Dick Harley

The pitching staff of the 1905 Boston Beaneaters holds the unenviable distinction of including no fewer than four 20-game losers: Irv Young (20-21); Vic Willis (12-29); Chick Fraser (14-21), and Kaiser Wilhelm (3-23).1 Aside from this unfortunate quartet, the only other Boston hurler to post a victory that season was 30-year-old rookie right-hander Dick Harley.2 Harley’s first two major league appearances presented a striking study in contrast. In his debut, he was shelled, the loser in a 15-0 drubbing administered by the New York Giants.  Days later, Harley was superb, fashioning a shutout victory of his own, a 1-0 gem over the Brooklyn Superbas.

Only seven more games lay in Harley’s future with Boston. Following his release by the Beaneaters, he pitched for two minor league clubs before leaving the game. Harley spent the remainder of his long life living and working quietly in his native Ohio until his passing in 1961. A more detailed look at his life follows.

Christened Henry Risk Harley, our subject was born on August 18, 1874, in Springfield, Ohio, a manufacturing hub located in the central region of the state. He was the youngest of three children3 born to Union Army veteran and molder Primrose Harley (1818-1906), an immigrant from Scotland, and his much younger wife Katherine (née Shields or Chipperfield,4 1844-1900), born in England. Dick (as he was commonly known) was educated in local schools through the eighth grade.5 He thereafter followed his father into employment as a molder.6

The precise origins of Harley’s baseball career are unknown, but hometown Springfield was a hotbed of the 19th-century game, hosting minor league baseball as early as 1884. Amateur ballplaying was accommodated on city ball fields that included multiple diamonds on the grounds of the Springfield YMCA. Spawned by this environment were future major leaguers Pat and Jiggs Donahue, Dan Shay, John Malarkey, Chappie Snodgrass, Joe Dunn, and Mike Mitchell, a lifelong Harley friend.  In time, Dick was spotted by a local resident with baseball connections who alerted a semipro club located in Hamilton, Ohio, to the prospect.

Dick Harley made a belated entry into paid baseball ranks in 1901, pitching for an independent Hamilton club known as the Krebs.7 He began his professional career in earnest the following year, signing with the Baton Rouge Cajuns of the four-club Class D Cotton States League. There, the 5-foot-10/155-pounder quickly emerged as the staff workhorse, going 18-13 (.581) with seven shutouts in over 350 innings pitched for a second-place (53-54, .495) Cajuns club.8 Harley returned to Baton Rouge in 1903, joined on the Red Sticks (as the club was now called) by future major league hurlers Ernie Baker and Slow Joe Doyle. With Harley going 16-12 (.571) in 30 games, the trio pitched Baton Rouge (74-42, .638) to a CSL pennant.

Harley’s performance garnered him a promotion, his services acquired by the Syracuse Stars of the Class B New York State League.9 In his May 1904 Stars debut, “Harley had good speed and excellent control and pitched a fine game” in a 4-1 triumph over the Utica Pent-Ups.10 By midseason, the hometown press had joined the company of the newcomer’s admirers. “Harley hurled another of those beautiful games which are rapidly giving him a reputation as the premier slab artist” in the New York State League, the Syracuse Post-Herald declared after Harley set back the Albany Senators, 7-2.11

Harley proved a reliable complement to staff ace Jack Fifield (25-7, .778), throwing over 250 innings and posting a record in the neighborhood of 19-11 (.633)12 as Syracuse cruised to the NYSL crown. Dick also fielded his position capably (.978 FA) but was near helpless with the bat, going 5-for-81 (.062).

Harley’s solid hurling at Syracuse did not go unnoticed. In October, he was selected in the postseason minor league player draft by the Boston Beaneaters, a National League also-ran in dire need of pitching help. Shortly thereafter, he signed a Boston contract for the 1905 season.13 

Harley cemented a place on Boston’s opening day roster with strong preseason work capped by a three-hit, 3-2 victory over the Eastern League’s Newark Sailors.14 Notwithstanding that, manager Fred Tenney’s selection of the rookie to start the second game of the regular season was a surprise. Facing the defending National League champion New York Giants at the Polo Grounds, Harley was overmatched. The Giants feasted on his “soft deliveries,” pounding out 18 base hits en route to a 15-0 pasting of the Beaneaters.15

Four days later at Boston’s South End Grounds III, Harley redeemed himself with a tidy four-hit, four-strikeout 1-0 blanking of the Brooklyn Superbas. “Harley … turned in a fine day’s work,” reported the Boston Globe.16 That effort included a rare Harley base hit and seven defensive chances handled flawlessly.17 Dick encored the following week when the action shifted to Brooklyn, scattering eight hits and toughing out a 4-3 victory. “Harley … was effective in every inning but the third when [Brooklyn] bunched several hits and got two men over the plate,” the Globe pronounced.18

Despite his having notched two impressive early-season triumphs, Harley spent the ensuing month on the sidelines, his only action coming in a late-April exhibition game against the NYSL Utica club.19 When finally used again by manager Tenney, Harley pitched well in relief, holding the St. Louis Cardinals to only one run over five innings but taking the 14-inning 5-4 defeat. But he was hit hard in his next two relief outings, both no-decisions in lopsided Boston losses.

Evidently soured on Harley, Tenney left him back in Boston when the Beaneaters embarked upon a 26-game road trip in early June.20 Separated from his last hurling effort by some six weeks, Harley was charged with a loss arising from a July 7 relief stint against the Philadelphia Phillies. The Boston Herald, however, was favorably impressed by that outing and expressed the hope that “he would be afforded more frequent occasions to meet the public eye.”21

Given a start four days thereafter, Harley held the Cincinnati Reds scoreless through six innings, only to weaken in the late going and drop a 6-1 decision.22 He then went another month-plus without being called upon by Tenney. Harley’s final major league appearance came on his 31st birthday. Summoned to replace starter Kaiser Wilhelm with the Beaneaters clinging to a one-run lead after four frames, Harley struggled, yielding five runs and ultimately absorbing a 10-inning 8-7 defeat. Shortly thereafter, his unconditional release by Boston brought the brief major league career of Dick Harley to a close.23

In nine games, Harley posted a 2-5 (.286) record, with a 4.66 ERA in 65 2/3 innings pitched. Over that span, he surrendered 72 base hits and 19 walks while striking out 19 enemy batsmen. Only one error in 33 defensive chances yielded a .970 fielding percentage (excellent for the Deadball Era), while his pitiful .045 batting average (one single in 22-at-bats) rested at the other extreme.

Although his major league ballplaying dreams may have been dashed, the year 1905 was far from a total loss for Harley. In October he took Springfield sweetheart Mary Irene Small as his bride. Over time, the birth of children Robert (1910), William (1914), and Martha Jane (1920) completed the family.

Harley completed his professional career with two minor league seasons, going 12-11 (.522) in 28 outings for the Atlanta Crackers of the Class A Southern Association in 1906 and 15-15 (.500) in 37 games for the Macon (Georgia) Brigands of the Class C South Atlantic League in 1907. He then repaired to his home in Springfield, where he found work as a clerk for the American Seeding Machine Company.24 By 1917, Harley was employed by Robbins & Myers, a manufacturer of electrical equipment. At the time of his retirement some 31 years later, he held the position of manager of the parcel post division of the corporation’s traffic department. Harley was also an active parishioner of the United Presbyterian Church of Springfield.25

Afflicted with late-life heart disease, Henry Risk “Dick” Harley suffered a fatal heart attack at his home early on the morning of May 26, 1961.26 He was 86. Following funeral services, his remains were interred in Ferncliff Cemetery, Springfield. Survivors included widow Mary, adult offspring Robert, William, and Martha Jane Collette, three grandchildren, and a great-grandchild.

Acknowledgments

Significant portions of this profile’s narrative are grounded in research undertaken by SABR member Mark Miller. Subsequently, it was reviewed by Rory Costello and fact-checked by Tony Oliver.

Sources

Sources for the biographical information imparted above include the Dick Harley file maintained at the Giamatti Research Center, National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, Cooperstown, New York; US Census and other government records accessed via Ancestry.com; and certain of the newspaper articles cited in the endnotes. Unless otherwise specified, statistics have been taken from Baseball-Reference and Retrosheet.

Notes

1 The only other club to replicate this unwanted achievement was the 1906 Boston Beaneaters.

2  Our subject is not to be confused with a better-known contemporary, turn-of-the-century outfielder Dick (Richard Joseph) Harley.

3 The older Harley children were William Frederick (born 1872) and Caroline (Carrie, 1873).

4 Sources conflict regarding Katherine Harley’s maiden name. State of Ohio marriage records list it as Shields; our subject’s obituary and death certificate state that it was Chipperfield.

5 Per the 1940 US Census. The player questionnaire completed by son Thomas Harley states that his father’s schooling ended with the fifth grade.

6 The occupation listed in 1890s Springfield city directories and the 1900 US Census.

7 According to a Harley obituary. See “H.R. Harley, 86, Ex-Major League Player, Dies,” Springfield (Ohio) Daily News, May 16, 1961: 1. See also, “No Match for Local Players,” Hamilton (Ohio) Republican-News, September 9, 1901: 15, memorializing a 13-9 Krebs victory over the Cincinnati Stars thrown by Harley.

8 As calculated from newspaper-published line scores for the Baton Rouge Cajuns. Baseball-Reference provides no statistical data for Harley’s 1902 season.

9 Harley’s engagement by Syracuse was noted in “State League Clubs Appear to Be Stronger,” Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, May 5, 1904: 15.

10 “Syracuse 4, Utica 1,” Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, May 5, 1904: 15.

11 “Stars Victorious in Brilliant Game,” Syracuse Post-Standard, July 19, 1904: 3.

12 As calculated from Syracuse Stars line scores published in upstate New York newspapers. Baseball-Reference and the Reach and Spalding Guides provide only Harley’s batting and fielding stats for the 1904 season.

13 The Beaneaters signing of Henry R. Harley was noted in “Late News by Wire,” Sporting Life, October 29, 1904: 3.

14 As reported in “Both Boston Clubs Playing in Bad Luck,” Boston Globe, April 13, 1905: 7.

15 See “Failed to Score,” Boston Globe, April 16, 1905: 10.

16 “Nationals Win, Champs Lose,” Boston Globe, April 20, 1905: 8.

17 See W.S. Barnes, Jr., “Tenney’s Team Made It Three Straight from Hanlon’s Players,” Boston Journal, April 20, 1905: 5.

18 “Ninth Inning Victory,” Boston Globe, April 25, 1905: 5.

19 Harley allowed only five hits but lost, 4-2. See “Tenney’s Men Lose,” Boston Herald, May 1, 1905: 9.

20 See “Easy for the Giants,” Boston Globe, June 6, 1905: 3.

21 “Phillies 7, Bostons 5,” Boston Herald, July 8, 1905: 14.

22 W.S. Barnes, Jr., “Boston Fails to Win Again,” Boston Journal, July 12, 1905: 4.

23 “Baseball Notes,” Boston Globe, August 27, 1905: 10.

24 Per Harley’s listings in the 1911-1912 Springfield city directories.

25 Per “Deaths and Funerals: Henry R. Harley,” Springfield Daily News, May 17, 1961: 4.

26 The Harley death certificate lists cerebral anoxia (deprivation of oxygen to the brain) resulting from a myocardial infarction as the cause of his demise.