My Vintage Minneapolis Millers & St. Paul Saints Collection

[Tay1038]

Game-Used Bats from George “Showboat” Fisher, Buzz Arlett and Roy Patterson

Buzz Arlett. The man they called “Babe Ruth of the minor leagues”, spent most of his baseball years in his hometown of Oakland in the Pacific Coast League (13 Years). In the part of his career, Arlett was one of the leagues top pitchers, winning 29 games in 1920. He then became one of the circuit’s best hitters. Arlett spent one year in the majors, hitting .313 with the Philadelphia Phillies in 1931. Playing only 116 games with the Millers, Arlett had 132 runs batted in and led the American Association with 41 home runs. He played two more years with the Millers. Arlett ended his 19-year minor league career with an amazing .341 career batting average, 432 home runs and 2,726 hits.

Roy Patterson is best remembered for throwing the first pitch (and recording the first win) in American League History. The spitballing righthander was a 20-game winner for the Millers in 1908, 1910, 1911, and 1912. He returned to Minneapolis to help a thinned-out mound staff during World War I and pitched three more years. His 10-year record with the Millers was 135-73. Patterson also pitched for the Chicago White Sox from 1901-07. He won 20 games for the Sox in 1901 and also delivered the first pitch for the American League when it became a major league. Patterson, a World Series winner in 1906 with the Chicago White Sox also started his professional baseball career in 1899 with crosstown rival St. Paul Saints.

George Aloys "Showboat" Fisher played four seasons in Minneapolis. He played in the 1930 World Series with the St. Louis Cardinals and was the last surviving member of the 1924 Washington Senators, the only Washington, D.C.-based baseball team to win a World Series.