Harry Dunlop

Harry Alexander Dunlop

• Bats Left, Throws Right
• Height 6' 3", Weight 200 lb.
• School Sacramento City College
• High School Sacramento High School
• Born September 6, 1933 in Sacramento, CA USA
• Died November 16, 2022 in Sacramento, CA USA

BR Minors page

Biographical Information

Harry Dunlop was a catcher for 14 years in the minors (1952-1968), losing two years to military service and another (1967) to inactivity. Dunlop was signed at age 18 as an amateur free agent by the Pittsburgh Pirates before the 1952 season 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 Aeros in the American Association (1977-1978) and then turned back to coaching with the Cincinnati Reds (1979-1982) and the San Diego Padres (1983-1987), retiring at the end of the 1987 season. Dunlop came out of retirement and coached for a spell for the Reds from 1998 to 2000. He again came out of retirement and became the bench coach for the Florida Marlins in 2005.

His coaching career had spanned 17 years.

Career Highlights

• 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

Year-by-Year Managerial Record

Year	Team	League	Record	Finish	Organization	Playoffs	Notes
1958	Tucson Cowboys	Arizona-Mexico League	66-54	2nd	none	none
1961	Stockton Ports	California League	54-84	6th	Baltimore Orioles	none
1962	Stockton Ports	California League	70-68	3rd (t)	Baltimore Orioles
1963	Stockton Ports	California League	87-52	1st	Baltimore Orioles	League Champs
1964	Stockton Ports	California League	69-70	4th	Baltimore Orioles	none
1965	Quad Cities Angels	Midwest League		8th	California Angels	none	replaced by Ken Blackman from June 15-18
1966	Quad Cities Angels	Midwest League	63-61	4th	California Angels
1967	San Jose Bees	California League	86-52	1st	California Angels	League Champs
1968	San Jose Bees	California League		--	California Angels	--	replaced by Del Rice on April 10
1977	Wichita Aeros	American Association	68-64	4th (t)	Chicago Cubs
1978	Wichita Aeros	American Association	58-77	8th	Chicago Cubs
1983	Las Vegas Stars	Pacific Coast League			San Diego Padres		replaced by Bob Cluck in September
1991	Helena Brewers	Pioneer League	44-26	3rd	Milwaukee Brewers
1992	Helena Brewers	Pioneer League	50-26	3rd	Milwaukee Brewers
1993	Helena Brewers	Pioneer League	39-23	2nd	Milwaukee Brewers	Lost League Finals	replaced Mike Epstein (4-7) on May 28

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.