Willie Harris

Willie Harris batted only once for the Chicago White Sox in the 2005 World Series. The speedy left-hander used that plate appearance to earn a place in White Sox history.

The White Sox were tied with the Houston Astros 0-0 in the top of the eighth inning of Game Four. White Sox manager Ozzie Guillén sent Harris to pinch-hit for pitcher Freddy García. Harris took Houston reliever Brad Lidge’s first pitch for a strike, then fouled off the next pitch. Harris didn’t swing at the next two pitches, which were balls. He singled on the fifth pitch. “Lidge, incredulous that Harris hadn’t helped him out, didn’t want to walk him,” sportswriter Phil Rogers wrote. “Instead he threw a fastball that Harris slapped into left field for a leadoff single.”1

Ten years later, Harris recalled that he persuaded Guillén to let him bat. “I told Ozzie, ‘You want to win? Put me in,’ Harris said. He put me in and said, ‘All right, bring it home.’ I was scared as hell. I was sitting on the bench for eight innings. I was nervous. I was facing Brad Lidge. He was one of the best. He was throwing 97 (mph). But I poked a knock to left field and we got it done.”2

That hit led to the only run of the game and to the championship. Harris advanced to second base on Scott Podsednik’s sacrifice. Harris ran to third base when Carl Everett, pinch-hitting for Tadahito Iguchi, grounded out, and scampered home on Jermaine Dye’s single up the middle. The White Sox beat the Astros 1-0 to complete a four-game sweep and win their first World Series championship since 1917.

That run highlighted Harris’s major-league career. He played parts of 12 seasons between 2001 and 2012. At 5-feet-9 and 195 pounds, Harris used his versatility and speed to play all three outfield positions, second base, shortstop, and third base. In addition to the White Sox, Harris played for the Baltimore Orioles, Boston Red Sox, Atlanta Braves, Washington Nationals, New York Mets, and the Cincinnati Reds. Most often, he played in left field, center field, and second base. Until the end of the 2024 season, Harris served as the third-base coach for the Chicago Cubs.

Willie Charles Harris was born on June 22, 1978, in Cairo, Georgia. Cairo, a small town in southwestern Georgia, earned a reputation as a center for manufacturing syrup. Harris is one of five major leaguers who were born in the city. The most famous is Hall of Famer Jackie Robinson, who integrated major-league baseball when he joined the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947. Another is Emerson Hancock, who pitched for the Seattle Mariners during the 2023 and 2024 seasons.3

Harris competed in a recreational baseball league as a preteen and participated in a program for troubled youths while he was in the eighth grade. The program paired him with Veon Williams, who mentored him. Harris said the program turned him into a responsible man.4

He emerged as a sports star at Cairo High School. He played shortstop for the baseball team and wide receiver and punter for the football team. During his junior year on the football team, he caught 50 passes for 1,010 yards. Then Florida State football coach Bobby Bowden tried to recruit him. Harris’s stepfather, Fondren Williams, said: “All these major schools wanted him. I think if he wanted to go to Florida State, he could have gone there easily. I told him, ‘You’ll get lost in the system.’ I knew all the while baseball was the ticket.”5

During his junior year, Harris had to pick a person to research for Black History Month. The project sparked his interest in Robinson. Harris said later: “Some people took Rosa Parks or Martin Luther King. I was into sports big time in high school, and my English teacher said, ‘Willie, why don’t you do your paper on Jackie Robinson and I’m like, who’s that? I had no clue.”6

His mother, Geraldine Harris, recalled: “To learn about Jackie Robinson he really got on it. he wanted to get deep down, get the full story.”7

Harris said, “I found out what [Robinson] went through, the way he had to carry himself. He just had to bite his tongue. I found out also he probably wasnt the best player. He wasn’t the best African American player, but he was the best fit for that situation. He was fit perfectly for going into the big leagues, and his characteristics and his demeanor were perfect for not fighting back, and keeping his mouth shut, and doing his thing, and letting his bat do the talking and his legs do the running. I learned a ton about him as far as that goes.”8

During Harris’s senior year, the home field of Cairo’s baseball team was named Jackie Robinson Field. He told the Atlanta Journal Constitution: “It’s an honor and a privilege to play on a field named for him.”9

Harris’s family has other successful athletes. One of his uncles is former major leaguer Earnest Riles. Riles played for Middle Georgia Junior College (now Middle Georgia State University) in Macon. He spent nine seasons in the major leagues, playing third base and shortstop from 1985 through 1993 for the Milwaukee Brewers, San Francisco Giants, Oakland Athletics, Houston Astros, and Boston Red Sox. (Guillén, then a shortstop for the White Sox, and Brewers teammate Teddy Higuera finished first and second respectively.) Harris’s second cousin, Teresa Edwards, played point guard for the University of Georgia’s women’s basketball team. She won four Gold Medals as a member of the US Women’s basketball team and played in foreign leagues and the Women’s National Basketball Association. Harris’s stepson, Tre’Vez Johnson, played defensive back and safety for football teams at the University of Florida and the University of Missouri between 2020 and 2024.

During his teen years, Harris played on a local team managed by Riles. “I was the youngest player by far,” he recalled. “The talent level was high, lots of people [attended] the games. I played in it from age 15 to my junior year in college.”10

Harris was drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 28th round of the amateur draft in 1996 and the Tampa Bay Devil Rays in the 90th round in 1997. He didn’t sign with them, opting, like Riles, to attend Middle Georgia Junior College. The baseball team won the NJCAA regional tournament. Harris played second base and earned MVP honors in the regional as MGJC advanced to the NJCAA tournament.11

After Middle Georgia, Harris enrolled at Kennesaw State University. There, he became a first-team Peach Belt All-Conference player and a third-team American Baseball Coaches Association All-American in 1999. Harris reached the Division II World Series with the Owls in 1999, in a season where he batted .365, slugged 14 home runs, drove in 49 runs, and stole 40 bases.12

In 1999 Harris was drafted by the Baltimore Orioles in the 24th round. During his time in the Orioles organization, he played in the rookie Appalachian League and for low Class-A Delmarva and Double-A Bowie. He earned the nicknames Sparkplug and Hollywood at Delmarva. Teammates gave him the latter for his flashy style of play.13 He played in nine games for the Orioles in September 2001 and got his first major-league hit, a single to center field, against Oakland pitcher Cory Lidle as the visiting Orioles lost to the Athletics 12-6 on September 5, 2001.

In early 2002 the Orioles traded Harris to the White Sox organization for center fielder Chris Singleton. Assessing the trade, sportswriter Dave Sheinin wrote: “In Harris, a center fielder-second baseman, the Orioles gave up the eighth-ranked prospect in the organization, according to Baseball America. Harris, a 5-foot-9 speedster, made an impressive leap from low Class-A Delmarva in 2000 to Class-AA Bowie and eventually a month-long stint in the majors in 2001. However, Harris’s path to the majors was blocked at both of his primary positions – in center field by Luis Matos, Keith Reed, and Tim Raines Jr., and at second base by Jerry Hairston [Jr.], Brian Roberts, and Mike Fontenot.”14

Harris split time with Triple-A Charlotte and the White Sox in 2002 and 2003. He spent the entire 2004 season with the White Sox, playing in 129 games. He often led off and started at second base. In 409 at-bats, he batted .262, drove in 27 runs, scored 68 runs, and had a career-high 19 stolen bases.

After the season, Harris suffered a setback. The White Sox added left fielder and leadoff hitter Scott Podsednik and second baseman Tadahito Iguchi during the offseason.

Harris expressed some frustration after the White Sox signed Iguchi. He said, “I just have to be a man first and then play baseball. If that’s their guy and I’m out, then I’m out. It’s rough for me because they said they have great expectations, and I felt I would get a real chance to play. But they felt they wanted to get him.”15

The White Sox used Harris as a bench player in 2005. For the team, he played in 56 games, batting .256 and stealing 10 bases. He spent most of August at Triple-A Charlotte. The White Sox brought him back late that month to provide depth for the end of the season and the postseason run. Besides his World Series at-bat, Harris batted once during the Division Series against the Boston Red Sox and once in the World Series. He finished 2-for-2 with one RBI.

After the White Sox won the World Series, Harris’s hometown honored him. The city threw a parade and renamed his childhood street Willie C. Harris Drive. He spoke at a pep rally for Cairo High School’s football team.

The festivities pleased Harris. “The way I feel right now, it’s almost like being at the World Series,” he said. “This is where I grew up at, where I learned how to be an athlete and be a competitor. To hear all these kids and students out here hollering, it just makes me feel good.”16

After the season, the White Sox did not offer Harris a contract. His departure started a pattern of short stints with several major-league teams. He bounced between the majors and the minors.

Harris signed with the Boston Red Sox in early 2006. He spent time with Triple-A Pawtucket and the Red Sox, for whom he played in 47 games, hitting .156. After the season the Red Sox designated him for assignment and he signed with the Atlanta Braves. He started the 2007 season with the Triple-A Richmond Braves, hitting .362 in 17 games. Atlanta, seeking more offense, called Harris up in late April. The move represented a homecoming for the Georgian and he became the starting left fielder, playing in 117 games and batting .270.

On July 21 against the visiting St. Louis Cardinals, Harris was 6-for-6, with four singles and two triples, driving in six runs, and scoring four. “I like to say I was lucky, just thankful for this day and going to enjoy it,” he said. “Days like today don’t come around often. You have bad games, you come back the next day and try to fix it. I had no idea I could fix it like that today. I have no words to describe it. I hope my family back home was watching and enjoyed it as much as I did.”17

Harris made a spectacular defensive play on August 9, 2007. The Braves were leading the New York Mets, 7-6, in the bottom of the ninth at home. Braves pitcher Óscar Villarreal relieved Tyler Yates with one out. The first hitter Villarreal faced, first baseman Carlos Delgado, hit a ball to deep left field. Harris jumped in front of the wall and robbed Delgado of a home run. “We were playing no doubles,” Harris said of the outfielders’ deep alignment, “because you don’t want a guy to hit a ball over your head. So I was already back far enough just in case if he did hit it up toward the wall, I’d have a chance to catch the ball.”18

Harris had a .342 batting average at the All-Star break. His offense, however, dropped dramatically during the second half of the season. He hit only .214 after the break. The Braves did not offer him a new contract after the season and Harris signed with the Washington Nationals. He played second base, third base, shortstop, and all three outfield positions during the 2008 season. Harris finished the season with a career-high 13 home runs and 140 games. He earned Player of the Week honors for July 14-20. The Nationals rewarded him with a two-year contract worth $3 million after the season. His batting average, however, gradually declined during his time with the Nationals. He batted .251 in 2008, .235 in 2009, and .183 in 2010.

Harris signed as a free agent with the New York Mets after the 2010 season. In 2011 he played in 126 games for the Mets at all three outfield positions as well as second base and third base, and hitting .246.

In 2012 Harris signed as a free agent with the Cincinnati Reds. Batting only .114, with no home runs and 2 RBIs in 44 at-bats, he was sent to Triple-A Louisville in June. Harris retired after the season. He finished his career with a .238 batting average, 1,046 games, 580 hits, 107 stolen bases, 39 home runs, and 212 RBIs.

Harris had lived in Cairo with his family with his wife, Trey, and their two children, Johnson and Arianna Harris, during offseasons. The family eventually moved to Florida. There, he ran a baseball facility and coached youth travel teams.

A trip to Chicago in 2015 started Harris’s return to professional baseball. At a 2005 White Sox reunion dinner, club owner Jerry Reinsdorf asked Harris whether he was interested in coaching. Harris said yes.19 The White Sox hired him to be the hitting coach for the Great Falls Voyagers (rookie Pioneer League) in 2016.

Harris said his experience coaching in Florida helped prepare him for instructing the Voyagers’ hitters. “I coached travel ball a few years before I got this opportunity and it helped me to understand that, you know, just because I know how to bunt or I know how to move a runner, it doesn’t mean that these guys know how to do it yet.”

“It teaches me to be patient with them and share my knowledge with them and just watch

them grow and soon they’ll get it and have a little confidence. I have to understand ‘Willie,

you’ve got to have a little patience’ and not expect so much from young guys.”20

Harris was promoted to manager of Class-A Winston-Salem in 2017. In 2018-19 he managed Richmond of the Double-A Eastern League in the San Francisco Giants organization for the 2018 and 2019 seasons.

In 2019, the Reds named Harris their minor-league baserunning and outfield coordinator. Beginning in 2021, the Cubs hired Harris as their major-league third-base coach.

The Chicago Tribune said Harris had “a joyful personality and energy that mixes well with 12 years of big-league experience.” He demonstrated that energy during the second game of a doubleheader between the host Cubs and the Los Angeles Dodgers on May 4, 2021. Cubs first baseman Anthony Rizzo hit a deep fly ball off Trevor Bauer and ran toward third base. Harris dropped to the ground in foul territory, his body outstretched and his hands tapping the grass. Rizzo heeded Harris’s direction, sliding into third safely for a triple. “Harris’ visual cue has become a staple of how he directs approaching baserunners. The concept is simple: If Harris is laid out on the ground, it indicates an impending close play so the runner knows he must slide.”21

Harris told The Athletic that Guillén influenced him. “I learned to be myself,” he said. “I learned to be authentic. Being around Ozzie and being around that team, I learned the importance of being who you are and not trying to just fit in. I think it’s very important to be who you are. Some people are gonna like you, some people aren’t. They just have to deal with it. But it’s better for you. And it’s better for the team that you’re being authentic. You know what I’m saying?”22

Harris has expressed a desire to manage in the major leagues. He interviewed for the White Sox opening that eventually went to Tony La Russa in 2021.

“I feel like I have the pedigree of knowing my players really well and understanding the game really well,” Harris said. “I mean, it’d be a dream come true for me. Hopefully that opportunity presents itself one day down the line.”23

Harris experienced both professional and personal struggles while he played in the majors. He bounced between the majors and the minors. In addition, he had to take leaves twice during his career. He took bereavement leave in 2005 when the mother of his daughter died after an automobile accident.24 While he played for the Mets, his wife lost an unborn daughter.25

Harris told the Chicago Tribune in 2015 that he regarded his run in Game Four of the 2005 World Series as very special. “Right now, that’s the highlight of my life,” he said. “I will always love Chicago; for me doing that, Chicago will always love me.”26

Last revised: March 1, 2025

Acknowledgments

The author thanks the Kennesaw State Department of Athletics, the Richmond Flying Spiders, the Great Falls Voyagers, Middle Georgia State University Department of Athletics, the Chicago White Sox, and the Jacksonville Public Library for their assistance.

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author used the Baseball-Reference.com, Baseball-Almanac.com, and Retrosheet.org websites for box-score, player, team, and season pages, pitching and batting game logs, and other material. The author consulted the following periodicals:

“Sox Ship Singleton to Orioles,” DeKalb (Illinois) Daily Chronicle, June 30, 2002: 9

Wittenmyer, Gordon. “Willie Harris on Hometown Pride and Protecting a Dream,” NBC Sports Chicago, April 15, 2022, https://www.nbcsportschicago.com/mlb/chicago-cubs/willie-harris-on-hometown-pride-and-protecting-a-dream/323120/

Padilla, Doug. “Harris Learning All He Can,” Chicago Sun-Times, June 19, 2002: 136

Padilla, Doug. “Oz Good as It Gets: Guillen’s Sox Sweep Astros to bring first Series title to Chicago since 1917,” Chicago Sun-Times, October 27, 2005, Sox Playoff Extra, A2

Fegan, James. “Q&A with Willie Harris: World Series Hero Turned Minor League Skipper,” The Athletic, April 18, 2017

Kane, Colleen. “Experience Matters: Mark Grudzielanek, Willie Harris Bring Major Cred to White Sox Farm System,” Chicago Tribune, May 8, 2017: 3, 8

Notes

1 Phil Rogers, Say It’s So: The Chicago White Sox’s Magical Season (Chicago: Triumph Books, 2006), 258.

2 Paul Skrbina, “You Can Take It to the Memory Bank,” Chicago Tribune, July 19, 2015: 3, 4.

3 The other two are Ernie Riles and Herston Waldrep.

4 “Mentor Program Guides Boys from Troubled Lives,” Columbus (Georgia) Ledger-Enquirer, January 12, 1998: 12.

5 Gordon Edes, “History on Harris’s Side?” Boston Globe, February 27, 2006: D2; Jeff Carroll, “A Tale of One City,” Hammond (Indiana) Tines, September 22, 2004: C1, C6.

6 Thomas Stinson, “From Cairo, Proudly,” Atlanta Journal-Constitution, June 2, 2007: D1, D6.

7 Stinson, D6.

8 Scott Merkin, “Harris Continues Following Jackie’s Path: Former White Sox Shares Hometown, Selfless Spirit with Hall of Famer,” MLB.com, February 22, 2017. https://www.mlb.com/news/willie-harris-followed-jackie-robinson-s-path-c216768030.

9 Bill Osinski, “Grady County Finally Honors Its Most Valuable Player,” Atlanta Journal-Constitution, March 12, 1996: C1.

10 Tina Eshleman, “Willie Harris, the Former Major Leaguer and New Richmond Flying Squirrels Manager Answers Our Pressing Questions,” Richmond Magazine, May 14, 2018.

11 “Colleges: Ole Miss Ponders Change,” Atlanta Journal/Atlanta Constitution, May 11, 1997: E5.

12 Matteen Zibanejadrad, “Former Owl Joins Chicago Cubs Coaching Staff,” Kennesaw State University, December 16, 2020. https://ksuowls.com/news/2020/12/16/baseball-former-owl-joins-chicago-cubs-coaching-staff.

13 Kent Baker, “Harris Makes Most of Second Time Around,” Baltimore Sun, September 4, 2000: 40.

14 Dave Sheinin, “Orioles Trade for Singleton,” Washington Post, January 30, 2002.

15 Chris De Luca and Doug Padilla, “Iguchi Deal Frustrates Harris: Infielder Dismayed by Sox’ Decision to Replace him,” Chicago Sun-Times, January 28, 2005, 132.

16 Clint Thompson, “Cairo Honors Local Hero,” Thomasville (Georgia) Times-Enterprise, December 9, 2005.

17 Carroll Rogers, “Harris Erupts: 6 Hits, 6 RBIs,” Atlanta Journal Constitution, July 22, 2007: E1, E5.

18 David O’Brien, “Save, Harris,” Atlanta Journal Constitution, August 10, 2007: D1, D6.

19 Meghan Montemurro, “Willie Harris Brings a Joyful Energy to the Chicago Cubs – Along with Unconventional Visual Cues to Baserunners,” Chicago Tribune, May 11, 2021: 3, 1, 4.

20 Grady Higgins, “ Harris a Hit as Voyagers Coach; Billings Tops Great Falls,” Great Falls Tribune, June 27, 2016.

21 Montemurro.

22 Jon Greenberg, “As the Cubs’ Third-Base coach, Willie Harris Is Trying to Be Himself: Just Another Week in Chicago,” The Athletic, June 30, 2021.

23 Montemurro.

24 Mark Gonzales, “White Sox Bits: Walker’s Arrival Makes Deep Bullpen Deeper Still,” Chicago Tribune, May 10, 2005: 4, 4.

25 “NY Mets to Interview Jim Riggleman for Role as Terry Collins’ Bench Coach; Willie Harris Backs Him,” New York Daily News, October 10, 2011.

26 Skrbina, “You Can Take It to the Memory Bank.”