Welcome to the Baseball History Podcast: Featuring This Week in Baseball History, baseball dictionary and a tour of baseball cities. I’m your game announcer Bob Wright.
This is game 05 of the 2010 baseball season
In the first inning let’s take a look at This Week in Baseball History for the 4 week of January.
January 28
1958 The Tigers trade Jim Finigan and $25,000 to the Giants for Gail Harris and Ozzie Virgil.
Boyd Gail Harris was born October 15, 1931 in Abingdon, Virginia.
He was a power hitter but lacked consistency. In 1958 for the Tigers, his best season, he had 20 home runs and 83 Runs Batted In but led American League first basemen in errors.
Harris was an athletic standout in High School. “I favored the Giants so I signed with them,” Harris said. “I had four teams that scouted me and there was one scout from Greeneville, Tenn., named Dale Alexander that watched me a lot. I went to a tryout camp and there were 400 men in the tryout camp and six of us made it. I then went to a Class D club and had to beat out 10 guys just to make it there.”
In every stop in the minor leagues, Harris blasted opposing pitchers. After continuing his hitting heroics at Class AAA Minneapolis, Harris got called up to the majors in the summer of 1955. He hit .232 in 79 games as a rookie, connecting for 12 home runs and driving in 36 runs.
Harris struggled in 1956, but rebounded with a solid season in 1957.
During the waning days of the ’57 season Harris had his best day as a pro and became a footnote in history. Harris can vividly recall the events that unfolded on the afternoon of September 21, 1957.
He had been playing sparingly for the Giants in the final weeks of the season and didn’t expect to play in that evening’s doubleheader at Pittsburgh’s Forbes Field.
So, in the afternoon he headed out to watch Pittsburgh’s college football clash with Oklahoma. He ate a few hot dogs and enjoyed watching the gridiron fight.
When he arrived at the ballpark, he sat out the first game as he expected. However, in the clubhouse before the second game, New York manager Bill Rigney told Harris he would be starting in the second game.
All Harris did was go 4-for-5 with three runs scored, two home runs and seven Runs Batted In. He blasted a three-run homer in the second inning off Pittsburgh starter Red Witt and added a solo shot in the fourth off Eddie O’Brien.
Harris jokingly said: “They happened to throw it where I was swinging.”
The homer off O’Brien would have historical implications. The smash was the last home run by a New York Giant player.
The team relocated to San Francisco the following year. Meanwhile, Harris also had a new destination as he was traded to the Detroit Tigers in the offseason.
He enjoyed some success in the Detroit. Getting the chance to play on a regular basis, Harris flourished in the summer of 1958 for the Tigers. He smashed 20 home runs, collected 83 Runs Batted In and finished with a .273 batting average.
Like he had the year before with the Giants, Harris put on a power display. In a game against Baltimore on September 13, 1958, Harris blasted two home runs and finished with four Runs Batted In.
Two months before that, Harris started at first base when Detroit’s Jim Bunning tossed a no-hitter against the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park.
His batting average dipped in 1959, as he hit .221 with nine home runs and 39 Runs Batted In.
Harris said, “In 1958 and 1959 on 2-0 and 3-1 [counts] they would give me a good fastball. In 1959 on 2-0 and 3-1, they would throw me that funny looking thing. I would kill every worm in the infield. You have to be a good hitter to stick around.”
Harris played his last game in the majors on May 3, 1960.
Later Harris had this to say of his Major League experience, “When you’re a mediocre player, you don’t unpack your suitcase. Back then, it was a little tougher to stay in the majors. We only had eight clubs and a lot of teams had established stars at every position.”
Harris still enjoys looking back on his playing days, saying, “It was some exciting stuff.”
A large part of this biography comes from an article in TriCities.com written by Tim Hayes.
In this inning we’ll open up the Baseball Dictionary
Under the letter: B
Baseball Writers Association of America
An association of writers and beat reporters who cover a major-league team for an accredited news organization on a daily basis. It was founded in 1908 by two dozen disgruntled writers infuriated by their treatment during the pennant races and World Series: they demanded and received pertinent press box facilities in all parks. The Association provides official scorers, consults on rule changes, and participates in Hall of Fame elections.
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Well, that’s it for today’s game of Baseball History Podcast. I’ll see you later at the ballpark.
