Born in Coburg, Howard Fox (March 1, 1921 – October 9, 1955) played his way through the University of Oregon and into a lengthy Major League career as a right-handed pitcher. He spent nine seasons and played for three different teams from 1944 to ’54 before moving to the minor leagues, where his career ended tragically at the age of 34.
Fox attended Oregon on a basketball scholarship after a standout career at Springfield’s Thurston High, whose teams were known as the Pansies in those days. Thurston played in the 1938 state tournament under coach Genevieve Beaman. Howie was one of seven brothers who played basketball at Thurston.
Fox attended Oregon for only a brief time and did not earn a letter in any sport. He was discovered by the Cincinnati Reds while working as a lumberjack and pitching in the semi-pro Cascade League. The Reds signed Fox in 1943, and he reached the Major Leagues as a reliever in two games the following year at age 23. He played for the Reds through 1951 before being traded to the Philadelphia Phillies, who released him after a 2-7 season as a starter. He appeared in 38 games as a reliever for the Baltimore Orioles in 1954 but was released at age 33.
In 248 Major League games he went 43-72 with six saves and a 4.33 ERA. He led the National League in losses with 19 in 1949. In his best season, Fox went 11-8 as the No. 4 starter for the Reds in 1950, finishing with a 4.33 ERA. He was consistently a bright spot for a franchise that struggled mightily for over a decade.
As a minor league pitcher, he compiled a record of 74-55, including 19-9 with a 2.68 ERA in 1947 for the Reds’ Triple-A farm club in Syracuse, N.Y. In his final season, he went 3-8 in San Antonio of the Texas League. He also pitched for teams in Venezuela during the winter in 1953 through 55.
Throughout his career, Fox battled through injuries and appendicitis and pitched at one point with a broken arm. For portions of his career, he and his family lived in a trailer parked at spring training or whatever city was home at the time.
The year after Fox's last big league appearance, he bought a local tavern in San Antonio, while he pitched for the Missions of the Double-A Texas League; a month into the offseason, he was stabbed to death at age 34 during a disturbance at that establishment.
