Ray Fosse (1947-2021) American Baseball Player

Ray Fosse American Baseball Player

He played the catcher position for Major League Baseball’s Cleveland Indians, Oakland Athletics, Seattle Mariners, and Milwaukee Brewers during an eleven year Major League career (1967-1977, 1979) He played baseball while in high school and later attended Southern Illinois University. In 1965, he was drafted by the Cleveland Indians in the Major League Baseball draft and later went on to play three seasons in the Indians’ farm system before making the main club in 1967.

He went back to the minors in 1968 and stayed there for one year before coming back to Cleveland in 1969. He went on to play for the Indians for the next 3 and half years before he was traded to the Oakland A’s in 1973. While with the Indians, he was named to two All-Star Games (1970 and 1971) and earned two Gold Gloves. He was also well known for the final play of the 1970 All-Star Game in which Pete Rose collided with him at home plate to went the game for the National League. He went on to play for the A’s for the next three years before being traded back to the Indians before the 1976 season.

Ray was a part of the A’s 1973 and 1974 World Championship teams and also their 1975 American League West Division Championship team. His second tenure with the Indians lasted two years before he was traded to the Seattle Mariners in September of 1977. He played the remainder of the 1977 season with the Mariners before signing on with the Milwaukee Brewers for the 1978 season.

Ray got hurt during spring training and wasn’t able to play for Brewers in 1978, but came back the next year to play for them. He retired after being released by the Brewers after the 1979 season. He later was a color commentator for the Oakland A’s from 1986 to August 2021, when he was forced by cancer to step away from the broadcast booth. He passed away after a sixteen year battle with cancer.