View source for Bucky Harris

{{short description|American baseball player and manager (1896–1977)}}
{{for|the baseball player who also went by the name Bucky Harris|Harris McGalliard}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=June 2024}}

{{Infobox baseball biography
|name=Bucky Harris
|image=Stanley Harris, Wash. LCCN2016839654 (cropped).jpg
|caption=Harris in 1925
|position=[[Second baseman]] / [[Manager (baseball)|Manager]]
|bats=Right
|throws=Right
|birth_date={{Birth date|1896|11|8}}
|birth_place=[[Port Jervis, New York]], U.S.
|death_date={{death date and age|1977|11|8|1896|11|8}}
|death_place=[[Bethesda, Maryland]], U.S.
|debutleague = MLB
|debutdate=August 28
|debutyear=1919
|debutteam=Washington Senators
|finalleague = MLB
|finaldate=June 12
|finalyear=1931
|finalteam=Detroit Tigers
|statleague = MLB
|stat1label=[[Batting average (baseball)|Batting average]]
|stat1value=.274
|stat2label=[[Home run]]s
|stat2value=9
|stat3label=[[Runs batted in]]
|stat3value=508
|stat4label=Managerial record
|stat4value=2,158–2,219
|stat5label=Winning %
|stat5value=.493
|teams=
'''As player'''
* [[Washington Senators (1901–60)|Washington Senators]] ({{mlby|1919}}–{{mlby|1928}})
* [[Detroit Tigers]] ({{mlby|1929}}, {{mlby|1931}})
'''As manager'''
* [[Washington Senators (1901–60)|Washington Senators]] ({{mlby|1924}}–{{mlby|1928}})
* [[Detroit Tigers]] ({{mlby|1929}}–{{mlby|1933}})
* [[Boston Red Sox]] ({{mlby|1934}})
* [[Washington Senators (1901–60)|Washington Senators]] ({{mlby|1935}}–{{mlby|1942}})
* [[Philadelphia Phillies]] ({{mlby|1943}})
* [[New York Yankees]] ({{mlby|1947}}–{{mlby|1948}})
* [[Washington Senators (1901–60)|Washington Senators]] ({{mlby|1950}}–{{mlby|1954}})
* [[Detroit Tigers]] ({{mlby|1955}}–{{mlby|1956}})
|highlights=
* 2× [[World Series champion]] ({{wsy|1924}}, {{wsy|1947}})
* [[Washington Nationals#Ring of Honor|Washington Nationals Ring of Honor]] 
|hoflink = National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum
|hoftype = National
|hofdate=[[1975 Baseball Hall of Fame balloting|1975]]
|hofmethod=Veterans Committee
}}
'''Stanley Raymond''' "'''Bucky'''" '''Harris''' (November 8, 1896 – November 8, 1977) was an American professional [[baseball]] [[second baseman]], [[Manager (baseball)|manager]] and executive. While Harris played in [[Major League Baseball]] (MLB) for the [[Washington Senators (1901–60)|Washington Senators]] and [[Detroit Tigers]],<ref name="harrisBR">{{cite web|url=https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/harribu01.shtml|title=Bucky Harris Stats|date=2019|publisher=Sports Reference LLC|work=[[Baseball-Reference.com]]|access-date=September 10, 2019}}</ref> it was his long managerial career that led to his enshrinement in the [[National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum|Baseball Hall of Fame]] by the Veterans Committee in 1975.<ref name="kashatus76">Kashatus, William C., ''Diamonds in the Coalfields: 21 Remarkable Baseball Players, Managers, and Umpires from Northeast Pennsylvania.'' Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, 2002, p. 76 {{ISBN|978-0-7864-1176-4}}</ref>

Hired by the Senators to act as player-manager at the age of 27, Harris would lead the team to the [[1924 World Series]] title, becoming the youngest manager to win a championship and the first rookie manager to do so (four other rookies have accomplished the feat since).<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.mlb.com/news/rookie-managers-who-won-the-world-series-c299658998 | title=Rookie managers who won the World Series | website=[[MLB.com]] }}</ref> Harris managed 29 seasons, fourth most in MLB history. In his tenure as manager for five teams (with three terms for Washington and two for Detroit), Harris won over 2,150 games, three [[pennant (sports)|league pennants]] and two [[World Series]] championships (1924 with the Senators and [[1947 World Series|1947]] with the [[New York Yankees]]); the gap between Harris's World Series appearances (22 years) and championships (23) are the longest in major league history.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.mlb.com/news/longest-gaps-between-manager-stints|title=Longest gaps between manager stints|website=[[MLB.com]] }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.mlb.com/news/dusty-baker-facts-on-return-to-world-series|title = He's back! 7 incredible facts on Dusty in WS| website=[[MLB.com]] }}</ref>

==Early life==
Stanley Raymond "Bucky" Harris was born on November 8, 1896, in [[Port Jervis, New York]], and raised after the age of six in [[Pittston, Pennsylvania]]. He was of [[Swiss people|Swiss]] and [[Welsh people|Welsh]] descent. His father, Thomas, had emigrated from [[Wales]], while his mother, Catherine (Rupp), hailed from [[Hughestown, Pennsylvania|Hughestown]], near Pittston. His elder brother, Merle, was a [[Minor League Baseball|minor league]] [[second baseman]]. Bucky Harris left school at age 13 to work at a local [[colliery]], the Butler Mine, as an office boy and, later, a weigh master.<ref name="walla">Kritzer, Cy, "The Boy Who Bucked the Current", ''1947 Baseball Guide and Record Book'', St. Louis, Missouri: [[The Sporting News]], 1947, pp. 116-123</ref> In his spare time, Harris played [[basketball]] for the Pittston [[YMCA]] team as well as sandlot baseball.

==Professional career==
===Minor leagues===
Harris was listed as {{convert|5|ft|9|in}} tall and {{convert|156|lb}}; he threw and batted right-handed. In 1916, when Harris was 19, Pittston native [[Hughie Jennings]], then the manager of the [[Detroit Tigers]], signed him to his first contract and farmed him to the Class B [[Muskegon Reds]] of the [[Central League (baseball)|Central League]], where he struggled as a batsman and was released.<ref name="walla"/> Harris then caught on with the [[Scranton Miners (baseball)|Scranton Miners]], [[Norfolk Tars]] and [[Reading Pretzels]] through 1917, before reaching the highest level of [[minor league baseball]] with the 1918–1919 [[Buffalo Bisons (1886–1970)|Buffalo Bisons]] of the [[International League]]. Harris improved his batting skills during the latter season with the Bisons, making 126 [[hit (baseball)|hits]] and raising his [[batting average (baseball)|average]] to .282.

===Washington Senators (1919–1928)===
Harris then was recommended to the [[Washington Senators (1901–60)|Washington Senators]] by baseball promoter [[Joe Engel]], who led the [[Chattanooga Lookouts]] at [[Engel Stadium]]. In August 1919, at the age of 22, he came up to Washington but was unimpressive at first,<ref name="kashatus74">Kashatus, op. cit., p. 74</ref> batting a meager .214 and getting into only eight games that first season. Despite this poor showing, owner-manager [[Clark Griffith]] made him Washington's regular [[second baseman]] in 1920, and before long Harris was batting .300 and making a mark for himself as a tough competitor, standing up to even ferocious superstar [[Ty Cobb]], who threatened Harris when he tagged Cobb in their first encounter.<ref name="kashatus74"/>

Harris spent most of his playing career as a second baseman with the Senators (1919–1928). In 1924, he was named player-manager; at the age of 27 he was the youngest manager in the Majors.<ref name="kashatus74"/> He proceeded to lead the Senators to their only [[World Series]] title in Washington in [[1924 World Series|his rookie season]], and was nicknamed "The Boy Wonder."<ref name="bessa">[http://baseballhall.org/hof/harris-bucky National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum official site]</ref> He won a second consecutive [[American League]] pennant in 1925, but the Senators lost the [[1925 World Series]] in Pittsburgh in the late innings of Game 7 after leading 3–1 in the Series.<ref name="kashatus74-76">Kashatus, op. cit., pp. 74–76</ref> Baseball historian William C. Kashatus wrote of his dominant play in the 1924 [[World Series]]:<ref name="kashatus75">Kashatus, op. cit., p. 75</ref> "Not only did he set records for chances accepted, double plays and put-outs in the exciting seven-game affair, but he batted .333 and hit two home runs"<ref name="kashatus75"/> — including an important roundtripper in Game 7 which opened the scoring and gave Washington a 1–0 lead in the 4th inning. These feats are even more impressive considering that the light-hitting Harris only hit nine home runs during his entire career.

After Harris‘ back-to-back [[pennant (sports)|pennants]] in 1924–1925, he was able to keep the Senators in the [[first division (baseball)|first division]] for the next three seasons, but their win totals declined, from 96 (1925) to 81 ({{baseball year|1926}}), then 85 ({{baseball year|1927}}).

===Detroit Tigers (1929, 1931)===
When, in {{mlby|1928}}, they won only 75 games (against 79 losses), Griffith traded Harris to Detroit and changed managers, with Hall of Fame [[pitcher]] [[Walter Johnson]] named as his successor. The {{baseball year|1928}} Tigers had won only 68 games, and Harris' {{baseball year|1929}} edition offered only a slight improvement, winning 70. Harris’ initial departure from the Senators in 1928 (he would twice return to manage them again from 1935 to 1942 and 1950–1954) came in a trade to the Tigers as player-manager.<ref name="kashatus76"/> Although he retired as a player after the 1931 season, his playing career effectively ended with his trade to Detroit. Harris only made 11 cameo appearances in the Tiger lineup: seven in 1929 and four in 1931. In all, he appeared in 1,263 games over all or portions of 13 seasons, and collected 1,297 [[Hit (baseball)|hits]], with 224 [[Double (baseball)|doubles]], 64 [[Triple (baseball)|triples]], nine [[home runs]], 472 [[bases on balls]], and 167 [[stolen bases]]. Harris batted .274 lifetime with 508 career [[runs batted in]].

[[File:Bucky Harris, from- "Big train" and "Bucky" meet again, this time as foes. Walter Johnson and "Bucky" Harris meet again in Washington, this time as managers of opposing teams. Bucky's Detroit Tigers lost the LCCN2016889317 (cropped).tif|left|thumb|Bucky Harris in 1929]]
In five full seasons as the Tigers' manager, he produced only one winning year, {{baseball year|1932}}, when Detroit went 76–75 and finished fifth and {{frac|29|1|2}} games behind the Yankees. In the waning days of {{baseball year|1933}}, Harris stepped down. His eventual successor, [[Mickey Cochrane]], a future Hall-of-Fame [[catcher]] who was acquired from the [[Philadelphia Athletics]], would lead the Tigers as a player-manager to back-to-back pennants in 1934–1935 (and their [[1935 World Series|first-ever world championship]] in the latter year).

===Boston Red Sox (1934)===
Harris signed as manager of the Red Sox for {{baseball year|1934}}. Boston was then a habitual tail-ender in the American League, and had registered 15 consecutive losing seasons since its {{baseball year|1918}} world championship. The 1933 Red Sox had won only 63 games and finished seventh in the eight-team AL under [[Marty McManus]], but their wealthy new owner, [[Tom Yawkey]], had begun a major rebuilding of both the ball club and [[Fenway Park]]. Yawkey jettisoned McManus and personally selected Harris as his new manager, and his [[1934 Boston Red Sox season|1934 Red Sox]], despite an injury-riddled season by newly purchased ace left-handed [[pitcher]] [[Lefty Grove]], broke the losing-season streak, finishing at .500 (76–76). But Harris's stay in the Boston dugout lasted only one season. He and [[Eddie Collins]], the Red Sox' [[general manager (baseball)|general manager]], had feuded since their playing days<ref name="vina">Huhn, Rick, ''Eddie Collins: A Baseball Biography.'' Jefferson, N.C.: Macfarland & Company, 2008, pp. 278–279 {{ISBN| 978-0-7864-3287-5}}</ref> and Yawkey may have hired Harris without consulting Collins. When [[Joe Cronin]], the hard-hitting, 28-year-old playing manager of the Senators, became available on the trade market, Yawkey and Collins moved quickly, sending [[shortstop]] [[Lyn Lary]] and $225,000 to Washington on October 26, 1934,<ref name="croninBR">{{cite web|url=https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/c/cronijo01.shtml|title=Joe Cronin Stats|date=2019|publisher=Sports Reference LLC|work=[[Baseball-Reference.com]]|access-date=September 10, 2019}}</ref> for Cronin, and then naming him manager for {{baseball year|1935}}. Harris then took Cronin's old job, returning to Clark Griffith and the Senators.

===Second stint with Washington Senators (1935–1942)===
[[File:Just another handshaking. Washington, D.C., April 18. The traditional handshaking was repeated today as Bucky Harris and Connie Mack gripped each other just before their teams went into LCCN2016873413 (cropped).jpg|thumb|right|Harris and [[Connie Mack]] shaking hands in 1938|alt=]]
Harris' second term in Washington lasted for eight seasons (1935–1942), his longest tenure as a skipper. However, he never approached the highs of 1924 or 1925. Only one of his teams, the [[1936 Washington Senators season|1936 Senators]], had a winning record (82–71) and first-division finish. Harris kept the club out of the American League basement, but three consecutive seventh-place finishes from 1940 to 1942 led to his departure.

===Philadelphia Phillies (1943)===
His only season in the [[National League (baseball)|National League]] was spent as skipper of the [[1943 Philadelphia Phillies season|1943 Phillies]].

Perhaps the worst team (42–109, .278) in baseball in {{mlby|1942}}, the Phillies had just been sold to lumberman [[William D. Cox]]. Under Harris, the 1943 edition improved to play .424 baseball (39–53) by July 27, with just three fewer victories than they had in all of 1942. However, Harris chafed at Cox' constant interference. When Harris protested, Cox abruptly fired him after only 92 games.

Harris then played a role in Cox' banishment from professional [[baseball]] for betting on games. On the day after his firing, Harris dropped a bombshell at his hotel room — he had evidence that Cox was betting on baseball.<ref>{{cite book|last=Okrent|first=Daniel|title=The Ultimate Baseball Book|year=1988|publisher=Houghton Mifflin Company|location=Boston, USA|isbn=0395361451|pages=352}}</ref> Harris's friends, outraged at his firing, informed [[Commissioner of Baseball]] [[Kenesaw Mountain Landis]] that Cox was violating baseball's anti-gambling mandate.<ref name="buck">[https://www.nytimes.com/1989/03/30/obituaries/william-d-cox-79-team-owner-who-was-banned-from-baseball.html article], ''[[The New York Times]]'', March 30, 1989</ref> Landis then summoned Harris to his office to testify in person about Cox' behavior. The owner was suspended indefinitely three months later and banned from baseball outright soon afterward. The Phillies were sold to [[R. R. M. Carpenter]] in November 1943.

===New York Yankees (1947–1948)===
[[File:Photograph of President Truman shaking hands with Washington manager Ossie Bluege and New York Yankees manager Bucky... - NARA - 199579 (cropped).jpg|thumb|left|United States President [[Harry Truman]] (left) shaking hands with Washington Senators manager [[Ossie Bluege]] (center) and New York Yankees manager Bucky Harris (right) on April 18, 1947.]]
Harris then spent three seasons out of the big leagues, serving as [[general manager (baseball)|general manager]] (1944–1946) and field manager (1944–1945) of the Buffalo Bisons, his old team in the International League. In August 1946, the Yankees' co-owner and GM, [[Larry MacPhail]], appointed Harris to a front-office position.

The tumultuous {{baseball year|1946}} season saw MacPhail employ three managers — [[Joe McCarthy (manager)|Joe McCarthy]], [[Bill Dickey]] and [[Johnny Neun]] — and finish third, 17 games in arrears of the [[Pennant (sports)|pennant-winning]] Red Sox. At the close of the season, MacPhail named Harris the Bombers' 1947 manager, and he led them to his third American League pennant — the Yankees' 15th league title.

Behind [[Most Valuable Player Award|Most Valuable Player]] [[Joe DiMaggio]] and newly acquired [[starting pitcher]] [[Allie Reynolds]], the [[1947 New York Yankees season|1947 Yanks]] won 97 games and prevailed over the Tigers by a 12-game margin. Then they won Harris's second [[1947 World Series|World Series]] championship, defeating the [[Jackie Robinson]]-led [[Brooklyn Dodgers]] in a thrilling, seven-game Fall Classic.

MacPhail sold his stake in the Yankees and left baseball immediately after the 1947 Series and Harris returned for a second season as manager. His [[1948 New York Yankees season|1948 Yankees]] won 94 games to finish a close third in a hectic pennant race, two games behind the [[Cleveland Indians]] and Red Sox, who ended the regular season in a tie for first place.<ref name="kashatus76"/> But the result dissatisfied the Yankees' post-MacPhail ownership team, [[Dan Topping]] and [[Del Webb]], and their new general manager, [[George Weiss (baseball)|George Weiss]], and they replaced Harris with [[Casey Stengel]]. Stengel would lead New York to ten American League pennants and seven World Series titles in the next 12 seasons.

===Third stint with Washington Senators (1950–1954)===
Harris returned to the [[Minor League Baseball|minor leagues]] in 1949 as manager of the [[San Diego Padres (PCL)|San Diego Padres]] of the [[Pacific Coast League]], before launching his third stint as skipper of the Senators, coming off a 104-loss 1949 season. His first campaign, {{baseball year|1950}}, saw a 17-game improvement for Washington, then he led the Senators to a winning (78–76) mark in {{baseball year|1952}}, but the team could not escape the [[first division (baseball)|second division]] in Harris's five-year, final term as Washington's manager.

===Detroit Tigers (1955–1956)===
Nevertheless, the Tigers chose Harris to replace [[Fred Hutchinson]] as their manager for {{baseball year|1955}}, and in the first season of his second term in Detroit, Harris again produced a turnaround. The [[1955 Detroit Tigers season|1955 Tigers]] won 79 games (eleven more than {{baseball year|1954}}'s edition) and had their first above-.500 season since {{baseball year|1950}}. Pitcher [[Ned Garver]] described Harris as "sympathetic," recalling that he would wait until an inning was over before replacing a pitcher on the mound.<ref>{{cite web|last=Wolf|first=Gregory H.|url=https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/ned-garver/|title=Ned Garver|work=SABR|accessdate=November 21, 2021}}</ref> Then, Detroit won 82 games in {{baseball year|1956}}. But the Tigers finished fifth each season, and were experiencing turmoil in their front office; outspoken owner [[Walter Briggs Jr.]] was harshly critical of Harris and his coaches during the season<ref>[https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1338&dat=19560628&id=aPtXAAAAIBAJ&sjid=x_YDAAAAIBAJ&pg=5866,3576511&hl=en article], [[The Associated Press]], June 28, 1956</ref> and was in the process of selling the team.<ref>Smiles, Jack, ''Boy Wonder: A Biography of Baseball's Bucky Harris.'' Jefferson, N.C.: Macfarland & Company, 2011, p. 261 {{ISBN|978-0-7864-4160-0}}</ref> Fired by new owner [[Fred Knorr]], Harris closed out his 29-year MLB managing career with a [[win–loss record]] of 2,158–2,219 (.493). As of September 2019, Harris ranked seventh in [[MLB manager career wins]].<ref name="rank">{{cite web|url=https://www.baseball-reference.com/managers/|title=MLB Managers|date=2019|publisher=Sports Reference LLC|work=[[Baseball-Reference.com]]|access-date=September 10, 2019}}</ref>

===Managerial record===
{| class="wikitable" style="font-size: 95%; text-align:center;"
|-
! rowspan="2"|Team !! rowspan="2"|Year !! colspan="5"|Regular season !! colspan="4"|Postseason
|-
!Games!!Won!!Lost!!Win %!!Finish!! Won !! Lost !! Win % !! Result
|-
|-style="background:#fde910"
![[1924 Washington Senators season|WSH]]|| {{mlby|1924}}
||154||92||62||{{Winning percentage|92|62}}|| '''1st in AL''' || 4 || 3 || .571 || '''Won [[1924 World Series|World Series]] ([[1924 New York Giants season|NYG]])'''
|-style="background:#fdd"
![[1925 Washington Senators season|WSH]]|| {{mlby|1925}}
||151||96||55||{{Winning percentage|96|55}}|| '''1st in AL''' || 3 || 4 || .429 || Lost [[1925 World Series|World Series]] ([[1925 Pittsburgh Pirates season|PIT]])
|-
![[1926 Washington Senators season|WSH]]|| {{mlby|1926}}
||150||81||69||{{Winning percentage|81|69}}|| 4th in AL || – || – || – || –
|-
![[1927 Washington Senators season|WSH]]|| {{mlby|1927}}
||154||85||69||{{Winning percentage|85|69}}|| 3rd in AL || – || – || – || –
|-
![[1928 Washington Senators season|WSH]]|| {{mlby|1928}}
||154||75||79||{{Winning percentage|75|79}}|| 4th in AL || – || – || – || –
|-
!colspan="11"|
|-
![[1929 Detroit Tigers season|DET]]|| {{mlby|1929}}
||154||70||84||{{Winning percentage|70|84}}|| 6th in AL || – || – || – || –
|-
![[1930 Detroit Tigers season|DET]]|| {{mlby|1930}}
||154||75||79||{{Winning percentage|75|79}}|| 5th in AL || – || – || – || –
|-
![[1931 Detroit Tigers season|DET]]|| {{mlby|1931}}
||154||61||93||{{Winning percentage|61|93}}|| 7th in AL || – || – || – || –
|-
![[1932 Detroit Tigers season|DET]]|| {{mlby|1932}}
||151||76||75||{{Winning percentage|76|75}}|| 5th in AL || – || – || – || –
|-
![[1933 Detroit Tigers season|DET]]|| {{mlby|1933}}
||152||73||79||{{Winning percentage|73|79}}|| resigned || – || – || – || –
|-
!colspan="11"|
|-
![[1934 Boston Red Sox season|BOS]]|| {{mlby|1934}}
||152||76||76||{{Winning percentage|76|76}}|| 4th in AL || – || – || – || –
|-
! colspan="2"|BOS total || 152 || 76 || 76 || {{Winning percentage|76|76}} || || 0 || 0 || – ||
|-
![[1935 Washington Senators season|WSH]]|| {{mlby|1935}}
||153||67||86||{{Winning percentage|67|86}}|| 6th in AL || – || – || – || –
|-
![[1936 Washington Senators season|WSH]]|| {{mlby|1936}}
||153||82||71||{{Winning percentage|82|71}}|| 4th in AL || – || – || – || –
|-
![[1937 Washington Senators season|WSH]]|| {{mlby|1937}}
||153||73||80||{{Winning percentage|73|80}}|| 6th in AL || – || – || – || –
|-
![[1938 Washington Senators season|WSH]]|| {{mlby|1938}}
||151||75||76||{{Winning percentage|75|76}}|| 5th in AL || – || – || – || –
|-
![[1939 Washington Senators season|WSH]]|| {{mlby|1939}}
||152||65||87||{{Winning percentage|65|87}}|| 6th in AL || – || – || – || –
|-
![[1940 Washington Senators season|WSH]]|| {{mlby|1940}}
||154||64||90||{{Winning percentage|64|90}}|| 7th in AL || – || – || – || –
|-
![[1941 Washington Senators season|WSH]]|| {{mlby|1941}}
||154||70||84||{{Winning percentage|70|84}}|| 6th in AL || – || – || – || –
|-
![[1942 Washington Senators season|WSH]]|| {{mlby|1942}}
||151||62||89||{{Winning percentage|62|89}}|| 7th in AL || – || – || – || –
|-
!colspan="11"|
|-
![[1943 Philadelphia Phillies season|PHI]]|| {{mlby|1943}}
||92||39||53||{{Winning percentage|39|53}}|| fired || – || – || – || –
|-
! colspan="2"|PHI total || 92 || 39 || 53 || {{Winning percentage|39|53}} || || 0 || 0 || – ||
|-style="background:#fde910"
![[1947 New York Yankees season|NYY]]|| {{mlby|1947}}
||154||97||57||{{Winning percentage|97|57}}|| '''1st in AL''' || 4 || 3 || .571 || '''Won [[1947 World Series|World Series]] ([[1947 Brooklyn Dodgers season|BKN]])'''
|-
![[1948 New York Yankees season|NYY]]|| {{mlby|1948}}
||154||94||60||{{Winning percentage|94|60}}|| 3rd in AL || – || – || – || –
|-
! colspan="2"|NYY total || 308 || 191 || 117 || {{Winning percentage|191|117}} || || 4 || 3 || .571 ||
|-
![[1950 Washington Senators season|WSH]]|| {{mlby|1950}}
||154||67||87||{{Winning percentage|67|87}}|| 5th in AL || – || – || – || –
|-
![[1951 Washington Senators season|WSH]]|| {{mlby|1951}}
||154||62||92||{{Winning percentage|62|92}}|| 7th in AL || – || – || – || –
|-
![[1952 Washington Senators season|WSH]]|| {{mlby|1952}}
||154||78||76||{{Winning percentage|78|76}}|| 5th in AL || – || – || – || –
|-
![[1953 Washington Senators season|WSH]]|| {{mlby|1953}}
||152||76||76||{{Winning percentage|76|76}}|| 5th in AL || – || – || – || –
|-
![[1954 Washington Senators season|WSH]]|| {{mlby|1954}}
||154||66||88||{{Winning percentage|66|88}}|| 6th in AL || – || – || – || –
|-
! colspan="2"|WSH total || 2752 || 1336 || 1416 || {{Winning percentage|7|7}} || || 7 || 7 || .500 || 
|-
![[1955 Detroit Tigers season|DET]]|| {{mlby|1955}}
||154||79||75||{{Winning percentage|79|75}}|| 5th in AL || – || – || – || –
|-
![[1956 Detroit Tigers season|DET]]|| {{mlby|1956}}
||154||82||72||{{Winning percentage|82|72}}|| 5th in AL || – || – || – || –
|-
! colspan="2"|DET total || 1073 || 516 || 557 || {{Winning percentage|516|557}} || || 0 || 0 || – ||
|-
! colspan="2"|Total<ref name="managerial record">{{cite web|url=https://www.baseball-reference.com/managers/harribu01.shtml|title=Bucky Harris Managerial Record|date=2015|publisher=Sports Reference LLC|work=[[Baseball-Reference.com]]|access-date=September 18, 2015}}</ref> || 4377 || 2158 || 2219 || {{Winning percentage|0|0}} || || 11 || 10 || {{Winning percentage|11|10}} || 
|}

==Front office career==
In 1957, at 60, Harris rejoined the Red Sox in a front office capacity. He was assistant general manager to Joe Cronin for two seasons, and then, when Cronin was named president of the American League, succeeded him as GM in January 1959, 24 years after Cronin had displaced Harris as Boston's field manager. Harris served for two losing seasons as general manager of the Red Sox before his firing in late September 1960. On his watch, the Red Sox finally broke the [[baseball color line]] by promoting [[Pumpsie Green]] from Triple-A on July 21, 1959, more than a dozen years after Robinson's debut with the Dodgers. They were the last of the 16 pre-expansion teams to [[racial integration|integrate]].<ref name="zree">Smiles, op. cit., pp. 262-268</ref>

But the Red Sox went 75–79 in {{baseball year|1959}} and fell into the [[first division (baseball)|second division]], beginning a streak of eight straight losing seasons. Then, in {{baseball year|1960}}, Hall of Famer [[Ted Williams]]'s final season, they won only 65 games and finished seventh in the eight-team league. [[Rightfielder]] [[Jackie Jensen]], still productive at age 33 — he had been {{baseball year|1958}}'s [[American League Most Valuable Player Award|American League MVP]] and the AL's 1959 [[runs batted in]] leader — sat out the entire 1960 campaign in retirement due to his [[fear of flying]].

Harris made a flurry of minor trades in an attempt to shake up his faltering team. His two highest-profile transactions, which occurred during the 1959–1960 offseason, saw him send [[left-hander|left-handed]] [[pitcher]] and former [[bonus baby]] [[Frank Baumann (baseball)|Frank Baumann]] to the [[Chicago White Sox]] and veteran starting catcher [[Sammy White (baseball)|Sammy White]] to the Indians. But Baumann led the AL in [[earned run average]] with the 1960 Chisox (while the player Harris obtained, [[first baseman]] [[Ron Jackson (1950s first baseman)|Ron Jackson]], struggled through only ten games with Boston before being traded away again) and White abruptly retired rather than report to Cleveland, canceling his trade.<ref>Holbrook, Bob, "Sox, Lane Wrangle on White." ''[[The Boston Globe]]'', March 20, 1960</ref> Harris also ran afoul of Yawkey when he fired Yawkey associate [[Pinky Higgins]] as manager and replaced him with [[Billy Jurges]], a Senators' coach, on July 3, 1959, without consulting the owner.<ref name="zree"/> Jurges lasted less than a calendar year as the Red Sox' pilot before his firing in June 1960 — and replacement by Higgins. Harris's dismissal followed not quite four months later.

Harris ended his long MLB career as a [[Scout (sport)#Kinds of scouts|scout]] for the White Sox (1961–1962) and special assistant for the new [[expansion team|expansion]] [[Washington Senators (1961–71)|Washington Senators]] franchise that played in D.C. from 1961 to 1971 before moving on to [[Arlington, Texas]]. All told, he spent over 55 years in baseball. He died in [[Bethesda, Maryland]], on his 81st birthday. According to his obituary in the November 10, 1977 Washington Post, Harris died after a long battle with Parkinson's disease. He was buried at St. Peter's [[Lutheran]] Church in Hughestown.

==Personal life==
Harris's father-in-law during his first marriage, which ended in divorce in 1951, was [[Howard Sutherland]], former [[United States Senator]] from [[West Virginia]].<ref>[https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/1978/11/30/elizabeth-allen-kin-to-judge/6d48a1c6-2bc7-4d9b-93f0-1c08097b8323/ The Washington Post, November 30, 1978]</ref>

==See also==
{{Portal|Biography|Baseball}}
*[[List of Major League Baseball career stolen bases leaders]]
*[[List of Major League Baseball player-managers]]
* [[List of Major League Baseball managerial wins and winning percentage leaders]]

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==Further reading==
* Kashatus, William C. (2002). ''Diamonds in the Coalfields: 21 Remarkable Baseball Players, Managers, and Umpires from Northeast Pennsylvania''. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company. {{ISBN|978-0-7864-1176-4}}.

==External links==
{{commons category}}
*{{bbhof|harris-bucky}}
*{{baseballstats |mlb=115534|espn=22601|br=h/harribu01|fangraphs=1005402|brm=harris001sta|retro=H/Pharrb106}}
*{{baseball-reference manager|harribu01}}
*[https://www.thedeadballera.com/Obits/Obits_H/Harris.Bucky.Obit.html Bucky Harris] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191123202936/http://www.thedeadballera.com/Obits/Obits_H/Harris.Bucky.Obit.html |date=2019-11-23 }} at The Deadball Era
*{{find a Grave}}

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{{succession box|title=[[San Diego Padres (PCL)]] [[manager (baseball)|manager]]|years=1949|before=[[Jim Brillheart]]|after=[[Del Baker]]}}
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{{Boston Red Sox general managers}}
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{{Detroit Tigers managers}}
{{Boston Red Sox managers}}
{{Philadelphia Phillies managers}}
{{New York Yankees managers}}
{{1924 Washington Senators}}
{{1947 New York Yankees}}
{{Sporting News Manager of the Year Award}}
{{1975 Baseball HOF}}
{{Baseball Hall of Fame members}}
{{Philadelphia Phillies HOF}}
{{New York Yankees HOF}}
{{Minnesota Twins HOF}}
{{Washington Nationals Ring of Honor}}
{{Authority control}}

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