Raymond Francis Oyler (August 4, 1937 – January 26, 1981) was an American baseball player, a major league shortstop for the Detroit Tigers (1965–1968), Seattle Pilots (1969), and California Angels (1970). He is best remembered as the slick-fielding, no-hit shortstop for the 1968 World Series champion Tigers and as the subject of the "Ray Oyler Fan Club" organized by Seattle radio personality Robert E. Lee Hardwick (of the Pilots flagship radio station KVI) in Seattle. Oyler is noteworthy for having had the lowest career batting average of any position player (with at least a thousand at-bats) in modern baseball history.
Early years
Oyler was born in Indianapolis, Indiana, to Ray and Frances (née Harrington) Oyler. He graduated from Cathedral High School in Indianapolis in 1955 and served in the U.S. Marine Corps before playing in the major leagues.
Detroit Tigers (1965–1968)
Oyler was signed by the Tigers in 1960 as an amateur free agent. He made his major league debut with Detroit on April 18, 1965, going 0-for-2 as the starting shortstop against the California Angels.
During his first two seasons, Oyler was a backup shortstop to Dick McAuliffe. In 1965, Oyler debuted with a .186 batting average, with five home runs, six doubles and 13 RBI in 82 games. In 1966, Oyler's average dropped to .171 in 71 games, with one home run and 9 RBI in 210 at bats.
In 1968, Oyler played in 111 games, with 29 hits (21 of them singles) for a career-low batting average of .135, which remains the lowest batting average by any major league player appearing in at least 100 games in a season.
In its "The End of the Century" series, ESPN rated Smith's decision to move Stanley to shortstop for the World Series as one of the 10 greatest coaching decisions of the century.
Stanley returned to play 59 games at shortstop the next year, while Oyler was allowed to be drafted by the expansion Seattle Pilots.
The Ray Oyler "S.O.C. I.T. T.O. M.E. .300 Club" in Seattle (1969)
thumb|160px|Oyler with the [[Seattle Pilots in 1969]]
Oyler was left unprotected in the expansion draft after the 1968 season and was the third player drafted by the Seattle Pilots.
Grabbing onto the popularity of the late 1960s Laugh-In show's "Sock it to Me" catchphrase, the fan club was called the Ray Oyler "S.O.C. I.T. T.O. M.E. .300" Club, meaning "Slugger Oyler Can, In Time, Top Our Manager's Estimate" and hit .300. Some 15,000 baseball-starved fans signed up, and former Pilots relief pitcher Jack Aker recalled that the Ray Oyler Fan Club was out in great number at Sick's Stadium on the Pilots Opening Day. The fan club even gave Oyler a car and an apartment to use. When Oyler came to bat for the first time on Opening Day, the Oyler Fan Club went wild. "He got cheers, horns blew, confetti filled the air in his first time at bat." Former fan club members still boast that Oyler holds the all-time Pilots records for assists, putouts, and home runs by a shortstop (the Pilots played only one year, and Oyler was their shortstop).
In Ball Four, Seattle teammate Jim Bouton wrote that Oyler's nickname was "Oil Can Harry" because "he always looks as though he had just changed a set of rings."
Oyler hit a career-high seven home runs with 22 RBI in 106 games for the Pilots in 1969, and increased his batting average to .165.
After Oyler retired from baseball, he settled in the Seattle area, working for the Safeway supermarket chain, managing a bowling alley in Bellevue, Washington and working at Boeing. Oyler played slowpitch softball in Seattle from 1973 to 1980 and also occasionally pitched batting practice for the Tigers when they were in Seattle playing the Mariners. He suffered a heart attack at his Redmond home on January 26, 1981, and died at the age of 43. He is buried at Sunset Hills Memorial Park in Bellevue.