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Chalmer Luman Harris
Atlanta Braves
Manager
Born: January 17, 1915, New Castle, AL
Acquired: Traded by Atlanta (Southern Association) to the Philadelphia Athletics for Ed Heusser
Major League Teams: Philadelphia Athletics 1941-1944, 1946; Washington Senators 1947
As a Manager: Baltimore Orioles 1961; Houston Colt .45s 1964; Houston Astros 1965; Atlanta Braves 1968-1972
Died: November 11, 1996, Pell City, AL (age 81)
As a player, Lum Harris pitched in six seasons as both a starter and reliever, missing the 1945 season due to military service. Playing primarily for Connie Mack's Philadelphia A's, Harris compiled a lifetime record of 35-63 with a 4.16 ERA over 820 innings pitched.
Following his playing career, he coached for the White Sox (1951-1954) and Orioles (1955-1961) before getting his shot as the interim manager for the Orioles in 1961 after their previous manager, Paul Richards, left the club in August 1961 to become the general manager of the Houston Colt .45s. Following the season, Harris followed Richards to Houston where he was an original coach for the expansion team. He took over when manager Harry Craft was fired in September 1964 and served as the first ever manager for the re-branded Houston Astros in 1965.
He was let go by Houston following the 1965 season when a new ownership group took over. Harris followed Richards again to Atlanta, serving first as a minor league manager, then as a Major League coach, and eventually the manager of the Braves. He led the club to its first ever N.L. West title in 1969, but the Braves lost the divisional championship series to the Mets. In eight seasons as a manager, Harris had a record of 466-488 with his 93-win season for the 1969 Braves as his high water mark.
Died: November 11, 1996, Pell City, AL (age 81)
As a player, Lum Harris pitched in six seasons as both a starter and reliever, missing the 1945 season due to military service. Playing primarily for Connie Mack's Philadelphia A's, Harris compiled a lifetime record of 35-63 with a 4.16 ERA over 820 innings pitched.
Following his playing career, he coached for the White Sox (1951-1954) and Orioles (1955-1961) before getting his shot as the interim manager for the Orioles in 1961 after their previous manager, Paul Richards, left the club in August 1961 to become the general manager of the Houston Colt .45s. Following the season, Harris followed Richards to Houston where he was an original coach for the expansion team. He took over when manager Harry Craft was fired in September 1964 and served as the first ever manager for the re-branded Houston Astros in 1965.
He was let go by Houston following the 1965 season when a new ownership group took over. Harris followed Richards again to Atlanta, serving first as a minor league manager, then as a Major League coach, and eventually the manager of the Braves. He led the club to its first ever N.L. West title in 1969, but the Braves lost the divisional championship series to the Mets. In eight seasons as a manager, Harris had a record of 466-488 with his 93-win season for the 1969 Braves as his high water mark.
Some text for this post originally appeared on my 1965 Topps blog.
Building the Set / Card #205
March 12, 2023 from The Philly Show (Uncle Dick's Cards)
The Card / Braves Team Set / Accuracy Index -8
1969 Season
As mentioned above, this was Harris' best season in the majors as a manager as he guided the Braves to a National League West pennant following a 93-win season. The Mets dispatched of the Braves fairly easily in the first NLCS, sweeping Atlanta in three games. Henry Aaron (#100) was the top slugger for the team, batting .300 and leading the club with 44 home runs and 97 RBIs. Left fielder Rico Carty (#590) had the top average with a .342 mark. First baseman Orlando Cepeda (#385) had a solid year with 22 home runs and 88 RBIs. Second baseman Felix Millan (#210) was a starter at the All-Star Game and he'd win a Gold Glove.
Other Notable Baseball Cards
First Mainstream Card: 1960 Topps #455
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (8): 1960, 1965-1966, 1968-1972
Most Recent Mainstream Card: 1983 TCMA 1943 Play Ball #21
Total Non-Parallel Baseball Cards: 34 in the Beckett online database as of 12/16/23.
Sources:
Baseball Reference - Harris / Baseball Reference - 1969 Braves / SABR / Wikipedia
Building the Set / Card #205
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 128th 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 / Braves Team Set / Accuracy Index -8
The photo of Harris was taken in 1965 as it's similar to the photo appearing on his 1966 Topps card, featuring him wearing an Astros hat. The back of the card celebrates his Richmond Braves winning the 1967 International League pennant, and Harris would be awarded with a promotion to the majors for 1968.
Accuracy Index: Harris loses points for the Astros uniform (-5) and the blacked out hat (-3).
1969 Season
As mentioned above, this was Harris' best season in the majors as a manager as he guided the Braves to a National League West pennant following a 93-win season. The Mets dispatched of the Braves fairly easily in the first NLCS, sweeping Atlanta in three games. Henry Aaron (#100) was the top slugger for the team, batting .300 and leading the club with 44 home runs and 97 RBIs. Left fielder Rico Carty (#590) had the top average with a .342 mark. First baseman Orlando Cepeda (#385) had a solid year with 22 home runs and 88 RBIs. Second baseman Felix Millan (#210) was a starter at the All-Star Game and he'd win a Gold Glove.
Phil Niekro (#355) won 23 games with Ron Reed (#177) close behind him with 18 wins. The knuckle-balling Niekro led all Braves pitchers in wins, complete games (21), shutouts (4), innings pitched (284 1/3) and strikeouts (193). Cecil Upshaw (#568) was the team's closer, earning 27 saves.
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First Mainstream Card: 1960 Topps #455
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (8): 1960, 1965-1966, 1968-1972
Most Recent Mainstream Card: 1983 TCMA 1943 Play Ball #21
Total Non-Parallel Baseball Cards: 34 in the Beckett online database as of 12/16/23.
Update Cards
For my 1965 Topps blog, I used the team card posts to come up with five or six candidates per team for an imaginary update series. With no team cards in the 1969 Topps set, I'll use each manager card for this exercise, and come up with a list of deserving cards to be included in an 8th/update series.
- Satchel Paige (pitching coach) - The future Hall of Famer and pitching great served as the Braves' pitching coach for just the 1969 season, and I'd definitely give him a card in my imaginary update set.
- Bob Didier (c) - The Braves are surprisingly well-represented in the set, but regular catcher Bob Didier (#611) had to share a Rookie Stars card with Walt Hriniak and Gary Neibauer. I'd give Didier his own card.
- Paul Doyle (lhp) - Reliever Paul Doyle's rookie card can be found in the 1970 Topps set, but given his 36 relief appearances he'd earn a card in the update set.
- Tony Gonzalez (of) - Fourth outfielder Tony Gonzalez (#501) is in the set with the Padres, and the Braves acquired him on June 13th.
- Gil Garrido (ss) - Gil Garrido (#331) would be promoted to a solo card, having appeared on a Rookie Stars card in the main set.
- Braves Rookie Stars - Ralph Garr / Darrell Evans / Dusty Baker - And finally, this trio appeared in a combined 37 games for the Braves in 1969. I thought it would make a cool Rookie Stars card in the update set.
Baseball Reference - Harris / Baseball Reference - 1969 Braves / SABR / Wikipedia
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