The Continuing Attempt To Educate A Montreal Fan About DC Baseball History...
Stanley Raymond "Bucky" Harris was born on November 8, 1896 in Port Jervis, New York. Bucky Harris played five seasons at second with the Washington Senators before he was named the Senators' Player/Manager on February 10, 1924, at just twenty-seven years of age, and then immediately led Washington to its first World Series Championship in his first season at the helm...and his sixth season at second.
Harris led the Senators to a first place finish in the American League in the 1924 Championship season, breaking a streak of three straight New York Yankees' AL titles, finishing 2.0 games ahead of the Babe Ruth-led Yankees and his .378 AVG, 39 doubles, 7 triples, 46 HR's and 121 RBI's. (With 142 walks!).
The 1924 Senators were led by twenty-three year old outfielder Leon Allen "Goose" Goslin, who hit .344 with 30 doubles, 17 triples, 12 HR's and 129 RBI's and thirty-six year old pitcher Walter Johnson who was (23-7) with a 2.72 ERA in 38 starts, with 20 complete games, 6 shoutouts and 158 K's.
Harris would lead the Senators to the American League championship again in 1925, but Washington lost the seven game World Series to third baseman Pie Traynor, shortstop Glenn Wright, outfielder Kiki Cuyler and the 19 wins and 3.67 ERA of Henry Lee "Specs" Meadows and the rest of the '25 Pittsburgh Pirates.
Bucky Harris would play with and manage the Senators for three more seasons before he was traded to the Detroit Tigers for infielder Jack Warner, who never played a game for the Senators, but Harris would return to Washington, DC again for two more stints as Manager of the Senators.
From 1935-1942 Harris' Senators never finished higher than fourth in the American League and Washington and Harris parted ways again after the seventh place (62-89) finish in the 1942 season. Harris next turned up in Philadelphia in 1946, Managing the Phillies to a (38-52) record and another seventh-place finish, but Bucky Harris was apparently not the problem...
Because in 1947 the New York Yankees hired Bucky Harris as their Manager, and Phil Rizzuto, Joe DiMaggio, and Yogi Berra, along with pitchers Allie Reynolds and Specs Shea and the rest of the '47 Yankees finished the Regular Season with a (97-57), winning the American League, and then beating the National League Champion Brooklyn Dodgers and their rookie outfielder Jackie Robinson, (who at twenty-eight, hit .297 with 31 doubles, 5 triples, 12 HR's, 48 RBI's and 29 steals in 151 games), in a seven game World Series in Robinson's history-making first season in the Majors.
Bucky Harris finished his 12-year Major League career with a .274 AVG, 224 doubles, 64 triples, 9 HR's and 506 RBI's. Harris completely ended his career in 1956, at the age of fifty-nine, after twenty-nine seasons as a Manager of the Senators, Tigers, Red Sox, Phillies, and Yankees, over which he compiled a (2,157-2,218) record.
Stanley Raymond "Bucky" Harris was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1975. Harris' Hall of Fame plaque reads:
"STANLEY RAYMOND HARRIS
'BUCKY'
SERVED 40 YEARS IN MAJORS AS PLAYER,
MANAGER AND EXECUTIVE, INCLUDING 29 AS
PILOT. SLICK SECOND SACKER EARNED TAG OF
'BOY WONDER' BY GUIDING WASHINGTON
TO 1924 WORLD TITLE AS 27-YEAR-OLD IN
DEBUT AS PLAYER-PILOT. WON A.L. FLAG
AGAIN IN 1925. LED 1947 YANKEES TO
WORLD TITLE. MANAGED DETROIT, BOSTON
RED SOX AND PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES."
Bucky Harris died in on November 8, 1977 in Bethesda, Maryland.
*Bucky Harris Links*
Bucky Harris' career stats at baseball-reference.com:
http://www.baseball-reference.com/h/harribu01.shtml
Bucky Harris' career stats at thebaseballcube.com:
http://www.thebaseballcube.com/players/H/Bucky-Harris.shtml
Bucky Harris' Hall of Fame plaque:
http://209.23.71.87/hofers_and_honorees/plaques/harris_bucky.htm
brainyquote.com:
http://www.brainyhistory.com/events/1924/february_10_1924_83773.html
Bucky Harris' Wikipedia.org profile:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bucky_Harris
thebaseballlibrary.com's Bucky Harris profile:
http://www.baseballlibrary.com/ballplayers/player.php?name=Bucky_Harris_1896