Tommy Harper, The First Brewers Superstar

Tommy Harper bounced around a lot.

During his 15-year big league career, he played first base, second base, third base, left field, center field, and right field in the major leagues. He also played for Cincinnati, Cleveland, Seattle, Boston, Oakland, California, Baltimore, and two years for the Milwaukee Brewers.

Harper was born on October 14, 1940, in Oak Grove, Louisiana, but moved to California when he was four years old. He played football, basketball, track, and baseball at Alameda Encinal High and graduated in 1958. Harper starred athletically at Santa Rosa Junior College and San Francisco State before being signed by the Cincinnati Reds in May 1960.

Harper played two seasons in the minors, but at the beginning of his third year in the Reds organization, he started in Cincinnati and played six games in April, going 4-for-8 in his first two games. But then he went hitless in his next 15 at-bats and was sent down to Triple-A San Diego, where he finished the season. He had a great slash line of .333/.450/.569 across 621 plate appearances and never played in the minors again.

Harper played in Cincinnati for six years, slashing .255/.333/.362 and averaging 21 stolen bases per year. However, in the 1967 off-season, Harper was traded to Cleveland for three players. His 1968 season was lackluster, and he was made available in the 1968 Expansion Draft, in which the Seattle Pilots, the new American League team, selected him.

In his only year for the Pilots, he didn’t hit that well, slashing .235/.349/.311, but led the major leagues with 73 steals, the highest total of thefts in the American League since Ty Cobb swiped 96 bags in 1915.

On April Fool’s Day 1970, federal bankruptcy judge Sidney Volinn approved the $10.8 million sale to a Milwaukee group led by Allan H. “Bud” Selig. The Seattle Pilots became the Milwaukee Brewers. The team opened its season at Milwaukee County Stadium on April 7, hosting the California Angels. In the bottom of the first inning, Harper grounded out to third baseman Aurelio Rodriguez in the first at-bat in Brewer history in a 12-0 Milwaukee loss. The Brewers would lose their first three games before winning three in a row to even their record at three wins and three losses.

Manager Dave Bristol moved Harper from the outfield to the infield before the 1970 campaign, where he played 128 games at third base, 22 games at second base, and only 13 contests in the outfield. Bristol said this of his player, “Harper will impress a lot of people with his speed and base stealing.” Bristol had been Harper’s manager in Cincinnati for two years (1966, 1967) and knew the speedster’s capabilities.

After a great first half of the season, Harper received the third-most votes at second base in All-Star Game voting behind Rod Carew and Dick McAuliffe. Ironically, Carew and McAuliffe were both injured and didn’t play. American League manager Earl Weaver selected Baltimore’s Davey Johnson to start at second while picking Harper as an alternate. Wisconsin sportswriters were in an uproar because Harper batted .308, scored 56 runs, knocked in 37, had 15 home runs, and led the AL in doubles and stolen bases in early July. Johnson hit 30 points less and had about half of Harper’s production.

To add insult to injury, Johnson played nearly the whole game of the 12-inning contest while Harper was inserted as a pinch-runner in the top of the fifth and was thrown out trying to steal by Johnny Bench. The National League won 5-4 on Pete Rose’s infamous collision with Ray Fosse at the plate in extra innings.

‘Tailwind,’ as Harper was called, suffered a bruised left thigh in a collision at third base with Chicago’s Bill Melton in early August and stole only eight bases in the last two months to finish with 38 steals.

Harper earned enough MVP votes to finish in sixth place. His season was one of the best in Brewers history. He ranked in the top five in the American League in runs scored, doubles, stolen bases, slugging percentage, and total bases. His numbers placed in the top 10 in hits, home runs, OBP, OPS, and OPS+. Harper’s 7.4 Wins Above Replacement in 1970 ranks fourth in Milwaukee Brewers history.

In 1971, his final year as a Brewer, Harper split time between third base and left field, with a few games in center field. His power and speed numbers were down, as he had 25 steals and 14 homers, a decrease from 38 and 31, respectively. In October, Harper was included in a 10-player deal between Milwaukee and Boston. Harper, along with Pat Skrable, Lew Krausse, and Marty Pattin, were sent to the Red Sox for Ken Brett, Billy Conigliaro, Joe Lahoud, Jim Lonborg, Don Pavletich, and George (Boomer) Scott.

Harper played the next three years in Boston and led the AL with 54 steals in 1973. Over the next three years, he played for California, Oakland, and Baltimore and ended his career after the 1976 season.   

Harper collected 1,609 hits, 146 home runs, and 408 stolen bases during his career. His career slash line was .257/.338/.379. He is tied with Johnny Damon for 68^th place in career stolen bases.

Harper served as a coach for the Red Sox from 1980-1984 and again from 2000-2002. He also coached with Montreal from 1990-1999. Harper would be a leader in taking a stand against racism and discrimination with the Red Sox in 2017 and beyond.

But as a player, Tommy Harper had speed and power, as witnessed by his 30-30 season in 1970. He was the Milwaukee Brewers' first All-Star and top-10 MVP finalist. Milwaukee fans of a certain age will remember him as the first Brewers superstar.

Are you interested in Brewers history? Then check out the Milwaukee Brewers Players Project, a community-driven project to discover and collect great information on every player to wear a Brewers uniform!