Win–loss record 74–90 Role Baseball player Earned run average 3.69 Height 1.83 m | Strikeouts 1,141 Weight 75 kg Name Greg Harris | |
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Greg Allen Harris (born November 2, 1955) is a former pitcher in Major League Baseball. In a 15-year career (1981 to 1995), Harris pitched in 703 games, starting 98. He pitched for the Padres in the 1984 World Series, which they lost to the Detroit Tigers in five games.
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Though he spent his career as a right-handed pitcher, Harris threw left-handed to two batters in a 1995 game (the penultimate game of his career), becoming the first switch pitcher to pitch in a Major League game in the modern era.
Harris also was unusual in that, for periods in 1991-93 pitching for the Boston Red Sox, he achieved success while throwing curve balls almost exclusively.
Switch pitcher
A natural right-hander, by 1986 Harris could throw well enough left-handed that he felt he could pitch with either hand in a game, but his team would not allow this keeping him from being a legitimate ambidextrous major league pitcher. Harris wasn't allowed to throw lefty in a regular season game until September 28, 1995, his penultimate game with the Expos. In the ninth inning, Harris retired Reggie Sanders pitching right-handed, then switched to his left hand for the next two hitters, Hal Morris and Ed Taubensee, who both batted lefty. Harris walked Morris but got Taubensee to ground out. He then went back to his right hand to retire Bret Boone to end the inning. Harris's glove, which was custom built with an extra thumb so that it could be worn on either hand, is now on display at the National Baseball Hall of Fame.
Personal life
His son, Greg Harris, Jr., was drafted by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 17th round of the 2013 MLB Draft and was traded to the Tampa Bay Rays in November 2014.
During his career, Harris was often known as Greg A. Harris to differentiate him from fellow pitcher Greg W. Harris, whose career he overlapped.