Fred Lasher was born in Poughkeepsie, New York on August 19, 1941 and passed away in Altoona, Wisconsin at the age of 80 on February 27, 2022. Lasher grew up playing basketball and baseball for Poughkeepsie High School and the local Poughkeepsie YMCA. As a high school senior, Lasher had a 7-0 record and threw a no-hitter.
Lasher was invited to participate in a local All-Star game against some New York Yankee rookies that was attended by major league scouts. Joe Gall a scout for the Washington Senators liked what he saw and signed Lasher to his first pro contract in January of 1960 and Lasher was assigned to Wytheville Senators of the Appalachian League. He was known for a sidearm/submarine pitching delivery that earned him the nickname “The Whip,” and he picked up that delivery as a child by throwing rocks at his parents’ house.
Lasher attended his first big league spring training in 1963 as a talented but very raw pitcher, with a sidearm fastball but no curveball, and occasional control problems. The coaches taught him a three-quarters overhand delivery for his curve. After putting up good numbers in the spring, Lasher became a surprise addition to the Twins’ pitching staff.
The Whip made his major league debut on April 12, 1963, at Municipal Stadium against the Kansas City Athletics as the third and final Twins pitcher in a 6-0 loss. He sort-of pitched a 1-2-3 inning; Bobby Del Greco and Ed Rakow flew out, and in between them Haywood Sullivan bunted for a base hit, raced to second on a throwing error by third baseman George Banks and was thrown out trying to reach third base. Lasher was occasionally wild and that earned him a trip back to the minors after eight appearances when rosters were being reduced. Lasher was brought back for a September cup of coffee and pitched in three games, and they turned out to be his final games in a Twins uniform. Lasher continued pitching in the Twins minor league system through the 1966 season.
The Detroit Tigers rescued Lasher from the Twins minor league dungeon by picking him in the league’s minor-league draft. He split 1967 between Double-A Montgomery and Triple-A Toledo, and he was brilliant, with an ERA under 1 at both stops. Lasher had a combined 10-2 record and 0.64 ERA in 44 games, with just 17 walks allowed against 67 strikeouts.
Lasher said that if he hadn’t been drafted out of the Minnesota organization, he would have quit. He acknowledged that his relationship with the Twins had been strained, which probably accounted for his exile to Class-A ball. He didn’t like the attempt to mess with his delivery, but he admitted his own faults as well. “I got in bad with the organization. I gave the managers trouble and argued with some of the men in the organization out in front of everybody,” Lasher explained. “They said I had a bad attitude. Minnesota Twins owner Calvin Griffith once told him that he had a million-dollar arm and a 10-cent head. “And he was right.”
Lasher did indeed move up, all the way back to the majors, at the tail end of the 1967 season. The Tigers were fighting for the AL pennant, and manager Mayo Smith was looking for any pitcher who could help. Lasher picked up a save in his first appearance on August 13, blanking the Orioles for 2 innings in a 3-2 victory. After that, Smith used him over and over, almost to the point of overuse. Lasher shut out the Twins for 3 innings on August 22, striking out 4 and picking up his first major-league win. “I wanted that one,” he said after the game against his old team. “They buried me, you know.”
Lasher pitched for the Tigers from 1967 until May 22, 1970, when he was traded to the Cleveland Indians. After the 1970 season he was picked up by the California Angels in the Rule 5 draft but appeared in just 2 big league games before being released in the spring of 1972 ending Lasher’s pro career.
Fred Lasher played in all or parts of six seasons in the big leagues with the Twins, Tigers, Indians and Angels and posted an 11-13 record with a 3.88 ERA with 148 strikeouts in 202 innings. Lasher appeared in game four of the 1968 World Series and pitched 2 scoreless innings.
Fred Lasher was preceded in death by his wife of 41 years, Judy (Gibbons) Lasher in 2004, and his daughter Wendy Merrick in 2012. He is survived by his daughter Cory (Steve Luiting) Lasher, and sons Todd (Laurie) and Zach (Kristie) Lasher, son-in-law Jim Merrick as well as ten grandchildren, two step grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren. Relatives also include the Barb and Bruce Evanson family in Bismarck, ND; the Susan and Larry Watson family in Kenosha, WI; and brothers-in-law Mark Gibbons and Peter Curtis in Marine, MN.