Baseball Career
Farmer attended St. Rita High School on the southwest side of Chicago. Farmer's best seasons were with the Chicago White Sox from 1979 to 1981. He was acquired by Chicago with Gary Holle in June of the 1979 season from the Texas Rangers in exchange for Eric Soderholm. Farmer responded by recording 14 saves for the Sox, 13 of them coming after the All-Star break. A notable feud started between Al Cowens and Farmer early in the 1979 season. On May 8 while playing the Kansas City Royals, a Farmer pitch thrown in the top of the 5th inning fractured Cowens' jaw and broke several teeth; Cowens would miss 21 games. Farmer also hit Royal Frank White in the same game and broke his wrist and caused him to miss 33 contests. The next season on June 20‚ 1980 while playing Detroit‚ the now-Tiger Cowens hit an infield grounder against Farmer at Comiskey Park. While Farmer watched his infielder make the play, Cowens ran to mound and tackled the pitcher from behind, instead of running to first base; getting in several punches before the benches cleared and the two were separated. Cowens was suspended for 7 games and a warrant was issued for his arrest in Illinois‚ forcing him to skip the remainder of the series. Later Farmer agreed to drop the charges in exchange for a handshake‚ and the 2 players brought out the lineup cards before the game on September 1. However, future appearances for Cowens in Chicago were greeted with a "Coward Cowens" banner.
Despite the on-going feud with Cowens, 1980 would be Farmer's best. He was selected to the American League All-Star team when he compiled 18 saves prior to the break and finished the season with career highs in saves with 30 and wins with 7. Farmer started only 21 games of his career. His other 349 appearances were out of the bullpen. In 370 total games, he holds a 30–43 record with a 4.28 ERA. He accumulated 395 strikeouts in 624 innings pitched. Farmer finished his career with 75 career saves.
Read more about this topic: Ed Farmer
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