Michigan Baseball for beginners/new fans

All-Time Record: 2963-1734-34 (.630) 3rd most wins in college baseball history behind #1 Fordham and #2 Texas.

B1G Record: 1130-673 (.627)

NCAA National Championships: 2 (1953, 1962)

College World Series: 8 (1953, 1962, 1978, 1980, 1981, 1983, 1984, 2019)

B1G Championships: 35 (Most in B1G history; Most recent: 2008)

B1G Tournament Championships: 9 (Most recent: 2015)

NCAA Tournament appearances: 24

Golden Spikes Award winners: 1 (Jim Abbott, 1987)

First Team All-Americans: 15 (Most recent: Carmen Benedetti, 2015)

National Baseball Hall of Fame inductees: 3 (George Sisler, Branch Rickey, Barry Larkin)

Rivalries
Michigan-Ohio State record: 168-107-1
Michigan-Michigan State record: 207-110-1
Michigan-Minnesota record: 94-102
Michigan-Eastern Michigan record: 124-62-2

Home stadium: Ray Fisher Stadium

Built in 1923, the stadium was originally named Ferry Field. Yes, the same as Ferry Field the football stadium. Kind of confusing but the entire land that Dexter M. Ferry donated to U-M was named Ferry Field. That encompassed the Football stadium that Yost's teams played in, the tennis courts that were located where the old indoor track building sits now and the baseball stadium.

They basically just threw down a grandstand behind the South football stadium grandstand and called it good. Here's a photo to better illustrate what I'm trying to explain-

The large structure in the background is Ferry Field football, the one in front of it is Ferry Field of baseball being built in 1923. 

Ferry Field had a mammoth capacity of 10,000 until it was reduced to 3,000 in 1948. The demand for Michigan Baseball was so high that it had to be increased to 4,000 in 1985 during Michigan's decade of dominance. That's where the capacity currently sits. 

On May 23, 1970 in the season finale doubleheader with Purdue, Ferry Field was officially dedicated and renamed Ray L. Fisher Stadium after longtime legendary head coach Ray Fisher who coached Michigan for 38 seasons from 1921-1958. Fisher won the program's first National Championship in 1953 along with 15 Big Ten Championships and amassed a 636-295-8 career record. 

Ray Fisher was one of the only players to be banned from Major League Baseball but later reinstated. Fisher was one of the best pitchers in baseball at the time according to Hall of Famers Ty Cobb and Nap Lajoie. He had 100 career wins and 680 strikeouts to go with a 1919 World Series title with the Cincinnati Reds. 

Prior to the 1921 Reds season, Fisher was offered a new contract by the Reds but it featured a $1,000 pay cut. After a recommendation by former Michigan head coach Branch Rickey (1910-1913), Ray Fisher applied for the head coaching job at Michigan. He was offered and accepted the job thinking the Reds would let him off of his contract. They did not and later went to the commissioner who imposed a lifetime ban which was later overturned. 

Ray Fisher was the first one to spurn the pros and come coach Michigan. Sorry, Harbaugh.

Here's a photo of Ray Fisher, Branch Rickey and AD Fritz Crisler from 1958. The exact date of the photo is currently unknown but this was Fisher's last season before retirement. 

Branch Rickey served as head coach from 1910-1913. He played 4 seasons with 3 different MLB clubs but is most known for what he did in the front office as a general manager. In case you don't know or haven't seen the movie 42, Branch Rickey was the GM of the Brooklyn Dodgers and signed Jackie Robinson, breaking the color barrier in major league baseball. 

Michigan Baseball has a very rich history. Baseball was the first sport at Michigan and started all of this. The program began just shortly after the American Civil War in 1866.

153 years ago, the founding fathers of Michigan Athletics took the field against the Ann Arbor Baseball Club, defeating them 33-11. 

The rest is history.