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Charles William Harrison
Kansas City Royals
First Base
Born: April 25, 1941, Abilene, TX
Signed: Signed by the Houston Colt .45s as an amateur free agent before 1963 season
Major League Teams: Houston Astros 1965-1967; Kansas City Royals 1969, 1971
Major League Teams: Houston Astros 1965-1967; Kansas City Royals 1969, 1971
Chuck Harrison was signed by his home state Colt .45s and played in parts of three seasons with the Astros at the start of his big league career. He made his debut in 1965 and would play in a career-high 119 games in 1966 as the Astros' regular first baseman. Harrison batted .256 that season with 23 doubles, nine home runs and 52 RBIs - all career highs. In 1967, he started the season in a platoon at first base with future Hall of Famer Eddie Mathews, and as the season progressed he lost more playing time to rookie Doug Rader (#119). Harrison was dealt to the Braves following the 1967 season with Sonny Jackson (#53) in exchange for Denny Lemaster (#96) and Denis Menke (#487). He'd spend all of 1968 playing for the Braves' top farm team in Richmond and was sold to the expansion Royals following the season.
Building the Set / Card #153
March 12, 2023 from The Philly Show (Uncle Dick's Cards)
In mid-March, Doug and I attended the Philadelphia Sports Collectors Show, held within the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center in Oaks, Pennsylvania. My main focus for this show was accumulating as many 1969 Topps commons as possible, which I did by adding a grand total of 193 cards to our set. That's almost 30% of the entire set added in one enjoyable afternoon. I wrote a full summary of the show in a post over at The Phillies Room, found here.
This is the 76th of the 193 commons and semi-stars purchased, pulled and stacked from the first two neon green binders housing 1969 Topps cards at the multi-table spread of Uncle Dick's Cards from Babylon, New York. My method was simple - I pulled up a chair, found a card I needed, picked the best of the group from the binder page and set it aside. After each 100 cards, I'd ask the dealer to tell me how much damage I had done so far. With a budget in mind, I kept going twice, continuing after card #100 and card #200, and stopping at card #298. The final amount due was 17% off the sticker price for the pile of 193 cards, with this card costing me less than a dollar.
The Card / Royals Team Set / Accuracy Index -8
Harrison is wearing an Astros jersey here, and is suffering from a serious case of hat hair. If I had been him, I would have told the Topps photographer I was leaving my hat on. This is his final appearance (of three) in a Topps flagship set. The back of the card touts his minor league successes. Harrison was a good-fielding first baseman, and was third in the National League in 1966 among first baseman with a .992 fielding percentage.
Accuracy Index: I should have added a negative value for bad hair, but since I didn't, Harrison's card only drops to -8. He loses five points for the Astros jersey and another three for being hatless.
1969 Season
Harrison was the opening day first baseman for the Royals, and he'd play in 75 games for the team, batting .221 with three home runs and 18 RBIs. Harrison started the season relatively hot, batting .326 after a 4 for 4 performance against the Tigers on May 7th. But he'd slump over the summer, with Mike Fiore (#376) eventually getting more starts at first than Harrison. After Harrison's four-hit performance in early May, he batted .192 (32 for 167) for the rest of the season.
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First Mainstream Card: 1966 Topps #244
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (3): 1966-1967, 1969
Most Recent Mainstream Card: 1969 Topps #116
Total Non-Parallel Baseball Cards: 18 in the Beckett online database as of 10/19/23.
Sources:
Baseball Reference / Wikipedia
He can't say he has a "best" card can he?
ReplyDeleteNope! : )
ReplyDelete