Harris graduated from
Roxborough High School in
Philadelphia PA (where he excelled in
basketball as well as
baseball) and attended the
University of Miami and
Philadelphia University. He stood tall and weighed during his active career. Harris was selected by the
Houston Astros in the first round (15th overall) of the secondary phase in the June
1968 Major League Baseball draft. He had three outstanding seasons in
minor league baseball leading up to his first trial with the Astros in September 1970. He led the Rookie-level
Appalachian League in
strikeouts (1968), and posted sparkling 1.84 and 2.02
earned run averages in the Class A
Carolina League (1969) and Double-A
Southern League (1970). On his MLB debut, on September 10, 1970, he worked in two
innings against the
San Francisco Giants and surrendered a two-run
home run to
Willie Mays. Harris made 20 appearances for the
1971 Astros, with one relief appearance in April and 19 from June through September sandwiched around 14 games with the Triple-A
Oklahoma City 89ers. He split two
decisions for Houston that year, giving up 33
hits and 16
bases on balls, with 21 strikeouts in 30 innings. In his penultimate MLB game, on September 1, 1971, he pitched 3 innings of hitless relief against the
Los Angeles Dodgers at the
Astrodome, notching six strikeouts. He was traded with
Rich Chiles from the Astros to the
New York Mets for
Tommie Agee at the
Winter Meetings on November 27, 1972. Arm problems curtailed his career, and he retired after the 1973 minor league season. ==References==