Hello, birthday post, my old copout/fallback/friend. I haven't done one of you in a while. But on the eve of the Texas Rangers' first-ever World Series game tomorrow, I thought it would be appropriate to celebrate the career of the guy who, by at least one measure, is the fourth-best position player in the team's history. Harrah turns 62 today.
Toby Harrah made four All-Star teams and twice was named on MVP ballots, but my sense is that he's a guy who didn't get the credit due him when he played, and is scarcely remembered at all now. In an era in which the ideal shortstop was short, slight, and quick, and might put up an OBP of .280 but could slap it the other way or execute a sac bunt with the best of them, Harrah was more or less the opposite of that. Harrah played decent defense and stole a few bases (everybody stole a few bases in that period), but he wasn't terribly fast or flashy. He hit .300 just once (.290 twice) and put up a career average of .264, but at his peak, he drew nearly 100 walks and hit more than 20 homers a year. He was kind of a Cal Ripken Jr. lite, before there was a Cal Ripken Jr. Less defense and a better eye at the plate, and nowhere near the durability or staying power, but there's just nobody else from that period to compare him to.
