Harry Dunlop
From BR Bullpen
Harry Alexander Dunlop
- Bats Left, Throws Right
- Height 6' 3", Weight 200 lb.
- Born September 6, 1933 in Sacramento, CA USA
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[edit] Biographical Information
Harry Dunlop was a catcher for 14 years in the minors (1952-1968), losing two years to the Military and another (1967) to inactivity. Dunlop was signed as an amateur free agent by the Pittsburgh Pirates before the 1952 season at age 18 and played for the Bristol Twins in the Appalachian League and the Burlington-Graham Pirates in the Carolina League (1952). In 1952, Dunlop caught only 15 games for Bristol - three of which are among the most famous in minor league baseball history, being the gems by Ron Necciai and Bill Bell.
He served in the U.S. Armed Forces during the Korean War (1953-1954) (BR). He played for the Lincoln Chiefs in the Western League (1955); the Williamsport Grays in the Eastern League (1956); the New Orleans Pelicans in the Southern Association (1956) and back to Lincoln (1957).
He was released by the Pirates Organization on January 28, 1958 but caught on in the lower minors, playing for the Tucson Cowboys in the Arizona-Mexico League (1958); the Tri-City Braves in the Northwest League (1959-1960); the Stockton Ports in the California League (1961-1964); the Quad Cities Angels in the Midwest League (1965-1966); and Seattle Rainiers in the Pacific Coast League (1968), thus ending his playing career at age 34. His best year in terms of raw stats was 1958 when he hit .349 with 4 homers and 77 RBI for Tucson of the Arizona-Mexico League. He also pitched 26 games in the minors (3-1), mostly in relief.
He was a player-manager with Tucson (1958); Stockton (1961-1964) and Quad Cities (1965-1966) then was the full-time manager for the San Jose Bees in the California League (1967). He coached for Seattle in 1968 and then coached the Kansas City Royals (1969-1975) and the Chicago Cubs (1976) as he made it to the major leagues. He managed the Wichita Aviators in the American Association (1977-1978) and then turned backed to coaching with the Cincinnati Reds (1979-1982) and the San Diego Padres (1983-1986), retiring at the end of the 1986 season. Dunlop came out of retirement and coachef for a spell until he was 70 years old. The next season, he again came out of retirement and became the bench coach for the Florida Marlins.
His coaching career had spanned 17 years. In September of 2006 he will celebrate his 73rd birthday.
[edit] Notable Achievements
- Led Arizona-Mexico League catchers in Putouts (806), Assists (81) and Fielding Average (.992), 1958.
- Led Northwest League catchers in Putouts (730) and Fielding Average (.992), 1959.
- Led Northwest League catchers in Double Plays (9), 1960
- Led California League catchers in Assists (90), Double Plays (tied) (12) and Fielding Average (.989), 1961.
- Named California League Manager of the Year, 1963
- As a manager, he won the California League playoffs in 1963 and 1967
[edit] Year-by-Year Managerial Record
[edit] Sources
Principal sources for Harry Dunlop include newspaper obituaries (OB), government Veteran records (VA,CM,CW), Stars & Stripes (S&S), Sporting Life (SL), The Sporting News (TSN), The Sports Encyclopedia:Baseball 2006 by David Neft & Richard Cohen (N&C), old Who's Who in Baseballs {{{WW}}} (WW), old Baseball Registers {{{BR}}} (BR) , old Daguerreotypes by TSN {{{DAG}}} (DAG), Stars&Stripes (S&S), The Baseball Necrology by Bill Lee (BN), Pat Doyle's Professional Ballplayer DataBase (PD), The Baseball Library (BL), Baseball in World War II Europe by Gary Bedingfield (GB) {{{MORE}}} and independent research by Walter Kephart (WK) and Frank Russo (FR) and others.
