Greg Harris
From SoSH
| Born: | November 2, 1955 |
| Birthplace: | Lynwood, California |
| Hometown: | |
| Height: | 6' 0" |
| Weight: | 175 lbs. |
| Bats: | Both |
| Throws: | Right |
| Drafted: | 1976: Amateur Free Agent by the New York Mets |
| College: | Long Beach City College |
| High School: | Los Alamitos HS(CA) |
| Other Teams: | New York Mets 1981 Cincinnati Reds 1982-1983 Montreal Expos 1984, 1995 San Diego Padres 1984 Texas Rangers 1985-1987 Philadelphia Phillies 1988-1989 New York Yankees 1994 |
| Years with Boston: | 1989 - 1994 |
Greg Allen Harris (born on November 2, 1955 in Lynwood, CA), was signed by the New York Mets as an amateur free agent in 1976. Harris made his major league pitching debut on May 20, 1981 and his Red Sox debut on August 7, 1989. He played his final Red Sox game on June 25, 1994 and his final major league game on September 29, 1995.
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Overall Career
After making his major league debut in 1981, Greg Allen Harris was shuffled between the minors and the majors on the Mets, Reds, Expos, and Padres before finally landing a full-time bullpen job with the Rangers in 1985. From 1985-88, Greg pitched for the Rangers and Phillies, and in the four years he posted an ERA above 3 just once. After a decent 3.58 ERA in 44 games for the Phillies in 1989, Harris was inexplicably waived by Philadelphia. He was selected off waivers by the Red Sox and posted a 2.57 ERA for the remainder of the season. In 1990, after working on his curveball with teammate and curveball expert Mike Boddicker, Harris moved into the rotation with solid, albeit unspectacular, results. He bounced back and forth between the bullpen and the starting rotation in 1991, but in 1992 he was moved back to the bullpen and again dominated the league's hitters with a 2.51 ERA. A decent 1993 was followed by a terrible 1994, and the Sox released Harris in June of '94. After a short and ugly stint with the Yankees, Harris had a resurgence in 1995 with the Expos but retired at the end of the year.
Switch-Pitcher
Harris is perhaps best known for being able to pitch with both hands. However, throughout his Boston career, he was forbidden to pitch with anything other than his right hand; former Red Sox GM Lou Gorman felt that it would "make a mockery of the game" [1], and subsequent GM Dan Duquette noted that "we pay Greg to pitch right-handed." [2] In protest, Greg often wore an ambidextrous glove on the mound; it had six fingers - a thumb on either side and four fingers in the middle. Greg tried to convince other teams for whom he pitched to allow him to switch-pitch as well, but did not succeed for most of his career. Finally, in 1995, the Expos relented, and on September 28, 1995, Greg became the first pitcher to pitch both left- and right-handed in the same game since Tony Mullane did it for the Baltimore Orioles on July 14, 1893.
Trivia
- Led the league in appearances in 1993 with 80
Transactions
- June 5, 1974: Drafted by the California Angels in the 10th round of the 1974 amateur draft, but did not sign.
- January 9, 1975: Drafted by the New York Mets in the 4th round of the 1975 amateur draft (Secondary Phase), but did not sign.
- January 7, 1976: Drafted by the New York Mets in the 7th round of the 1976 amateur draft, but did not sign.
- September 17, 1976: Signed by the New York Mets as an amateur free agent.
- February 10, 1982: Traded by the New York Mets with Jim Kern and Alex Trevino to the Cincinnati Reds for George Foster.
- September 27, 1983: Selected off waivers by the Montreal Expos from the Cincinnati Reds.
- July 20, 1984: Traded by the Montreal Expos to the San Diego Padres for Al Newman.
- February 13, 1985: Purchased by the Texas Rangers from the San Diego Padres.
- December 21, 1987: Released by the Texas Rangers.
- January 19, 1988: Signed as a Free Agent with the Cleveland Indians.
- March 24, 1988: Released by the Cleveland Indians.
- April 1, 1988: Signed as a Free Agent with the Philadelphia Phillies.
- November 4, 1988: Granted Free Agency.
- December 7, 1988: Signed as a Free Agent with the Philadelphia Phillies.
- August 7, 1989: Selected off waivers by the Boston Red Sox from the Philadelphia Phillies.
- November 13, 1989: Granted Free Agency.
- February 15, 1990: Signed as a Free Agent with the Boston Red Sox.
- June 27, 1994: Released by the Boston Red Sox.
- July 3, 1994: Signed as a Free Agent with the New York Yankees.
- July 13, 1994: Released by the New York Yankees.
- March 29, 1995: Signed as a Free Agent with the Montreal Expos.
- October 17, 1995: Granted Free Agency.
External links
- Baseball-Reference.com - Career Statistics and Analysis
- Article about the ambidextrous pitcher at MLB.com
- More on Greg's switch-pitching at Baseball Library. Their assertion that Icebox Chamberlain was the previous switch-pitcher is incorrect, though.
