Vintage 3X5 index card signed in ballpoint ink by Ray L. Fisher. A terrific rare example of his signature. (1887–1982)Ray Lyle Fisher was an American professional baseball pitcher and college coach. He pitched all or part of ten seasons in Major League Baseball. His debut game took place on July 2, 1910. His final game took place on October 2, 1920. During his early professional career, he played for the New York Yankees and Cincinnati Reds.From 1921 to 1958, he coached the University of Michigan Wolverines baseball team and served as an assistant coach for basketball and football. In 1929 and 1932 he took the baseball team to Japan for a month each time at the invitation of Meiji University, where they played several games against Japanese university teams around the nation. Fisher is one of the few players to be re-instated into professional baseball after being banned for life. Prior to the 1921 season, the Reds offered him a contract in which his salary was $1,000 less than that of the previous season. After making his objections known in a letter to Reds president August Herrmann, Fisher signed the contract. Before the season began, however, Fisher learned that the position of head baseball coach had again become available at the University of Michigan, a position for which he had belatedly applied the previous year on the recommendation of Branch Rickey. Fisher requested, and was apparently given by manager Pat Moran, permission to go and look into the job.When he was offered the position at Michigan, the Reds' management tried to induce Fisher to remain with the team by offering to restore the $1,000 cut from the previous year's contract. Fisher thought the Michigan position held greater long-term promise and accepted the job, believing that he would be given his release from Cincinnati or placed on the list of voluntarily retired players (both of which were subsequently reported in the local papers).Part way into Michigan's playing season, other teams began contacting Fisher inquiring as to his availability to pitch and coach during the summer, Rickey's St. Louis Cardinals among them. Fisher contacted the Reds for clarification on his status, noting that he realized they had first call on his services. He learned that he was being placed on the list of those ineligible to play, the Reds citing his having given them only seven days notice, rather than the required ten, prior to leaving the club. Fisher appealed to the commissioner of baseball, Kenesaw Mountain Landis, and the commissioner promised to look into the matter.After obtaining the Reds' version of the negotiations, the commissioner upheld the Reds' position and banned Fisher for leaving the team after having signed a contract. Fisher ended his major league career with a 100–94 record and a 2.82 ERA. His final game was pitched on October 2, 1920, and it was part of the only tripleheader played in the 20th century. Following the determination of his ineligibility, Fisher signed on with one of the "outlaw" teams, pitching briefly for the Franklin, Pennsylvania, Oilers before the team folded.About 1944, as part of a promotion for the Baseball Hall of Fame, Fisher received in the mail a silver lifetime pass to any major league ballpark in the country. The pass was signedby the presidents of both leagues and was inscribed "To Ray Fisher in appreciation of long and meritorious service", which Fisher interpreted to mean that his "blacklisting" had been lifted.This was his belief for nearly 35 years until he learned late in his life that the blacklisting was still officially on record with the Commissioner's office. In 1951 Fisher was called to Washington, D.C.,to testify about his blacklisting in a House Judiciary Committee investigation into the alleged monopoly of power in professional baseball.Comes with a full Letter of Authenticity from Todd Mueller Authentics.