Fussell was born in
Sheridan, Missouri, in 1895. He started his professional baseball career in 1922 with the Chicago Cubs. That season, he played in three MLB games in September and October and had a
win–loss record of 1–1. In 1923, Fussell mostly pitched in
relief for Chicago. He appeared in 28 games, going 3–5 and tying for the team-lead with three
saves. Fussell spent the next several years in the minor leagues. He played for the
Pacific Coast League's
Seattle Indians in 1924 and 1925 and then went to the
Texas League's
Wichita Falls Spudders. In 1927, he won a career-high 21 games for the Spudders, and he was traded to the Pittsburgh Pirates that December for
Mike Cvengros and
Ike Danning. Fussell was a major league
starter during the 1928 season. In 159.2
innings pitched, he went 8–9 with a 3.61
earned run average. In 1929, he was a reliever, and his ERA jumped up to 8.62. Fussell's professional baseball career ended in 1939. He retired with a career minor league record of 150–118 to go along with his 14–17 major league one. Late in Fussell's life,
Baseball Hall of Fame historian
Lee Allen wrote a piece about him in a
Baseball Digest article. He died in 1966. ==References==