Bucky Harris
Stanley R. "Bucky" Harris. Second baseman for the Washington Senators in 1919-1928. 1,297 hits and 167 stolen bases in 12 MLB seasons. 1924 and 1947 World Series champion. In 1975, inducted to the MLB Hall of Fame.
Harris was named player-manager of the Washington Senators in 1924 at age 27. "The Boy Wonder" led Washington to World Series victory as "rookie" manger. Managed Washington Senators in 1924-1928, 1935-1942, and 1950-1954. Managed the Detroit Tigers in 1929-1933 and 1955-1956. Managed the Boston Red Sox in 1934. Managed the Philadelphia Phillies in 1943. Managed the New York Yankees in 1947-1948, including winning the 1947 world Series. Served as the General Manager of the Boston Red Sox in 1959-1960.
In his desperate attempt to escape working in the coal mines, Harris played semi-professional basketball when the games were played in cages (hence "cager" for BB player) and northeastern PA was an epi-center of popularity of the emerging sport. This excerpt from his SABR biography explains how he got his nickname:
Stanley was raised in Pittston, Pennsylvania, near Scranton. Brother Merle, seven years older, was a Minor League player. When Stanley was thirteen years old his father abandoned the family, and young Stanley quit school to help his mother. A neighbor, W.P. Jennings, superintendent of a Pennsylvania Coal Company mine, gave him a job separating coal and slate. He worked nine hours a day for twelve cents an hour. It was hazardous work; accidents were not uncommon, with limbs getting caught and mashed by the crushing and sorting machines. After work he played baseball with other youngsters until dark, usually with a ball made by winding string around a rubber core and covering it with tape.
After six months Stanley became an office boy at the Butler Colliery for less pay but with a better chance for promotion. The following year he was promoted to assistant weigh-master, tasked with keeping a check on the coal leaving the colliery. He was now earning $9.72 a week as a fourteen-year-old, and even though he weighed only about one hundred pounds, he still yearned to become a professional ballplayer like brother Merle. He played basketball during the winter to keep in shape and build up his strength. There he earned his lifelong nickname. “I had a couple of players on my back in a rough game,” he said. “When I shook them off and shot a basket [a friend] said I bucked like a tough little bronco”.
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