John Harris (owner)

John Paul Harris

• Born December 4, 1871 in Pittsburgh, PA USA
• Died January 26, 1926 in Harrisburg, PA USA

Biographical Information

John Harris was the owner of the Boston National League team, the future Boston Braves, for a very brief period, in November and December of 1910.

He was a prominent theater producer from Pittsburgh, PA who opened the first dedicated motion picture house in America in 1908, the Nickelodeon in downtown Pittsburgh. He owned and operated a chain of theaters across western Pennsylvania and in neighboring states.

He first became involved in baseball as a minority stockholder in the purchase of the team by brothers George Dovey and John Dovey in 1906. The team was briefly known as the "Boston Doves" as a result. When George, the more active of the brothers, died in June of 1909, John took over as team principal, but Harris stated he wanted to assume a more active role and was named Vice-President at the team's annual meeting following the 1909 season. One year later, he purchased John Dovey's shares, but only to turn around and sell them in turn to William Hepburn Russell, a prominent lawyer from New York, NY. That sale meant that sportswriters changed the team's unofficial nickname to the "Boston Rustlers"; one can only surmise that if Harris had remained as the owner for a longer stretch, they could have been the "Boston Hares".

Following the sale of the Doves, he became a minority owner of the Pittsburgh Pirates. He also became active in politics, being elected as a representative in the Pennsylvania state assembly in 1922 and being re-elected in 1924. He died suddenly in 1926 when he suffered a heart attack during a session at the state capitol in Harrisburg, PA. His brother Frank Joseph Harris was elected to complete his term.

Related Sites

• Pennsylvania State Senate biography
• Fina a Grave Memorial for John Paul Harris