1 inning major league player

[nolemmings]

Originally Posted by whiteymet

Here is Harrington's story according to wikipedia.

His MLB appearance came on July 10, 1963, at Connie Mack Stadium, when he was called upon to pinch run following first baseman Roy Sievers' single; it was the eighth inning and the Phils led the San Francisco Giants, 10–2. Harrington advanced to second base one out later, following Don Hoak's single. But the inning ended when Clay Dalrymple grounded into a double play.[3] Harrington did not stay in the game on defense, as veteran Frank Torre took Sievers' post at first base in the ninth.

However I first recall reading about this in a book about Gene Mauch. In that book the story was Mauch used Harrington as a pinch runner and he was either thrown out stealing or was thrown out going first to third. Mauch was pissed. He never liked rookies ( he traded F. Jenkins to the Cubs for two older pitchers Larry Jackson and Bob Buhl) and promptly sent him back to the minors, never to be seen in the majors again!

Interesting Fred. From Baseball reference, it looks like Harrington was caught off third, maybe having rounded it and/or trying to score, as the play was described as a Dalrymple double play scored 1-6-5.

In the Philly papers the next day there was a nugget about how some managers, including Mauch, grade their players each game with a plus or minus on given plays. The author, not necessarily Mauch, stated that Harrington would have been docked with a minus for "reckless baserunning". Might not have been a typical gaffe though, since Cepeda was credited with "a miraculous fielding play" on what was undoubtedly the same batted ball (the only chance he had that inning).



Although Harrington was dumped to the minors a few days later, it may been due in part because the call-up Cal Emery played the same position and was leading the International League in HR and RBI with a .310 BA. Emery was also a local product, having starred at Penn State. So it looks like Harrington did himself no favors on the basepaths, but replacing him with another rookie might just have been a good baseball move at the time.