"A reader wants to know why Bucky Harris was not named manager of the year. We, too, have wondered. The title was bestowed on Casey Stengel.
Harris took a club of discards and supposed misfits that was an all but unanimous choice to finish last (see March and April predictions) and landed in fifth place, only one game out of fourth place and only three games out of third.
Consider the material he had to work with in Washington:
Mickey Grasso, a third- or fourth-rate catcher who batted .216.
Pete Runnels, shortstop and .285 hitter who batted in the number four slot.
Two long ball hitters: Mickey Vernon (.251) and Jackie Jensen (.280).
Jim Busby, an outfielder who batted .236, and another outfielder, the aging Gil Coan, whose speed has been greatly diminished by time.
A pitching staff that included three Pan-Americans- Conrado Marrero, Julio Moreno and Sandalio Consuegra; Bob Porterfield and Frank Shea, both Yankee castoffs; Walter Masterson, a Red Sox castoff, and Lou Sleater, a recruit.
Considering the material at Stengel's command and the talent that Harris had to work with, any neutral observer would award the palm to Bucky. He did the finest job of managing in the major leagues."
-H.G. Salsinger in the Detroit News (Baseball Digest, February 1953)
"One of the favorite Bucky Harris anecdotes reverts to the time he caught Eddie Robinson coming in at 4 A.M. The next day Robby went four times for the collar at bat. In the clubhouse that night, Harris tapped him gently on the arm and said: 'It can't be done, Eddie. I've tried it.' That was all, but Robby caught on quickly."
-John P. Carmichael in the Chicago Daily News (Baseball Digest, May 1953)
"Bucky Harris is the most patient manager I've met- bar none. He's one of the few who welcome visits from newspapermen because he gets as much information from them as they get from him."
-Bob Addie, Washington Times-Herald (Baseball Digest, September 1953)
FAMOUS LAST WORDS
"Bucky Harris recently told these circumstances leading up to his dismissal by the Yankees in 1948:
Neither Frank Shea nor another pitcher, Bill Bevens, was showing much and both were being used infrequently. George Weiss was peeved.
One day in front of Del Webb and Dan Topping, the Yankee owners, Weiss addressed Harris and asked, 'Why can't you make him (Shea) behave?'
'Look, George, you had him in the farm system and should have taken care of that before he came up here,' Harris is alleged to have replied. 'I'm a manager, not a house detective.'
Harris was on the way out from that time.
That's the way the story was related to me."
-Sec Taylor in the Des Moines Register (Baseball Digest, October 1953)
"Bucky was called 'The Boy Wonder' in 1924 when at the age of 27 he was named manager of the Washington Senators. He had been playing in organized ball since 1916, and with Washington since the end of the 1919 season.
In 1929 he moved to Detroit as player-manager. He also managed the Boston Red Sox, Philadelphia Phillies and New York Yankees. Bucky led his teams into the World Series in 1924, 1925 and 1947, with New York.
This is his third managerial assignment with Washington."
-1953 Bowman No. 46
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