| Lum Harris | |
|---|---|
 Harris with the Baltimore Orioles in 1955 | |
| Pitcher /Manager | |
| Born:(1915-01-17)January 17, 1915 New Castle, Alabama, U.S. | |
| Died: November 11, 1996(1996-11-11) (aged 81) Pell City, Alabama, U.S. | |
Batted: Right Threw: Right | |
| MLB debut | |
| April 19, 1941, for the Philadelphia Athletics | |
| Last MLB appearance | |
| May 11, 1947, for the Washington Senators | |
| MLB statistics | |
| Win–loss record | 35–63 |
| Earned run average | 4.16 |
| Strikeouts | 232 |
| Managerial record | 466–488 |
| Winning % | .488 |
Stats atBaseball Reference  | |
| Teams | |
| |
Chalmer Luman Harris (January 17, 1915 – November 11, 1996) was an American right-handedpitcher,coach,manager, andscout inMajor League Baseball.
Born inNew Castle, Alabama, Harris attendedMortimer Jordan High School[1] and began his playing career with theAtlanta Crackers of theSouthern Association in 1937. Hiscatcher that season wasPaul 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.
The 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m), 185 lb (84 kg) Harris compiled a 35–63 record with a 4.16earned-run average in 151American Leaguegames with thePhiladelphia Athletics (1941–1944 and 1946) andWashington Senators (1947). He missed the 1945 season while serving in theUnited States Navy in thePacific Theater of Operations duringWorld War II.[2] As a big leaguer, Harris allowed 874hits and 265bases on balls in 820innings pitched and 151games, with 232strikeouts. He pitched at theTriple-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 theChicago White Sox (1951–1954),Baltimore Orioles (1955–1961) andHouston 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.
Harris' first managerial experience came late in the1961 season. On August 30, Richards stepped down as the skipper of the Baltimore Orioles to become the general manager of theexpansion 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 theAmerican League. After the season, however, Harris rejoined Richards in Houston as a coach, whileBilly Hitchcock took over as Baltimore's skipper for1962.
Harris served for almost three full seasons as a Colt .45 coach underHarry Craft, untilSeptember 19, 1964, when Richards promoted him to manager.[3] In1965, Harris helmed the re-christened Houston Astros, serving for the team's debut season in theAstrodome. But the1965 Astros went only 65–97 to finish ninth in the ten-teamNational League and, at the end of the year, Richards was fired, and Harris was replaced byGrady Hatton as the Astros' pilot. Harris then served as a Houston scout in1966.
In August 1966, Richards returned to the major leagues as the vice president for baseball operations (in effect, general manager) of theAtlanta Braves. After that season, Harris rejoined his old boss in 1967 as skipper of theRichmond Braves, Atlanta'sTriple-Afarm club. Then, from1968 to the middle of the1972 season, Harris managed the big-league Braves (ironically, succeeding Hitchcock).
Harris led Atlanta to 93 victories and the firstNational League West Division championship in1969—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 the1958 World Series as theMilwaukee Braves; however, Harris' squad lost the1969 National League Championship Series to the eventual world championNew York Mets in three straight games. When the Braves slumped in ensuing years, Richards was fired during the1972 season, on June 1; slightly more than two months later, on August 6, Harris was replaced as manager by former Braves'third basemanEddie Mathews.[4] Harris' final managerial record was 466–488 (.488).
Harris died due to ill effects ofdiabetes at age 81 inPell City, Alabama.[5] He is buried in Birmingham'sElmwood Cemetery.
| Team | Year | Regular season | Postseason | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Games | Won | Lost | Win % | Finish | Won | Lost | Win % | Result | ||
| BAL | 1961 | 27 | 17 | 10 | .630 | 3rd in AL | – | – | – | – |
| BAL total | 27 | 17 | 10 | .630 | 0 | 0 | – | |||
| HOU | 1964 | 13 | 5 | 8 | .385 | 9th in NL | – | – | – | – |
| HOU | 1965 | 162 | 65 | 97 | .401 | 9th in NL | – | – | – | – |
| HOU total | 175 | 70 | 105 | .400 | 0 | 0 | – | |||
| ATL | 1968 | 162 | 81 | 81 | .500 | 5th in NL | – | – | – | – |
| ATL | 1969 | 162 | 93 | 69 | .574 | 1st in NL West | 0 | 3 | .000 | LostNLCS (NYM) |
| ATL | 1970 | 162 | 76 | 86 | .469 | 5th in NL West | – | – | – | – |
| ATL | 1971 | 162 | 82 | 80 | .506 | 3rd in NL West | – | – | – | – |
| ATL | 1972 | 104 | 47 | 57 | .452 | fired | – | – | – | – |
| ATL total | 752 | 379 | 373 | .504 | 0 | 3 | .000 | |||
| Total | 954 | 466 | 488 | .488 | 0 | 3 | .000 | |||