Books and articles about Bucky Harris

"First in war, first in peace, and last in the American League," ran the old saw about Washington, but in 1924 the perennial AL tail-ender Senators were World Champions. In his first season at the helm was 27-year-old Bucky Harris, the youngest regular ML manager and the team's second baseman. Washington's rugged "Boy Manager" led by example and earned the respect of such veterans as Walter Johnson, Sam Rice, and Roger Peckinpaugh.

Image provided by Matthew Fulling

SHOPPING » Look for Bucky Harris books at BN.com » Look for Bucky Harris books at Amazon.com Your purchases keep BaseballLibrary.com online. Thank you!

RELATED LINKS Photos » Photo: Bucky Harris Book Excerpts » "MacPhail had hired Bucky Harris to manage the Yankees in 1947, and they ran away with the pennant": Leonard Koppett » "The fact that [Harris] was so easy to play for probably didn't help his managing, but you'd never want to work for a nicer guy": Charlie Gehringer » "[Bucky] made it a point to look into a fellow's eyes if he was going to send him up to pinch-hit. He wanted to check and see if they were blurry from being out late the night before.": George Uhle » Breaking the Slump: Baseball in the Depression Era by Charles C. Alexander Submissions » April 13, 1954: The Day Mamie Eisenhower Hugged "The Old Fox" by Lyle Spatz Around the Web » Cards throw back Rays from stltoday.com » Bucky Harris from baseball-reference.com » Bucky Harris from thebaseballpage.com Jump directly to Library content from any website!

In the 1924 World Series against the Giants, Harris batted .333 and hit two home runs. He also set records for chances accepted, double plays, and putouts in the exciting seven-game affair. His base hit in the eighth inning of the deciding contest tied the score, and the Senators rallied in the twelfth to clinch Washington's one and only World Championship. It was in that contest that Harris the manager won acclaim. His strategy of replacing righthanded starter Curly Ogden with lefthander George Mogridge after only two batters forced the Giants' hard-hitting Bill Terry out of the lineup.

Harris learned baseball in the mining region of northeastern Pennsylvania. After leaving school at 13, he worked in a local colliery. Hughie Jennings, another future Hall of Famer from Harris's home town of Pittston, arranged for the scrappy youngster's first job in pro ball, in 1915. Harris reached the majors in 1919.

An exceptional fielder, he topped AL second basemen in putouts four times and in double plays a record five straight times (1921-25). An adequate hitter with base stealing ability, Harris had a knack for being hit by pitches. An outstanding basketball player, he played professionally with local Pennsylvania teams during the off-season, until concerned Washington officials ordered him to cease.

Under Harris, the Senators repeated as AL champs in 1925, but lost a hard-fought seven-game Series to the Pirates. After suffering his first losing season in 1928, he was traded to, and named manager of, the Tigers. Except for a few appearances at second base, Harris was a bench manager from then on. He spent five unsuccessful seasons directing the Tigers, one with the Red Sox, and then eight more with the Senators, never finishing higher than fourth. Despite the many losing campaigns, Harris was regarded as a knowledgeable manager and was extremely popular with his players. His patient, gentlemanly manner inspired such loyalty that when the Phillies fired Harris in mid-1943, his players threatened to strike.

Between ML jobs, Harris managed in the International and Pacific Coast leagues. In 1947, he led the Yankees to a World Series victory, and was named TSN Manager of the Year. He was dropped abruptly a year later after a 94-60 third-place finish. Though he managed for another seven years, Harris never again landed in the first division.

Harris also served as assistant GM of the Red Sox and scouted for the White Sox. Named a special assignment scout with the expansion Washington Senators in 1963, he finished where he had begun his ML career a half century earlier. Harris, the youngest man to lead a major league team to a World Series victory, was elected, as a manager, to the Hall of Fame in 1975 by the Veterans Committee. (JL)

FROM THE BASEBALL CHRONOLOGY » March 26, 1920: Walter Johnson is wild and hittable in his first intersquad game, hitting three batters and walking 2. One of the batters he hits is Bucky Harris who takes a pitch that glances off the side of his head. Johnson gives up seven runs in three innings. » July 1, 1920: Walter Johnson pitches a no-hitter, his first, against the Red Sox at Fenway. An error by Bucky Harris costs him a perfect game, but Harris's hit drives in Washington's only run. The next day Johnson comes up with the first sore arm of his life and is useless for the rest of the year, finishing 8-10. » February 9, 1924: Washington owner Clark Griffith names SS Bucky Harris, last year's team captain as the new Nationals' manager. Harris had annoyed Griffith by playing pro basketball over the winter, in violation of his contract, but the owner still tabbed him the job. Harris, 28, team captain, was at spring training when he received the offer by letter. » October 5, 1924: A 2-run home run in the first by Goose Goslin and a solo blast by manager Bucky Harris in the 5th give Tom Zachary (15-9) a 3–0 lead. The Giants tie it in the 9th, but a double by Roger Peckinpaugh scores Joe Judge with the winning run in the bottom of the 9th. » October 10, 1924: President and Mrs. Coolidge and 31,665 others thrill to the 2nd 3-hour battle of the Series. Bucky Harris starts 23-year-old righthander Curly Ogden (9-8) against Virgil Barnes (16-10), then pulls him after he fans Fred Lindstrom and walks Frisch. In comes lefty George Mogridge (16-11), a move intended to keep lefty Bill Terry on the Giants bench. Bucky Harris lifts one into the temporary seats in LF for a 1–0 lead. In the 6th a single ties it at 1–1, and Harris brings in Firpo Marberry for his 4th appearance. A base hit and two costly errors give the Giants a 3–1 lead. In the 8th, pinch-hitter Nemo Liebold doubles and C Muddy Ruel singles. A walk loads the bases and up comes Harris, who hits a hard bounder to 3B that strikes a pebble and skips over Lindstrom's head and down the LF line as the tying runs score. Walter Johnson, pitching on one days rest, then comes in to hold New York. With one out in the last of the 12th, Giants reliever Jack Bentley gets Muddy Ruel to pop up near home plate, but veteran C Hank Gowdy steps on his discarded mask, which he cannot shake from his shoe, and the ball falls to the ground. Ruel then gets his 2nd hit, a double. Walter Johnson reaches 1B on SS Travis Jackson's error. Earl McNeely hits a grounder at Lindstrom, and improbably, the ball again takes a bounce over his head. Ruel tears home with Washington's first World Series championship. » September 19, 1925: In the 2nd game of a twinbill, the White Sox take a 15–0 lead against Washington after five innings, but Chicago P Ted Lyons will have to pitch to 18 different batters as Senators manager Bucky Harris juggles his lineup and sends in pinch hitters. With a no-hitter going, Lyons continues to bear down. Finally, with two out in the 9th, Washington's Bobby Veach gets a base hit to break the no-hitter. The final is 17-0 for Lyons with Tom Zachary taking the loss. Washington outfielder Sam Rice's streak of nine hits in a row is stopped, but he will end the season with 182 singles, an American League record until 1980. Washington takes the opener, 3–2, behind Dutch Ruether. » October 15, 1925: When the Senators arrive in Washington, a telegram is waiting from American League president Ban Johnson, who boycotted the series again because of his feud with Landis. In a veiled criticism of Bucky Harris's decision to keep Johnson in the game, Johnson wire reads: "This I admire. Lost the Series for sentimental reasons. This should never occur in a world series." Bucky Harris calls the words, "gratuitous." » May 28, 1927: In his first starting assignment, New York's Wilcy Moore loses a heartbreaker to the Senators, 3–2, in the nitecap of a twinbill. Lou Gehrig is spiked at 1B by Bucky Harris as Firpo Marberry scores the winning run. The Yanks win the opener, 8–2, as Ruth corks his 12th homer of the year, a 3-run shot. Tris Speaker plays most of Game One despite fracturing his left thumb in batting practice. » October 17, 1928: George Moriarty resigns as Tigers manager and is replaced by ousted Washington skipper Bucky Harris. Moriarty will return to the ranks of the AL umpires. » April 16, 1929: Both the Yankees and Indians, the two major league teams with the innovative numbers on the backs of the players' uniforms are scheduled to open today, but rain cancels the New York opener. Cleveland opens at home and hands new Tiger's manager Bucky Harris his first loss, 5–4 in 10 innings. Cleveland rookie Earl Averill, #5, cracks an 0-2 pitch for a homer in his first at bat, off Earl Whitehill (Earl's #3 will later be retired). The numberless Charlie Gehringer matches the rookie in the 3rd inning, hitting his off Cleveland's Joe Shaute. The Indians will wear numbers only on their home uniforms. Averill is just the 2nd player to connect in his first at-bat: Luke Stuart was the 1st, in 1921. » September 23, 1933: Despite the 5th-place Tigers' 5–3 win over the Browns, manager Bucky Harris submits his resignation. Babe Ruth's name will be prominent in the newspapers as a possible replacement. » September 24, 1933: Detroit's Tommy Bridges reaches the 9th inning with a no-hitter for the 3rd time this season and the 4th time in two years. He yields a pair of hits, as Detroit beats the Browns 7–0. Despite the win, Bucky Harris resigns as manager of the Tigers. » November 13, 1934: Bucky Harris, who had been "Boy Manager" of the 1924 and 1925 American League champion Senators, is hired back by Washington to replace youthful Joe Cronin, who has been sold to Boston. » October 11, 1939: Bucky Harris signs to manage Washington again. » February 26, 1943: The Phils sign Bucky Harris as manager. It is the 4th ML club Harris has led, not counting two stints—later 3—at Washington. Clark Griffith, Rogers Hornsby, Donie Bush, and Bill McKechnie have also managed four clubs. » October 11, 1946: The Yankees send veteran Joe Gordon and Ed Bockman to Cleveland for 32-year-old pitcher Allie Reynolds (11–15). Columnist Dan Daniel will later report that Larry MacPhail and Bucky Harris initially wanted Red Embree, but DiMaggio advised them to take Reynolds. The Chief will be a mainstay of the Yankees championship teams while Gordon will finish out the 1940s with three good years. The Yanks will put Embree in pinstripes in a year. » March 1, 1947: New managers in training camps are Billy Herman with Pittsburgh, Muddy Ruel with the Browns, Bucky Harris with the Yankees, and Johnny Neun at Cincinnati. Neun had ended 1946 as manager of the Yankees after both Joe McCarthy and Bill Dickey had quit. » April 15, 1947: With yesterday's opener in Washington rained out, the A's open at Yankee Stadium before 39,344. Under new manager Bucky Harris, the Yanks manage just six hits off Phil Marchildon as the A's win, 6–1. Eddie Joost and Elmer Valo pull off a double steal in the 5th when the A's increase their lead to 3–0. Joost scores on the swipe of home. Former A's vet George McQuinn, playing 1B for Nick Etten, scores New York's only run. Spud Chandler takes the loss. » July 16, 1948: There are three managerial changes today. Ben Chapman is fired by the Phillies (though owner Carpenter insists he was "not fired" saying "I'd like to make it clear that there is a difference between not firing a man and concluding business with him.") and Dusty Cooke takes over on an interim basis. Eddie Sawyer, with no ML experience as player or manager, will get the job after Cooke goes 8–6. But the big news is from New York. The Giants remove Mel Ott and replace him with Leo Durocher, who obtains his release from Brooklyn. The Dodgers bring back mild-mannered Burt Shotton who replaced Durocher once before. In a newspaper poll over the winter, an overwhelming majority voted for the gentlemanly Shotton to replace The Lip. The changes today portend those at the end of the season: Bucky Harris of the Yankees, Ted Lyons of the White Sox, and Steve O'Neill of the Tigers will be released. » September 28, 1954: Two days after firing Bucky Harris, the Senators sign Chuck Dressen to a 2-year deal to manage in 1955. » February 3, 1975: Billy Herman, Earl Averill, and Bucky Harris are selected for the Hall of Fame by the Special Veterans Committee.