Fred Waters

Fred Warren Waters was born to Wyatt and Mattie Waters on February 2, 1927, in Benton, Mississippi, an unincorporated community in Yazoo County. One of 12 children, young Fred shared duties with his nine brothers (Wyatt, Wilton, Melvin, Jack, Louis, David, Herbert, Leslie, Luby) and two sisters (Fredene, Betty Ann), around the family farm located near Highway 433, which runs straight through the county. When Fred was 11 years old, his mother Mattie, 43 years old but in ill health, died just hours after giving birth to Luby. His father, Wyatt, instilled in his children a strong work ethic and an expectation that a fair day’s work deserves a fair day’s pay. While he excelled at sports as a youth, teenager Fred’s education largely focused on a future career in farming. At 14 he was selected as one of 18 candidates for the Green Hand degree, the first degree in Vocational Farming sponsored by the Benton Chapter of Future Farmers of America. Three years later, he was chosen chapter president.

Fred graduated from Benton High School in 1945 after lettering for four years in baseball and basketball. He enrolled at Holmes Junior College, in Goodman, Mississippi. He joined the football team and quickly became the team’s best “scatback,” known more for his speed and elusiveness than for his relatively slight frame.

The following year he and brothers Melvin and Jack, both veterans of World War II, enrolled at Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg. Fred joined the basketball and football teams and his hard work drew the notice of his coaches and teammates. On January 25, 1946, Waters scored 16 points, including the game-winner, against a team from nearby Camp Shelby, in a game so marred by fighting that Southern Mississippi coach Reed Green decided to cancel the remainder of his team’s schedule.1 Fred’s all-out effort at halfback in team scrimmages garnered plenty of praise. But where he really made his mark was on the diamond. 

Southern Mississippi played only 13 games in 1947. The team finished the season with nine wins, including all seven played at home. The team featured three Waters brothers, with Jack a pitcher and Melvin often found behind the plate or at first base. Fred played center field and proved one of the team’s best hitters, posting an average over .400 while finishing among the leaders in home runs and runs batted in. At the constant urging of friend and teammate Johnny LeGros, the left-handed Waters finally decided to take a try on the mound. On April 22, against the Spring Hill Badgers, Southern Mississippi starting pitcher Doc Cranford was struck by a batted ball at the end of the third inning, necessitating a replacement. Waters took over to start the fourth inning. Pitching six innings, he struck out nine and walked 12 strikeouts against a dozen walks, while allowing only two hits and a lone run. For good measure, he secured the 6-5 victory with an inside-the-park home run in the bottom of the ninth.

As the 1947 college season wound down, Waters joined the small-town Purvis semipro team, where he continued to hone his skills on the mound. Purvis finished the first half of the season in second place in the six-team league, at 8-6, and Waters hitting and pitching figured prominently in the club’s success. In the season’s second half, Waters settled into a groove. On July 9 he tossed a 10-inning complete-game victory over Lumberton, allowing five hits and striking out nine. Four days later he struck out 15 in a 5-1 victory over the Yellow Cabs. On July 17, pitching in the Mississippi State semipro tournament, he struck out seven while blanking the Laurel Jaycees over eight innings in a game called on an eight-run mercy rule. Waters’ play drew the attention of the Philadelphia Phillies, who signed his Southern Mississippi teammate, Johnny LeGros in July. Waters also received an offer but rejected it “unless the ante (was) raised considerably.”2

In 1948 Southern Mississippi’s baseball team finished the season with a 12-11 record. Waters batted a team-high .400, but it was his performance on the mound that made the biggest impression. On March 19, against Spring Hill in the season’s first game, Waters allowed a lone hit while striking out nine, including eight in a row, over four innings in a 10-5 victory. He contributed three hits, including two doubles, in five trips to the plate. Six days later he took the mound against the University of Mississippi Rebels and held them to three hits with 11 strikeouts before getting lifted for a reliever who promptly allowed a game-winning home run to the second batter he faced. On April 16 Waters fanned 17 in a complete-game victory over Millsaps College. On April 24 he suffered his first loss of the season, a tough 5-4 decision to Loyola, despite striking out a dozen batters and going 3-for-4 at the plate. His 16-strikeout, 8-1 victory against the Mississippi College Choctaws on April 28 snapped his club’s three-game losing streak. His second hard-luck loss of the season, a two-hit pitching performance, came against Spring Hill College on May 8, by a score of 2-1.  On May 11 Waters turned in one of the most remarkable pitching performances in school history. On only two full days’ rest, he faced 56 batters and struck out 19 in a 14-inning rematch with Loyola. Despite not allowing an earned run while issuing only one walk, he suffered the loss when a two-run error at shortstop spoiled his effort in the bottom of the 14th inning.

As the college baseball season came to a close, Waters and three of his Southern Mississippi teammates (Bubber Phillips, Mel Didier, and Cliff Coggins) joined the local semipro Laurel Jaycees. Their combined presence on the club made it one of the stronger teams in the league. In June Waters, Phillips, and Didier were invited to Detroit for a tryout before Tigers manager Steve O’Neill and the team’s top scouts. On June 30, 1948, Southern Mississippi coach Reed Green announced that Phillips and Didier had signed contracts with Detroit. Waters was offered a contract as well. According to Tigers scout Howard Camp, “Waters looked good in the outfield but didn’t seem to loosen up pitching. He was offered a contract as an outfielder but wants to pitch and is going to try to get his arm in top shape. I’ll keep looking at him.”3 Waters returned to Hattiesburg and the semipro Jaycees, He helped the team reach the Mississippi all-state semipro title game, where it was defeated 4-1 by the Cleveland (Mississippi) Indians. Waters contributed an eighth-inning triple at the plate, but was thrown out trying to stretch it into a round-tripper.  His efforts garnered him a selection on the all-state semipro tournament team as selected by umpires and scorekeepers.

On February 25, 1949, Fred married Dorothy Jean Bethea of Hattiesburg, a few days before it was announced that scout Wid Matthews had signed him to a contract with the Brooklyn Dodgers’ Fort Worth club. After reporting to Brooklyn’s spring camp, he was optioned to Greenwood, Mississippi, a Dodgers affiliate in the Class-C Cotton States League. On April 20, 1949, Waters made his professional debut on the mound against the Greenville Bucks, tossing a complete-game shutout with nine strikeouts in a 5-0 victory. He followed up that performance five days later by shutting out the Pine Bluff Cardinals, a St. Louis Browns affiliate, 9-0. In his first 18 innings on the mound as a professional, Waters recorded 22 strikeouts while allowing only five hits and no runs. His performance drew raves from Dodgers President Branch Rickey, who said, “The boy can’t miss.”4 He finished the season with 18 wins and six losses, tossing a league-high six shutouts and earning a first-team selection on the 1949 league’s all-star team.5

For a host of reasons, the 1950 season proved to be one of the most trying of Waters’ career. His performance the previous season brought high expectations. In camp, Branch Rickey and coach George Sisler spent many hours helping Waters develop a slower curveball to complement his lively fastball. They also urged him to vary his pace on the mound in order to disrupt the batters’ timing. Initially, Waters struggled with the new instruction. In one spring start, he hit a batter in the first inning, issued five straight walks in the second inning before striking out the side, and balked home two runs in the fourth.6

Pitching for the Elmira Pioneers of the Class-A Eastern League, he eventually settled down and a month into the 1950 season emerged as the club’s most reliable relief option. After earning an April win out of the bullpen, on May 7 he carried a no-hit starting effort into the seventh inning of the second game of a doubleheader against Utica. But two infield mistakes in the final inning resulted in a 2-1 loss. On May 12 Waters lost a 4-2 decision to the Binghamton Triplets despite surrendering only six hits and fanning 10 batters in nine innings. On June 5 his record dropped to 1-5 when he allowed eight singles in as many innings while striking out seven in a 6-3 loss to the Wilkes-Barre Indians. His wasted efforts from a lack of support became a running theme in the local press, who took to calling him Hard Luck Fred.7

On June 13 Waters tossed 6⅔ innings of hitless ball before surrendering four hits with six strikeouts in a 4-1 victory against the Albany Senators. It was his second recorded win against five losses. The next day Waters left the team for Benton, Mississippi, to be with his ailing father, who died shortly after Fred’s arrival. He returned to the mound against the Utica Blue Sox on June 22 and won his third game, with ample support, 20-3. His next several appearances were undone by wildness, and his overall record fell to 5-9. In late July, citing a sore arm, Waters left the team and returned to Mississippi. On July 30 he took the hill in relief for the Hub City Comets against the Jackson Senators in an exhibition game back home. After a discussion with Dodgers minor-league supervisor Fresco Thompson, Waters was reinstated and on August 1 he reported to Fort Worth of the Double-A Texas League, as a roster replacement for a player promoted to Triple-A St. Paul. Waters was widely regarded as one of the Brooklyn organization’s brightest prospects.

In 1951 Waters played a lot of baseball. After missing spring training at Vero Beach, he was scheduled to begin the year at Fort Worth. But an offseason, high school teaching job in Mississippi forced the club to place him on the voluntarily retired list until the end of the school term.8 He belatedly began the year with the Newport News Dodgers in the Class-B Piedmont League. After just three appearances, he was sent to the Asheville Tourists in the Class-B Tri-State League on June 1. He made two starts, including a six-hit, 6-3 win in his debut with the club. He also continued to periodically star as a pitcher-outfielder for the Hattiesburg Comets in the Mississippi Semipro league well into June, having joined the team after failing to report to Fort Worth.

On July 2 Comets manager Noel Boland announced that Waters would no longer be available to the club, having been asked to report back to Greenwood in the Cotton States League. When he arrived, he quickly rattled off half a dozen wins before yielding six runs for a no-decision verdict in what ended as an 11-8 loss to Pine Bluff on July 29. He suffered a loss on August 8, a 2-1 verdict at the hands of the Monroe Sports. He went on to win five more games to finish the season with a 11-1 record in less than two full months of work.

Despite not joining the league until July, Waters was selected to the Cotton States League all-star team. He recorded seven strikeouts to earn a 5-4 win against Pine Bluff in the opening round of the league playoffs. But in a rematch on September 6, he allowed five hits and seven strikeouts in a tough 1-0 loss. Two days later, Pine Bluff eliminated Greenwood, 6-3, despite 7⅓ innings of relief work from Waters, who allowed only one run. The Monroe Sports eventually claimed the league’s title, and with the season ended, Waters returned to Hattiesburg, where he continued to find places to play.

Waters reported to camp at Vero Beach in the first week of March 1952 and was assigned to the Mobile Bears in the Double-A Southern Association.9 He made his first exhibition start on April 6 against the Nashville Volunteers, and allowed a lone run on five hits in six innings of work. On April 15 he began his regular season with a four-inning stint against the Memphis Chicks in which he recorded five walks, four hits, two strikeouts, and two wild pitches. He earned his first victory with four innings of relief work against the New Orleans Pelicans on April 22. As the season progressed, Waters was reduced to mostly relief work as he struggled to control his fastball and keep runners off base. He did not win his second game until July 31, an 8-6 effort against Chattanooga in which he walked five and struck out eight. His record sat at 2-5. In an August 15 start against Chattanooga, he failed to get out of the first inning. His uneven performance continued, and by season’s end his record was an underwhelming four wins and eight losses. The following April, Brooklyn sold him to the Milwaukee Braves-affiliated Atlanta Crackers in the Southern Association. He was 10-10 in 32 appearances, mostly with the Lincoln Chiefs in the Western League, where he arrived May 19.

On December 26, 1953, Milwaukee traded Waters, now 26, and fellow pitchers Larry Lasalle, Curt Raydon, and Max Surkont, outfielders Sid Gordon, Sam Jethroe, and $100,000 to the Pittsburgh Pirates for third baseman Danny O’Connell. It remains the only six-for-one player trade in major-league history. When Waters arrived at the Pirates camp in Fort Pierce, Florida, in February 1954, he was met with an expectation from general manager Branch Rickey that he be converted into a left-handed catcher. Waters told The Sporting News, “I caught maybe 10 games in high school and semipro ball. I simply like to play ball and if this will give me an opportunity, let’s go.”10 Fortunately for Waters, the experiment did not last long, and he went on to post a 13-4 record in 23 appearances with Class-B Waco and Class-A Denver.

Waters began the 1955 season with a 4-1 record at Waco before being sent in June to the Mexico City Tigers. His impact was immediate, as he pitched the Mexican League’s first shutout of the year on June 4 against Veracruz, 5-0.11 Waters dominated Mexican League hitters to the tune of a league-high 18 wins and only three losses. He collected a triple crown of sorts by pacing the league with 126 strikeouts and a sparkling 2.06 ERA.12 He was rewarded for his efforts with a call-up to the Pirates on September 11.

Waters made his major-league debut on September 20, 1956, with a four-inning relief appearance in which he yielded six hits and two earned runs in an 11-1 loss to the New York Giants. He added a scoreless inning the following day in his only other appearance of the season. Fred Waters could now call himself a “big-league” pitcher. He returned to Hattiesburg and took up duty coaching high-school football and basketball.

Waters reported to camp the following spring in Fort Myers and, for the first time, was able to bring Dorothy and their three young daughters (Mary Frances, Claire, and Dollie) along for the experience.13 He performed unevenly throughout spring camp and found himself optioned to the Hollywood Stars of the Pacific Coast League to begin the season. In June Branch Rickey traveled to California for a 10-day scouting trip in search of immediate help for the Pirates roster. He was expected to pass judgment on Fred Waters and teammate, Joe Trimble.14

On July 6 Waters and teammates Cholly Naranjo and Bill Mazeroski were called up to the Pirates from Hollywood. After seven relief appearances between July 14 and 23, Waters earned a 4-0 win in his first major-league start with seven shutout innings against the Cubs on the 26th. After being lifted for reliever Howie Pollet, he said, “I would have given $100 to finish but he had to take me out. I was tired. I had good stuff but I was forcing a little. That was the longest I’ve pitched in over a month.”15 He continued to pitch well in relief in mostly losing efforts until he received his second starting opportunity, in the second game of a doubleheader against the Giants at the Polo Grounds on August 12. In a battle of left-handers, he bested Giants starter Windy McCall in an 11-3 win. Waters allowed two earned runs in 5⅓ innings before giving way to reliever Roy Face. He aided his own cause by breaking the game open with a bases-loaded triple into right-center off McCall in the fourth inning, the first and only base hit of his major-league career. He made seven more appearances during the season, including a losing start against the St. Louis Cardinals on August 24. Although Waters finished the season with a 2-2 record and a respectable 2.82 ERA, healso issued 30 walks against just 14 strikeouts. Nearing his 30th birthday, he never played another game in the major leagues.

Waters bounced around the minor leagues for a few more seasons, back at Hollywood for 11 starts in 1957, and then with the Washington Senators-affiliated Chattanooga Lookouts after being purchased in May 1958. His stay with the Lookouts was brief, however, and he finished the season by rejoining the Mexico City Tigers. He pitched in Mexico again in 1959.

On August 8, 1960, Waters became the head baseball coach at Pensacola (Florida) High School after spending the previous two years at nearby Gonzalez Tate High School where he also coached football. At the time of his hiring, he boasted a 12-6 pitching record for the Pensacola Angels of the Class-D Alabama-Florida League.16 He spent the next two seasons as Pensacola’s ace lefty, going a combined 27-6, including numerous high-strikeout performances that dazzled the locals. In 1962 he led all of the minor leagues with an impressive 1.42 ERA. His manager in 1962, Wayne Terwilliger, described him as “a lefty who still knew how to get ’em out with a little of this and a little of that.”17

Waters’ brilliance for Pensacola in 1962 marked the end of his dedicated playing career, and while he continued to coach high-school sports, he applied for the head coaching job at Florida State University in September 1963. His résumé included a 101-25 coaching record in five seasons at the high-school level. He commented to a sportswriter, “I was told the job was wide open.”18 But Florida State ultimately hired Fred Hatfield so Fred Waters, never one to sit still, accepted a job in 1964 as manager of the Minnesota Twins-affiliated club in the Florida Rookie League.

As a high-school coach, Waters garnered a well-deserved reputation for stressing fundamentals. As head coach of the Escambia High Gators, he built one of the most dominant baseball programs in Florida. His 1971 pitching staff featured two future major leaguers: senior starter Dennis Lewallyn, and junior starter Preston Hanna. In 1972 his club, bolstered by staff ace Hanna, won Florida’s Class 4A title, defeating Tampa Robinson in the state tournament. Two years later, they won the Class 4A title again, defeating Miami Beach High 7-2. Senior pitcher Kevin Saucier led the 1974 team with a 13-2 record and a 1.32 ERA.19 In 1976, when freshman shortstop Jim Presley joined the team, Escambia remained the team to beat in Northwest Florida.

In May 1981, after 18 years, Waters retired from coaching high-school baseball. The 54-year-old confessed, “I’m getting a little age on me, and working until after dark every night starts to wear you down.”20 He continued to stay on at the school as an administrative dean. During his tenure as a high-school coach, he sent over a dozen of his players into the professional ranks.

Waters was not done entirely with baseball. He continued to manage the Elizabethton Twins in the rookie-level Appalachian League, a post he had held since 1975. He managed the team for 12 seasons, winning 443 games, second most all-time in franchise history, and capturing two league championships (1978 and 1984). He was chosen Appalachian League Manager of the Year three times (1978, 1981, and 1984).21 Among the players he helped guide as young professionals were Jim Eisenreich, Steve Lombardozzi, Kirby Puckett, and Gene Larkin. After persuading the Twins to draft Pensacola high-school shortstop Jay Bell in the first round of the 1984 major-league June amateur draft, he managed Bell to an Appalachian League title that very summer.

After the 1986 season Waters stepped down from managing and retired to Pensacola. His influence on baseball in Northwest Florida indelible, local coaches continued to seek his advice and guidance.

Fred Waters died at the age of 62 on August 28, 1989, after a lengthy illness. He was buried at Roseland Park Cemetery in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. At the time of his death, he was survived by his wife and three children.

Waters’ loss was felt deeply throughout the Northwest Florida baseball community. Before long, a number of his former players got together and organized the annual Fred Waters Memorial Baseball Clinic. Of the camp and its organizers, Fred’s wife, Dorothy said, “I think they’re wonderful to give their time and do this. Nothing would please Fred Waters more than to see his boys out on the baseball field.”22

The first clinic was held at the University of West Florida in January 1990 and offered free instruction in baseball fundamentals to players from little league to high school. Over the years, numerous current and former major leaguers have volunteered to participate, including Dennis Lewallyn, Preston Hanna, Kevin Saucier, Jim Presley, Greg Litton, Hosken Powell, Will Clark, Greg Luzinski, Jay Bell, Travis Fryman, and Mark Whiten.

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted Baseball-Reference.com and the following:

Brown, Scott. Baseball in Pensacola: America’s Pastime & the City of Five Flags. United States: History Press, 2013.

newspapers.com/

Pittsburgh Press

2020 Appalachian League Media Guide

Pensacola Magazine, Nov/Dec 2012

southernmiss.com/documents/2018/7/25/1544_genrel_2012_13_misc_non_event__fred-waters.pdf

Notes

1 “Southern May Cancel Remainder of Cage Schedule,” Hattiesburg American, January 26, 1946: 6.

2 “Southern Loses John LeGros to Phillies,” Hattiesburg American, July 21, 1947: 4.

3 “Bubber Phillips, Mel Didier Sign with Detroit Tigers,” Hattiesburg American, July 1, 1948: 1.

4 Pat Robinson, ‘Stan Musial Opposed to ‘Cheap’ Homers,” Pittsburgh Sun-Telegraph, May 10, 1949: 26.

5 “Two Dodgers on All-Star Team,” Greenwood Commonwealth, December 3, 1949: 6.

6 “Pioneers Win 3rd Straight; Mobile Outfielder Joins Club,” Star Gazette (Elmira, New York), April 8, 1950: 6.

7 Elmira Advertiser June 6, 1950: 11.; Star-Gazette, June 8, 1950: 37; Star-Gazette, June 26, 1950: 12.

8 “Narleski Wins Third Shutout,” The Sporting News, May 16, 1951: 27.

9 “Sports from a Ringside Seat,” Hattiesburg American April 3, 1952: 11.

10 “Another Southpaw Catcher for the Bucs,” The Sporting News, March 10, 1954: 7.

11 Lou Hernandez, The Rise of the Latin American Baseball Leagues, 1947-1961 (Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, 2011), 20.

12 Hernandez, 22.

13 Mary Irene Moffitt, “Pirates Wives Enjoy Florida Sunshine, Too,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, March 10, 1956: 21.

14 “Rickey Back After Scouting West for Quick Aid to Bucs,” The Sporting News, July 4, 1956: 25.

15 “Quiet Man Waters Once Quit Baseball,” Pittsburgh Sun-Telegraph, July 27, 1956: 12.

16 “Waters Joins Staff at PHS,” Pensacola (Florida) Journal, August 9, 1960: 1B.

17 Wayne Terwilliger with Nancy Peterson and Peter Boehm, Terwilliger Bunts One (Guilford, Connecticut: Insiders’ Guide, 2006), 151.

18 “Waters Shoots for FSU Post,” Pensacola News, September 10, 1963: 9.

19 “Phils Sign Kevin Saucier,” Pensacola News Journal, June 9, 1974: 7C.

20 “Waters Calls It Quits,” Pensacola News Journal, May 20, 1981: 11.

21 Allen LaMountain, Appalachian League Baseball: Where Rookies Rise (United States: Xlibris, 2014), 79.

22 “Giants’ Clark Headlines Waters Baseball Clinic,” Pensacola News Journal, January 13, 1990: 21.