Tom Acker, former Major League pitcher and Bergen County legend, dies at age 90

Tom Acker's senior baseball season at Fair Lawn High School in 1948 was extraordinary. He pitched 63 innings, tallying a 9-0 record with 102 strikeouts, 22 hits allowed and five walks.

Eight years later, he made his Major League debut on April 20,1956 at Wrigley Field in the red, black and white of the Cincinnati Redlegs (their official name from 1953 to 1960) and struck out his first major-league batter, Negro League legend Gene Baker.

But Acker's contribution to North Jersey baseball went beyond his high school and major league success. After being granted his unconditional release at the age of 30, when he refused to uproot his family for a minor league move across the country, he spent seven years as a pitcher and manager for the fledgling Emerson-Westwood Merchants. His involvement helped revitalize the sport at the local level.

"He taught me more about baseball than anyone I ever met,'' said Norm Dermody, the former Seton Hall star and FDU and Bergen Catholic coach, who played in the minor leagues under the late Tommy LaSorda and threw batting practice for more than 20 years for both New York teams. "He took care of everyone he met.''

Acker died Jan. 4 at his home in Narvon, Pennsylvania at the age of 90, but he never left his North Jersey roots. In his obituary, the family asked that in lieu of flowers, donations be made to the Fair Lawn Police Department. Acker's father, also named Tom, was a longtime police officer in Fair Lawn.

A long road to the Majors

Within days of pitching the clinching game of the 1948 Bergen Passaic Interscholastic League season, Acker signed with the New York Giants and was sent to Class D (the sixth of six minor league levels) Oshkosh in the Wisconsin State League, where he spent two years.

He led the Giants to a pennant the second year with 213 strikeouts in 201 innings, second in the league. He was then promoted to Class B Knoxville, where his team again won the pennant.

Then a pair of drafts intervened: The 1951 minor league draft, where he was the first selection of the Class AAA Buffalo Bisons, and then the Selective Service draft, which put him in the U.S. Army in Oct. 1951.

By the time he was back in professional baseball in 1954, he was married and his daughter Nancy had been born. He had been traded to the Redlegs and had chances to make the major league team in both 1954 and 1955, but was optioned to the minors each year before he finally made the team in 1956.

Success in Cincinnati

Over the next four years, Acker made 153 appearances for Cincinnati, mostly in relief, compiling a 19-13 record with a 4.12 ERA. His most memorable performance might have come in his rookie year, when he struck out eight Pittsburgh Pirates in five innings of one-hit relief, including striking out Hall of Famer Roberto Clemente, future NL MVP Dick Groat and solid slugger Lee Walls in the same inning.

"I loved Cincinnati,'' said his oldest daughter, Nancy Acker of Mahwah. "I was very young but it was a wonderful place. When my sister Janice was born, my mom was in the hospital and she saw fireworks at the ball park and thought they were for Janice's birth.''

Acker seemed to fall into disfavor when Freddie Hutchinson took over the managerial reins in early July of 1959. He threw only 17 innings in the final three months of the season and was traded to the Kansas City A's for catcher Frank House after the season.

Kansas City sent him to Richmond, Virginia in the AAA International League, but then wanted to move him to Dallas in the American Association. Acker refused the move and took his release, citing a need for stability for his family. 

After the pros

Acker returned home to Bergen County, where he worked for a trucking company and built a home in Wyckoff. He also began to play semi-pro baseball, first with the Paterson Phillies and then with a new team, the Emerson-Westwood Merchants, under a young Bud Lederer.

"Bud was in awe of him, and that's why they wore red, white and black uniforms and used the Reds' logo at the time,'' Dermody said. "I was in awe of him, too. He was the first major leaguer I ever met.''

Mike Bagley felt the same way. Bagley was a 20-year-old catcher who joined the Merchants in 1963, when Acker was pitching and managing the team.

"We went to the National Baseball Congress championships in Wichita, Kansas and he lit it up,'' said Bagley, who played semi-pro ball for nearly two decades. "He was the enjoyable pitcher I ever caught and he was always so calm, confident and humble. When he talked we listened.'' 

Acker's other love

Acker always loved horses. So it wasn't surprising that when the Meadowlands Race Track opened for business in 1976, Acker became a mutuel clerk, and later a supervisor, before retiring in 1992. He moved to Virginia and later to Pennsylvania in retirement.

"He was a gentle giant,'' Nancy said by phone at her home in Mahwah. "He was very strict with my sister Janice and I when we were kids and very protective of us. We might not have been happy at the time, but he was always wonderful to us and he lived a great life.''

Acker is survived by his wife Barbara, daughters Nancy Acker and Janice Crother and her husband Paul, three stepsons and five grandchildren, Bryan and Matthew Phillips, and Nicole, Andrew and Olivia Okken. Funeral services were held Jan. 7 at VanderPlaat-Caggiano Funeral Home in Fair Lawn.

Paul Schwartz covers high school track and field for NorthJersey.com. For full access to live scores, breaking news and analysis from our Varsity Aces team, subscribe today. To get breaking news directly to your inbox, sign up for our newsletter and download our app.

Email: schwartzp@northjersey.com 

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