Lum Harris

Quality 0.50 · 1 view · Updated 2 months ago

American baseball player, coach, and manager (1915–1996)

title: "Lum Harris" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1915-births", "1996-deaths", "atlanta-braves-managers", "atlanta-crackers-players", "baltimore-orioles-coaches", "baltimore-orioles-managers", "baltimore-orioles-(international-league)-players", "baseball-players-from-jefferson-county,-alabama", "buffalo-bisons-(minor-league)-players", "burials-at-elmwood-cemetery-(birmingham,-alabama)", "caribbean-series-managers", "charlotte-hornets-(baseball)-players", "chicago-white-sox-coaches", "deaths-from-diabetes-in-the-united-states", "houston-astros-managers", "houston-astros-scouts", "houston-colt-.45s-coaches", "houston-colt-.45s-managers", "jersey-city-giants-players", "louisville-colonels-(minor-league)-players", "major-league-baseball-pitchers", "major-league-baseball-third-base-coaches", "minneapolis-millers-(baseball)-players", "minor-league-baseball-managers", "people-from-pell-city,-alabama", "philadelphia-athletics-players", "20th-century-american-sportsmen", "senadores-de-san-juan-players", "united-states-navy-personnel-of-world-war-ii", "washington-senators-(1901–1960)-players", "leones-del-caracas-managers"] description: "American baseball player, coach, and manager (1915–1996)" topic_path: "history" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lum_Harris" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary American baseball player, coach, and manager (1915–1996) ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox baseball biography"]

Field	Value
name	Lum Harris
image	Luman Harris.jpg
caption	Harris with the Baltimore Orioles in 1955
position	Pitcher / Manager
birth_date
birth_place	New Castle, Alabama, U.S.
death_date
death_place	Pell City, Alabama, U.S.
bats	Right
throws	Right
debutleague	MLB
debutdate	April 19
debutyear	1941
debutteam	Philadelphia Athletics
finalleague	MLB
finaldate	May 11
finalyear	1947
finalteam	Washington Senators
statleague	MLB
stat1label	Win–loss record
stat1value	35–63
stat2label	Earned run average
stat2value	4.16
stat3label	Strikeouts
stat3value	232
stat4label	Managerial record
stat4value	466–488
stat5label	Winning %
stat5value	.488
::

Philadelphia Athletics (–)
Washington Senators () ;As manager
Baltimore Orioles ()
Houston Colt .45s / Astros (–)
Atlanta Braves (–) ;As coach
Chicago White Sox (–)
Baltimore Orioles (–)
Houston Colt .45s (–) Chalmer Luman Harris (January 17, 1915 – November 11, 1996) was an American right-handed pitcher, coach, manager, and scout in Major League Baseball.

Born in New Castle, Alabama, Harris attended Mortimer Jordan High School and began his playing career with the Atlanta Crackers of the Southern Association in 1937. His catcher that season was Paul Richards, who in 1938 became Atlanta's player-manager. Richards and Harris would form a decades-long association in baseball at the minor and Major League levels.

Playing career

The 6 ft, 185 lb Harris compiled a 35–63 record with a 4.16 earned-run average in 151 American League games with the Philadelphia Athletics (1941–1944 and 1946) and Washington Senators (1947). He missed the 1945 season while serving in the United States Navy in the Pacific Theater of Operations during World War II. As a big leaguer, Harris allowed 874 hits and 265 bases on balls in 820 innings pitched and 151 games, with 232 strikeouts. He pitched at the Triple-A level during his last three active seasons in pro ball.

The remainder of Harris' Major League career would be spent working in tandem with Richards, initially as a coach with the Chicago White Sox (1951–1954), Baltimore Orioles (1955–1961) and Houston Colt .45s (1962–1964). In each case he worked under Richards, who was either his manager, general manager, or (in Baltimore from 1955 to 1958) both. Despite his playing background, Harris was never a pitching coach; he usually served as a third-base coach.

Manager of Astros and Braves

Harris' first managerial experience came late in the season. On August 30, Richards stepped down as the skipper of the Baltimore Orioles to become the general manager of the expansion Houston Colt .45s, and Harris took command as interim pilot on September 1. He led them to 17 wins in 27 games (.630), as Baltimore finished third in the American League. After the season, however, Harris rejoined Richards in Houston as a coach, while Billy Hitchcock took over as Baltimore's skipper for .

Harris served for almost three full seasons as a Colt .45 coach under Harry Craft, until September 19, 1964, when Richards promoted him to manager. In , Harris helmed the re-christened Houston Astros, serving for the team's debut season in the Astrodome. But the 1965 Astros went only 65–97 to finish ninth in the ten-team National League and, at the end of the year, Richards was fired, and Harris was replaced by Grady Hatton as the Astros' pilot. Harris then served as a Houston scout in .

In August 1966, Richards returned to the major leagues as the vice president for baseball operations (in effect, general manager) of the Atlanta Braves. After that season, Harris rejoined his old boss in 1967 as skipper of the Richmond Braves, Atlanta's Triple-A farm club. Then, from to the middle of the season, Harris managed the big-league Braves (ironically, succeeding Hitchcock).

Harris led Atlanta to 93 victories and the first National League West Division championship in 1969—an expansion year when both the National and American leagues grew to 12 teams and adopted divisional play for the first time. It was the franchise's first postseason berth since losing the 1958 World Series as the Milwaukee Braves; however, Harris' squad lost the 1969 National League Championship Series to the eventual world champion New York Mets in three straight games. When the Braves slumped in ensuing years, Richards was fired during the 1972 season, on June 1; slightly more than two months later, on August 6, Harris was replaced as manager by former Braves' third baseman Eddie Mathews. Harris' final managerial record was 466–488 (.488).

Harris died due to ill effects of diabetes at age 81 in Pell City, Alabama. He is buried in Birmingham's Elmwood Cemetery.

Managerial record

::data[format=table] | Team | Year | Regular season | Postseason | Games | Won | Lost | Win % | Finish | Won | Lost | Win % | Result | BAL|| | BAL total || 27 || 17 || 10 || || || 0 || 0 || – || | HOU|| | HOU|| | HOU total || 175 || 70 || 105 || || || 0 || 0 || – || | ATL|| | ATL|| | ATL|| | ATL|| | ATL|| | ATL total || 752 || 379 || 373 || || || 0 || 3 || .000 || | Total || 954 || 466 || 488 || || || 0 || 3 || .000 || | |---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---| | |27 | 17 | 10 | | 3rd in AL | – | – | – | – | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |13 | 5 | 8 | | 9th in NL | – | – | – | – | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |162 | 65 | 97 | | 9th in NL | – | – | – | – | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |162 | 81 | 81 | | 5th in NL | – | – | – | – | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |162 | 93 | 69 | | 1st in NL West | 0 | 3 | .000 | Lost NLCS (NYM) | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |162 | 76 | 86 | | 5th in NL West | – | – | – | – | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |162 | 82 | 80 | | 3rd in NL West | – | – | – | – | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |104 | 47 | 57 | | fired | – | – | – | – | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | ::

References

https://bhamwiki.com/w/Lum_Harris
"Those Who Served A to Z".
(1964-09-20). "Harry Croft Fired As Colt Manager". Times Daily.
(1972-08-08). "Braves fire Harris, hire Ed Mathews". The Michigan Daily.
Rosenberg, I.J.. (1996-11-12). "Braves manager Harris dies at 81". The Atlanta Constitution.

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::