1896, citing the Scranton (Pennsylvania) Tribune.

43 See e.g., “Simpson Team Won,” Carbondale Leader, September 6, 1897: 5, reporting on a four-hitter thrown by Fee for the local Simpson club.

44 See “Tomorrow Comes the Battle Royal,” Carbondale Leader, April 25, 1902: 5.

45 “Big Jack Fee, Once Fine Pitcher, Dying,” Scranton Times, May 15, 1907: 10.

46 “Pitcher Fee Now a Benedict,” Carbondale Leader, October 14, 1910: 5; “‘Jack’ Fee Weds,” (Scranton) Tribune-Republican, October 14, 1910: 14.

47 See “‘Jack’ Fee Under Arrest,” Tribune-Republican, June 1, 1912: 10.

48 “‘Jack’ Fee, the One-Time Baseball Idol, Arrested,” Scranton (Pennsylvania) Truth, December 13, 1912: 14.

49 “Five Prisoners Plead Guilty,” Scranton Truth, December 21, 1912: 13.

50 Per “‘Jack’ Fee Is Dying; Great Pitcher in 1888,” Carbondale Leader, March 1, 1913: 6.

51 “Old Time Baseball Star Passes Away at Emergency,” Carbondale Leader, March 4, 1913: 5. Five years earlier, nephritis had also claimed Jack’s father, Michael Fee.

52 “Afternoon Echoes,” Scranton Truth, December 17, 1913: 6.