Jack Fournier

John Frank "Jack" Fournier (September 28, 1889 – September 5, 1973) was an American baseball first baseman who played fifteen seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB). He played for the Chicago White Sox, New York Yankees, St. Louis Cardinals, Brooklyn Robins, and Boston Braves from 1912–1918 and 1920–1927. Fournier died on September 5, 1973 at a nursing home in Tacoma, Washington.

Fournier was notorious for having outstanding batting abilities, but subpar fielding abilities.

Career

When purchased by the White Sox from the Boston Red Sox in 1912, Fournier presented Clarence "Pants" Rowland and a half-dozen other managers with the dilemma of what to do with his pure hitting, but poor fielding abilities. Rowland solved that problem in 1916, a year after Fournier had led the AL in slugging, by replacing him at first base with the marginal Jack Ness. Before 1920, a first baseman was one of the key fielding positions because of the constant threat of the bunt; Fournier could not field the bunt with any degree of competence.