Leo Fishel

Leo Fishel was born in Babylon, New York, as the youngest of eight children to Leopold and Theresa Fishel.^[2] He entered Columbia in the fall of 1894 and pitched for the baseball team there while also playing for various semi-pro teams around New York and New Jersey. He was once offered US$20 plus expenses to pitch in a game for White Plains.^[2]

On May 3, 1899, Fishel made his major league debut for the New York Giants, pitching a complete game and taking the loss.^[1] He was the first Jewish pitcher in Major League Baseball.^[3][4] Later that summer, he played for the New London Whalers and New Haven Blues of the Connecticut State League. Fishel went 2-4 in the CSL and did not play any professional baseball after 1899.^[5]

Fishel graduated from Columbia Law School in 1900 and was admitted to the bar later that year.^[2] He became coach of the Columbia baseball team in early 1901^[6] and over the next few years played and coached various teams in the area while setting up his law practice. In 1905, he won a championship while coaching the Freeport High School team.^[2]

Fishel was married twice. His first marriage to Mary Blossom Searle in 1903 produced one daughter, but it ended in divorce. He later married Laura Duerstein, and his second child, a son, was born in 1917.^[2]

Fishel died in Hempstead, New York, in 1960.^[1]

• Career statistics from Baseball Reference · Baseball Reference (Minors) · Retrosheet  · Baseball Almanac