White Sox Catcher Carlton Fisk Close to Bringing Home the Glory

Carlton Fisk never dreamed it would come down to this.

“I’m not your classic home-run hitter,” the Chicago White Sox catcher said. “I’m more of a line-drive hitter. I’m not like (Oakland A’s star Jose) Canseco and those other guys who just bomb balls out of the park.”

One more homer, though, and he will have bombed more balls out of the park than any other catcher in baseball history.

Fisk tied Hall of Famer Johnny Bench with 327 homers with a shot Aug. 8 in Kansas City. Bench hit 327 of his 389 lifetime homers at catcher.

Fisk has 22 home runs while playing other positions, for a lifetime total of 349 over 18-plus seasons.

Not bad for a line-drive hitter.

This is Day Nine of the milestone wait for the 42-year-old Fisk. But today he also gets to go against somebody his own age.

Fisk is penciled in as catcher in tonight’s second game of a double-header at Arlington Stadium. Charlie Hough will be on the mound for the Texas Rangers.

Fisk’s milestones seem to have been saved for greats of the game. His 500th career hit came off Nolan Ryan in 1976. Career hit No. 1,500 was off Boston’s Roger Clemens.

“I hope he gets it,” Chicago Manager Jeff Torborg said. “All the good ones have a flair for the dramatic.”

The game is a makeup of last week’s 7 1/2-hour rain-out in Comiskey Park, believed to be the longest rain delay ever.

Ryan will start the first game for Texas.

Torborg said he decided Fisk would catch the second game “not because of any success he’s had against Charlie, but it’s more like the lack of success he’s had against Nolie.

“But he’s in good company there.”

Fisk’s next homer also will put him past George Foster and into 42nd on the all-time list.

Fisk is the only catcher in modern baseball history to top the century mark in both homers and stolen bases and only the third catcher ever to collect 300 homers, 1,000 runs and 1,000 RBIs. Hall of Famers Bench and Yogi Berra are the other two.

He has been selected to the American League All-Star team 10 times.

“He deserves all the accolades he has coming his way,” Torborg said from his Arlington hotel Thursday night. “Every time he reaches a milestone you’re happy because he’s so deserving. He’s worked so hard.”

Torborg said much of the credit for his team’s surprising success this year has to go to Fisk.