Batting average .266 Role Baseball athlete Name Harry Simpson | Runs batted in 381 Home runs 73 | |
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Died April 3, 1979, Akron, Ohio, United States | ||
Harry Leon "Suitcase" Simpson (December 3, 1925 – April 3, 1979) was an African American outfielder and first baseman in Major League Baseball who played for the Cleveland Indians, Kansas City Athletics, New York Yankees, Chicago White Sox, and Pittsburgh Pirates in his eight-year career. He played in the World Series with the New York Yankees in 1957, which they lost.
He was born in Atlanta, and died in Akron, Ohio. He was one of the earliest black players in the American League, playing first with the Cleveland Indians in 1951. Casey Stengel once called him the best defensive right fielder in the American League.
That his nickname of "Suitcase" came from his being frequently traded during his playing career is a common misconception. According to the 1951 Cleveland Indians Sketch Book, he was called "Suitcase" by sportswriters after the Toonerville Trolley character, Suitcase Simpson, because of his size 13 shoe with feet as large as suitcases. This is years before his many trades. His real nickname was "Goody", which came from his willingness to run errands and help neighbors in his hometown of Dalton, Georgia.
In popular culture
The character Luther "Suitcase" Simpson in the Jesse Stone novels, and made for TV movies, by author Robert B. Parker, is given the nickname "Suitcase" or "Suit", by the character of the police chief played by Tom Selleck because of Harry Simpson.