| Toby Harrah | |
|---|---|
 Harrah in 1977 | |
| Third baseman /Shortstop | |
| Born: (1948-10-26)October 26, 1948 (age 77) Sissonville, West Virginia, U.S. | |
Batted: Right Threw: Right | |
| MLB debut | |
| September 5, 1969, for the Washington Senators | |
| Last MLB appearance | |
| October 4, 1986, for the Texas Rangers | |
| MLB statistics | |
| Batting average | .264 |
| Home runs | 195 |
| Runs batted in | 918 |
Stats atBaseball Reference  | |
| Teams | |
As player
As manager As coach | |
| Career highlights and awards | |
Colbert Dale "Toby"Harrah (born October 26, 1948) is an American former professionalbaseballshortstop andthird baseman. He played inMajor League Baseball from 1969 to 1986. Harrah played the majority of his career for theTexas Rangers franchise, including his rookie season during the team's final year as theWashington Senators in 1971. He also played for theCleveland Indians and theNew York Yankees. In 1992, he briefly served as manager of the Rangers. Harrah most recently served as the assistant hitting coach for theDetroit Tigers.
Harrah was scouted as a high school baseball player in his hometown ofLaRue, Ohio, but was not signed at graduation as most scouts expected him to attend college on a baseball scholarship. Legendary scoutTony Lucadello later discovered that Harrah was not attending school, but was instead working in a factory in nearbyMarion. Lucadello signed Harrah for thePhiladelphia Phillies in December 1966.
After one year in the Phillies organization, Harrah was drafted by theWashington Senators in the fall of 1967. After a brief callup in 1969, he advanced to the major league club in 1971; the next year the franchise relocated and became theTexas Rangers. He was the regular shortstop through 1976, then moved to third base, although he still saw some action at short. He was selected to the American League All-Star team in 1972, 1975, and 1976. He had a career-best 93RBIs in 1975. On June 25, 1976, Harrah played an entire doubleheader at shortstop without recording a single chance in the field.[1] The following season he and teammateBump Wills hit back-to-back inside-the-park home runs.[2]
In 1978, Harrah was traded to theCleveland Indians forBuddy Bell, a player thought to be fairly similar in many respects. He was the Indians' regular third baseman through 1983 and made the All-Star team in 1982. That year he had 100 runs and a career-best .304 batting average.
In 1984, Harrah was traded to theNew York Yankees, where he was a part-time player, then he was traded again to the Rangers, where he played regularly again for the 1985 and 1986 seasons, primarily at second base. With the retirement ofJeff Burroughs in 1985, Harrah became the last active major leaguer to have played for the Washington Senators. He was also the last player to see a pitch for the Senators in their final game on September 30, 1971, whenTommy McCraw was caught stealing during his plate appearance for the Senators' final out in the bottom of the eighth.
In a 13–11 Rangers win over theBaltimore Orioles atMemorial Stadium on August 6, 1986 which was the first game in MLB history that featured threegrand slams, Harrah hit the first one of the contest offKen Dixon in the second inning.Larry Sheets andJim Dwyer hit the other two in the fourth offBobby Witt andJeff Russell respectively.[3]
Harrah was noted for his good eye at the plate, placing in the top ten in the league forbases on balls on nine occasions, including an AL-best 109 in 1977. He finished his career with more bases on balls than strikeouts, with 1153 and 868, respectively. He also had better than average power for a defensive infielder, hitting 195 career home runs. Combined with good speed, he accumulated three seasons of 20 home runs and 20 stolen bases. Harrah's on-base skills and respectable slugging ability led to a solid careerAdjusted OPS of 114.[4]
According tosabermetrician Jay Jaffe ofBaseball Prospectus, Harrah is the 25th-best third baseman in Major League Baseball history, outpacing several Hall of Famers. Despite his superior statistical accomplishments, Harrah only received a single vote for theBaseball Hall of Fame in 1992, thereby removing his name from future ballots.[5] Harrah's chances for the Hall were seemingly hurt by his multiple position switches: from shortstop, to third base, to second base, and often back and forth. He did not match the awards or "counting stats" (avg, HR, RBI) of well-hitting contemporary shortstops likeCal Ripken Jr. andBarry Larkin, or third baseman such asWade Boggs orGeorge Brett, all of whom were on their way to HOF careers by the time Harrah was eligible in 1992. Contemporary baseball historians have placed more value on Harrah's career after the fact, noting that he was a solid all-around player who placed among the league leaders inWins Above Replacement on 5 occasions.[6][7]
In 2009, Harrah was named to theTexas Rangers Hall of Fame.[8]
Following his playing career, Harrah moved on to coaching in professional baseball. From 1987 to 1988 he managed theTriple AOklahoma City 89ers. From 1989 to 1991 he served as thefirst base coach for theTexas Rangers under managerBobby Valentine. In 1992 he shifted tobench coach under Valentine then replaced him as manager with 76 games left to go in the season. As interim manager, the Rangers under Harrah went 32–44.
In 1995 Harrah managed the Triple ANorfolk Tides to an 86–56 record, finishing in first place in theInternational League East Division. In 1996 he served as the third base coach for theCleveland Indians underMike Hargrove, replacingBuddy Bell, who had been named manager of theDetroit Tigers. In 1997, he served as a minor league hitting coach within the Tigers organization. In 1998 he joined the Tigers major league club as hitting coach, serving under manager Bell and interim managerLarry Parrish, both teammates of Harrah with the Rangers in the mid 1980s. When Bell was hired as the manager of theColorado Rockies in 2000, Harrah joined him once again by serving as bench coach through the 2002 season.[9]
In 2004, Harrah was named minor league hitting coordinator for the Tigers, where he worked with players at all levels as a roving instructor. He remained in that position until part way through the 2012 season.[10]
In June 2012, Harrah joined the Detroit Tigers major league coaching staff in an unofficial capacity.[11] Tigers managerJim Leyland noted that with so many players struggling at once, hitting coachLloyd McClendon had been stretched thin. The notion of two hitting coaches had been recommended to Leyland by friend and former colleagueTony La Russa.[12] LaRussa had been the first to adopt a two-coach system when he named an assistant hitting coach, (Mike Aldrete), with theSt. Louis Cardinals in 2008.[13] In the month following Harrah's arrival, the Tigers offense increased their average runs per game from 4.3 to 5.6.[14]
Following the 2012 season, Harrah was officially named assistant hitting coach by the Tigers for the 2013 season.[15] Following the 2013 season and the retirement of Tigers managerJim Leyland, Harrah was informed that his contract would not be renewed.[citation needed]
· Baseball Almanac| Preceded by | Detroit TigersHitting coach 1998 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Colorado RockiesBench coach 2000–2002 | Succeeded by |
