Ferris Fain: Major League Baseball Player (1921–2001)

Ferris Roy Fain, Major League Baseball player, was born on March 29, 1921, at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio to Oscar Farris Fain and Ada Elanore (Leonard) Fain. Oscar, a construction worker, was also a boxer who passed on his knowledge of fisticuffs to Ferris and his brother Lafe Clarence. Oscar was a former jockey whose horse, Duval, finished one neck behind the winning team of Cal Shilling and Worth in the 1912 Kentucky Derby. His alcoholism, however, broke up his marriage in the 1930s. Ferris and Lafe lived in Oakland, California, with their mother Ada, who worked as a domestic.

A multi-sports star at Roosevelt High School in Oakland, Ferris Fain was particularly adept at baseball. He also served as student body president. Doc Silvey, scout for the San Francisco Seals of the Pacific Coast League, took notice of Fain. Making a “down payment” on Fain’s services, the Seals allowed him to work out with the team and surreptitiously gave him $200 a month during his senior year. He immediately signed with the team after graduating in 1939. His nickname “Cocky” was given to him by Seals trainer Bobby Johnson, ostensibly because the latter thought Fain had a lazy eye, although the name proved well-deserved. A stocky (5’11”, 180 pounds), left-handed (throwing and batting), and slick-fielding first baseman, Fain had an aggressive playing style and an explosive temper both on and off the field.

San Francisco Seals and Military Service (1939–46)

San Francisco native Lefty O’Doul had been the Seals manager since 1935 and would remain so through the 1951 season. A renowned hitting instructor, he was a mentor to Fain. O’Doul used Fain sparingly in 1939 but eased him into the first base job in 1940. In 1941, at the age of twenty, he came into his own; he batted .310 with 201 hits and led the league in runs scored. Fain appeared to be a rising star but in 1942 he disappointed, with his average dropping to .216. He was not a power hitter, so he could not compensate for his low average with a respectable slugging percentage.

Fain spent the next three seasons in the Army Air Force. He rose to the rank of staff sergeant and played with and against major league players on service teams at McLellan Field near Sacramento and Hickam Field in Hawaii. His teammates at the latter site included three future members of the Hall of Fame: Joe DiMaggio, Red Ruffing, and Joe Gordon. In 1946 Fain returned to the Seals and batted .301 and drove home 112 runs, by far his best season in that regard, either in minor or major league ball (the Pacific Coast League, however, presented more opportunities since the schedule was longer than the 154-game major league schedule).

Philadelphia Athletics (1947–52)

Though Fain was no longer considered a prodigy, he was still of interest to some major league teams, even after the return of veteran ballplayers at the conclusion of World War II. After thirteen straight losing seasons and a 1946 record of 49–105, the Philadelphia Athletics were sorely in need of fresh talent. The Seals were affiliated with the New York Giants, which had future Hall of Famer Johnny Mize ensconced at first base, so there was no upward mobility for Fain, who played no other position. He appeared ready for the big leagues, however, so Athletics owner–manager Connie Mack selected Fain in the Rule 5 draft, an annual major league procedure designed to prevent promising young players from getting stuck in the minor leagues, and signed him for $6,500.

As was often the case with ballplayers who had not grown up near major league cities, the first major league game in which Fain played (opening day, April 15, 1947, at Yankee Stadium) was also the first major league game he had ever seen. He finished the season with a .291 batting average and an on-base percentage (OBP) of .414, good enough for The Sporting News to name him to the 1947 All-Rookie team. He finished fourth in the voting for the inaugural Rookie of the Year award. Throughout Fain’s career, he had a good eye at the plate and was regularly among league leaders in walks, thus enhancing his OBP. As of 2025 his major league OBP of .424 was ranked fifteenth all-time highest. All but two of those ahead of him are enshrined in the National Baseball Hall of Fame (Fain’s nine-season major league career was one year shy of the ten-year minimum required for Hall of Fame eligibility).

Fain was steady but not spectacular as the A’s regular first baseman in 1948 and 1949 but upgraded his performance enough to get named to the American League All-Star squad in 1950. It was the first of five consecutive All-Star appearances. In 1951 the thirty-year-old Fain, having been named team captain, improved dramatically and won the American League batting title with a .344 average. The Sporting News named him “Outstanding Player of the Year.” He won another batting championship in 1952 with a .327 average.

Trade to Chicago White Sox and Misconduct

Following the 1952 season Fain was traded to the Chicago White Sox. It was the first time in American League history that a reigning batting champion had been traded. During the off-season he was also sued for divorce by his wife, Jacqueline May (Turner) Fain, whom he had married on October 4, 1941, while playing for the Seals, and with whom he had three children. The excuse the A’s gave for the trade was a need for more power (first baseman Eddie Robinson, who had hit seventy-one home runs and driven in 294 runs in his previous three seasons with the White Sox, was one of the players they received in return). In truth, for all Fain’s skills on the baseball field, the A’s had grown weary of his misbehavior—drinking and fighting.

According to Athletics’ shortstop Eddie Joost, “Ferris Fain was his own worst enemy. He had a lifestyle of his own and would do exactly what he wanted to do. There were many things the players didn’t like about him. No one drank as much. He wouldn’t drink every day, but occasionally he’d overdrink and wouldn’t be as attentive on the field.” Another teammate, left fielder Gus Zernial, recalled, “He wanted to fight someone all the time. He was fiery in the clubhouse and on the field, and if there was a fight, he was in the middle of it.” Some of the games Fain missed were due to injuries suffered not on the field but in after-hour fights. In 1952 he narrowly won the American League batting championship after breaking a finger in a barroom brawl (the “official story” was he caught his finger in a car door). Sportswriters coined alliterative nicknames such as Fiery Ferris, Furious Ferris, and Fearless Ferris.

Final Seasons of Playing Career (1953–55)

Despite Fain’s pugnacious behavior, White Sox manager Paul Richards held him in high esteem. Fain’s $35,000 contract in 1953 was the biggest in White Sox history. The July issue of Sport magazine put Fain on the cover with the caption “A Pennant for Chicago?” Hopes were high for Fain, but he responded with a disappointing season. The highlight of his season occurred in early August, when the White Sox were in Washington, D.C., to take on the Senators. After a Sunday afternoon game, he became embroiled in a fracas at a suburban Maryland tavern. He broke a finger on his throwing hand, was charged with assault, and was sued by his victim. In addition, the White Sox fined him $600.

Fain got off to a good start in 1954, but a mid-season injury (incurred during a game) sidelined him for the rest of the year. At the end of the season, he was traded to the Detroit Tigers. Fain’s performance in the first half of 1955 was disappointing, and he was released but soon signed as a free agent with the Cleveland Indians, who needed a stopgap first baseman to replace their regular first baseman, Vic Wertz, who was out with polio for the rest of the season.

The Indians chose to release Fain at the end of the 1955 season, even though his OBP for the season was .455, his best ever in that category. No major league team was interested in his services, so he signed on as a player–coach with the Sacramento Solons of the Pacific Coast League for the 1956 season. Once again, his results were lackluster. Long hampered by knee problems, he retired as a player at the age of thirty-five. While a career in managing might have been a natural transition for a player with his skill set, his volatile temperament was well-known in baseball circles, and no job was offered.

Later Life and Legal Troubles

Remaining in northern California, Fain settled down in El Dorado County, between Sacramento and Reno, Nevada, and became a home builder. He married Norma T. Hickson on July 24, 1962. His exploits were no longer documented on the nation’s sports pages, but three decades after he retired as a player, his name was back in the news.

In 1985 Placerville, California, police raided Fain’s home and found marijuana plants in his possession. He was sentenced to five years probation. Fain continued to cultivate cannabis and was raided again three years later. The authorities found more than 400 marijuana plants (estimated at roughly $1 million) as well as books on the cultivation of marijuana and ledger sheets pertaining to sales and expenses. Fain, by that point wheelchair-bound, was sentenced to eighteen months at a state prison in Vacaville, California. His excuse for his transgression was that his health was failing and he wanted to leave his wife financially secure. Fain was a grower and a dealer but, despite his history of alcohol abuse, never a user.

Death and Honors

Ferris Fain died of complications from leukemia and diabetes on October 18, 2001, in Georgetown, California, and was buried at Georgetown Pioneer Cemetery. He was survived by his second wife and two children from his first marriage.

While Fain’s off-field misbehavior precludes induction into most halls of fame, he was awarded a plaque on the Wall of Fame at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia in 1997. When the stadium closed after the 2003 season, the plaque was moved to the Philadelphia Athletics Historical Society in Hatboro, Pennsylvania. After the society closed its doors, their artifacts were bequeathed to Spike’s Trophies in Philadelphia and put on display. The names of Athletics Wall of Fame members are also inscribed on the plinth of a statue of Connie Mack, originally unveiled in 1957 at Connie Mack Stadium and on display at Citizens Bank Park since 2004.