Bob Fisher Opens 40th Season as B-W Baseball Coach

Baldwin-Wallace College head coach Bob Fisher opened his 40th season at the helm of the B-W baseball team today with an 18–8 win over Emerson College at the Gene Cusic Collegiate Classic in Ft. Myers, Fla.

Coach Fisher

Coach Fisher graduated from B-W in 1963 and became the head baseball coach at his alma mater when Lars Wagner, who had rebuilt the program after it was suspended during World War II, retired in 1967.

In his first few years on the job, he put his stamp on the program by expanding the schedule, making the preseason southern trip an annual event, establishing a junior varsity team and upgrading the baseball field. He also introduced an aggressive style of play that attacked opponents on defense as well as on offense.

After an 8–10 rookie season in 1968, Fisher’s Yellow Jackets won the Ohio Athletic Conference Northern Division championship in 1969, and then won back-to-back division titles in 1972 and 1973.

When the OAC realigned to a single division in 1985, B-W won the regular season race and hosted the conference’s inaugural postseason championship tournament. The Jackets won the tournament with a tripleheader sweep on the final day that was capped by a dramatic, come-from-behind win over Marietta College in the championship game. They went on to host three of the first four championship tournaments.

The Jackets also made their first appearance in the NCAA Division III playoffs in 1985, finishing third in the Midwest Regional after being eliminated by the eventual national champion University of Wisconsin–Oshkosh. They earned three more trips to the NCAA playoffs in the next five years.

Entering his fourth decade in the B-W dugout, Coach Fisher is the dean of OAC coaches with a 362–231–8 (.610) conference record, 17 postseason appearances and four coach of the year awards.

Overall, he has guided the Yellow Jackets through 1,243 games and posted a 651–580–12 (.529) career record. He has more wins at B-W than any other coach in school history and ranks 18th on the NCAA’s list of the all-time winningest coaches in Division III baseball.

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One Response to Bob Fisher Opens 40th Season as B-W Baseball Coach

  1. Hi Coach,

    Congratulations on coaching the Yellow Jackets for 40 seasons! That’s an awesome accomplishment.

    I have many great memories of playing baseball for you so many years ago. I’ll never forget as a Freshman looking out my dorm room window in Heritage Hall and seeing the baseball field on fire. I learned later that day you would set the dirt on fire to dry it out so we could play later that day. You worked very hard so we had as many opportunities as possible to play. (Baseball in spring along Lake Erie is not always easy.)

    After 20 years of not playing baseball I decided to join a 38 and over baseball league in the Chicago suburbs and try pitching again. (I always wondered what would have happened in 1982 if I hadn’t hurt my arm. We had a good team.) I still love the game and this year will be my 5th season of old man baseball. (That’s what my kids call it.)

    Anyway, I just wanted to write you a note and say congratulations on an awesome job. You touched many kids lives in a positive way. Maybe I’ll have to make one of the old timer games to see if the youngsters can hit an old lefty.

    Take care,

    Jeff Burton
    1979–1982