Harry Danning
Encyclopedia
Harry Danning, nicknamed Harry the Horse (September 6, 1911, Los Angeles, California
– November 29, 2004) was a professional
baseball
player. He played his entire Major League Baseball
career as a catcher
for the New York Giants
, and was considered one of the top defensive catchers of his era. He batted and threw right-handed. Danning, who was Jewish, was nicknamed "Harry The Horse" for Damon Runyon
's Broadway character. He attended Polytechnic High School
in Los Angeles. His brother, Ike Danning
, played for the St. Louis Browns
in .
. From 1934
to 1936
, he served as the Giants reserve catcher, working behind Gus Mancuso
. In the 1937
season, Danning and Mancuso shared the catching duties with Danning appearing in 93 games
, while Mancuso appeared in 86 games. In 1938
Danning took over the role as the Giants starting catcher. He was selected for the National League
All-Star
squad in four consecutive years (1938–41), played for the Giants team which defeated the Washington Senators
in the 1933
World Series
championship, and appeared in the pennant-winning clubs that were defeated by the New York Yankees
in the 1936
and 1937
World Series.
In 1934
during spring training a Florida hotel refused entry to Danning and fellow Jew Phil Weintraub
. "Hibiscus" was a code word for Hebrew in Florida — as in "we don’t have hibiscus in our hotel." Giants manager and All-Star first baseman Bill Terry
threatened to take the entire World Champion team to another hotel unless his Jewish players were given lodging. The hotel's management backed down.
From 1938
to 1940
Danning hit .306, .313, and .300, and finished in the top 10 in National League MVP
voting in 1939
(9th) and 1940 (7th). He collected career highs in home runs (16) in 1939, and in RBIs (91) in 1940. He led all National League catchers with a .991 fielding average in 1939.
On June 9, 1939, Danning hit one of the five home runs in an inning that helped the Giants to set a record. Then, on June 15, 1940, he hit for the cycle
in a game against Pittsburgh
. His home run came on an inside-the-park home run
that landed 460 feet (140.2 m) on the fly in front of the Giants' clubhouse, wedged behind the Eddie Grant memorial.
Through 2010, he was ninth all-time in career hits (behind Al Rosen
) among Jewish major league baseball players.
s and 397 RBIs
in 890 games. He had a career fielding percentage
of .985. Danning led National League catchers three times in putout
s, and twice in assists
and baserunners caught stealing
. He caught the screwball
er Carl Hubbell
, and also was a teammate of Mel Ott
, Bill Terry
and Travis Jackson
, four Hall of Famers.
, working later as a minor league
coach
. He received one vote in Hall of Fame Voting in both 1958
and 1960
. Danning died in Valparaiso, Indiana
, at the age of 93.
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
– November 29, 2004) was a professional
Professional baseball
Baseball is a team sport which is played by several professional leagues throughout the world. In these leagues, and associated farm teams, players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system....
baseball
Baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...
player. He played his entire Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...
career as a catcher
Catcher
Catcher is a position for a baseball or softball player. When a batter takes his turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the umpire, and receives the ball from the pitcher. This is a catcher's primary duty, but he is also called upon to master many other skills in order to...
for the New York Giants
San Francisco Giants
The San Francisco Giants are a Major League Baseball team based in San Francisco, California, playing in the National League West Division....
, and was considered one of the top defensive catchers of his era. He batted and threw right-handed. Danning, who was Jewish, was nicknamed "Harry The Horse" for Damon Runyon
Damon Runyon
Alfred Damon Runyon was an American newspaperman and writer.He was best known for his short stories celebrating the world of Broadway in New York City that grew out of the Prohibition era. To New Yorkers of his generation, a "Damon Runyon character" evoked a distinctive social type from the...
's Broadway character. He attended Polytechnic High School
John H. Francis Polytechnic High School
John H. Francis Polytechnic High School is a secondary school located in the Sun Valley area of Los Angeles, California. It serves grades 9 through 12 and is a part of the Los Angeles Unified School District...
in Los Angeles. His brother, Ike Danning
Ike Danning
Isaac "Ike" Danning was an American Major League Baseball catcher who played for the St. Louis Browns in . His brother, Harry Danning, played for the New York Giants from to .-External links:*...
, played for the St. Louis Browns
Baltimore Orioles
The Baltimore Orioles are a professional baseball team based in Baltimore, Maryland in the United States. They are a member of the Eastern Division of Major League Baseball's American League. One of the American League's eight charter franchises in 1901, it spent its first year as a major league...
in .
Baseball career
Danning first played with the New York Giants in 19331933 New York Giants (MLB) season
-Offseason:* December 29, 1932: Shanty Hogan was purchased from the Giants by the Boston Braves.- Roster :- Starters by position:Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in...
. From 1934
1934 New York Giants (MLB) season
- Roster :- Starters by position :Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in- Other batters :Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg...
to 1936
1936 New York Giants (MLB) season
- Roster:- Starters by position:Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in-Other batters:Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg...
, he served as the Giants reserve catcher, working behind Gus Mancuso
Gus Mancuso
August Rodney Mancuso , nicknamed "Blackie", was a professional baseball player, coach, scout and radio sports commentator. He played as a catcher in Major League Baseball with the St. Louis Cardinals , New York Giants , Chicago Cubs , Brooklyn Dodgers and Philadelphia Phillies...
. In the 1937
1937 New York Giants (MLB) season
-Offseason:* January 6, 1937: Tommy Thevenow was purchased by the Giants from the Cincinnati Reds.* January 25, 1937: Ed Madjeski was purchased by the Giants from the New York Yankees.-Notable transactions:...
season, Danning and Mancuso shared the catching duties with Danning appearing in 93 games
Games played
Games played is a statistic used in team sports to indicate the total number of games in which a player has participated ; the statistic is generally applied irrespective of whatever portion of the game is contested.-Baseball:In baseball, the statistic applies also to players who, prior to a game,...
, while Mancuso appeared in 86 games. In 1938
1938 New York Giants (MLB) season
- Offseason :* December 1, 1937: Ed Madjeski was purchased from the Giants by the Louisville Colonels.- Roster :- Starters by position :Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in- Other batters :Note: G = Games...
Danning took over the role as the Giants starting catcher. He was selected for the National League
National League
The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League , is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball, and the world's oldest extant professional team sports league. Founded on February 2, 1876, to replace the National Association of Professional...
All-Star
Major League Baseball All-Star Game
The Major League Baseball All-Star Game, also known as the "Midsummer Classic", is an annual baseball game between players from the National League and the American League, currently selected by a combination of fans, players, coaches, and managers...
squad in four consecutive years (1938–41), played for the Giants team which defeated the Washington Senators
Minnesota Twins
The Minnesota Twins are a professional baseball team based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. They play in the Central Division of Major League Baseball's American League. The team is named after the Twin Cities area of Minneapolis and St. Paul. They played in Metropolitan Stadium from 1961 to 1981 and the...
in the 1933
1933 World Series
The 1933 World Series featured the New York Giants and the Washington Senators, with the Giants winning in five games for their first championship since , and their fourth overall....
World Series
World Series
The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball, played between the American League and National League champions since 1903. The winner of the World Series championship is determined through a best-of-seven playoff and awarded the Commissioner's Trophy...
championship, and appeared in the pennant-winning clubs that were defeated by the New York Yankees
New York Yankees
The New York Yankees are a professional baseball team based in the The Bronx, New York. They compete in Major League Baseball in the American League's East Division...
in the 1936
1936 World Series
The 1936 World Series matched the New York Yankees against the New York Giants, with the Yankees winning in six games to earn their fifth championship....
and 1937
1937 World Series
The 1937 World Series featured the defending champion New York Yankees and the New York Giants in a rematch of the 1936 Series. The Yankees won the Series in five games for their second championship in a row and their sixth in fifteen years. It also broke a tie that they had reached in 1936, with...
World Series.
In 1934
1934 New York Giants (MLB) season
- Roster :- Starters by position :Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in- Other batters :Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg...
during spring training a Florida hotel refused entry to Danning and fellow Jew Phil Weintraub
Phil Weintraub
Philip Weintraub, nicknamed Mickey was an American baseball player who had, as of February 2010, the second most runs batted in in a single game ....
. "Hibiscus" was a code word for Hebrew in Florida — as in "we don’t have hibiscus in our hotel." Giants manager and All-Star first baseman Bill Terry
Bill Terry
William Harold Terry was a Major League Baseball first baseman and manager. Considered one of the greatest players of all time, Terry was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1954. In 1999, he ranked number 59 on The Sporting News list of the 100 Greatest Baseball Players, and was a nominee...
threatened to take the entire World Champion team to another hotel unless his Jewish players were given lodging. The hotel's management backed down.
From 1938
1938 New York Giants (MLB) season
- Offseason :* December 1, 1937: Ed Madjeski was purchased from the Giants by the Louisville Colonels.- Roster :- Starters by position :Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in- Other batters :Note: G = Games...
to 1940
1940 New York Giants (MLB) season
- Offseason :* December 6, 1939: Tom Hafey was purchased from the Giants by the Atlanta Crackers.- Notable transactions :* June 15, 1940: Manny Salvo and Al Glossop were traded by the Giants to the Boston Bees for Tony Cuccinello....
Danning hit .306, .313, and .300, and finished in the top 10 in National League MVP
MLB Most Valuable Player Award
The Major League Baseball Most Valuable Player Award is an annual Major League Baseball award, given to one outstanding player in the American League and one in the National League. Since 1931, it has been awarded by the Baseball Writers Association of America...
voting in 1939
1939 New York Giants (MLB) season
- Offseason :* December 7, 1938: Les Powers was purchased from the Giants by the Philadelphia Phillies.- Notable transactions :* April 10, 1939: Johnny Dickshot was purchased by the Giants from the Boston Bees....
(9th) and 1940 (7th). He collected career highs in home runs (16) in 1939, and in RBIs (91) in 1940. He led all National League catchers with a .991 fielding average in 1939.
On June 9, 1939, Danning hit one of the five home runs in an inning that helped the Giants to set a record. Then, on June 15, 1940, he hit for the cycle
Hitting for the cycle
In baseball, hitting for the cycle is the accomplishment of one batter hitting a single, a double, a triple, and a home run in the same game. Collecting the hits in that order is known as a "natural cycle". Cycles are uncommon in Major League Baseball , occurring 293 times since the first by Curry...
in a game against Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh Pirates
The Pittsburgh Pirates are a Major League Baseball club based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. They play in the Central Division of the National League, and are five-time World Series Champions...
. His home run came on an inside-the-park home run
Inside-the-park home run
In baseball parlance, an inside-the-park home run, "leg home run", or "quadruple", is a play where a batter hits a home run without hitting the ball out of play.-Discussion:...
that landed 460 feet (140.2 m) on the fly in front of the Giants' clubhouse, wedged behind the Eddie Grant memorial.
Through 2010, he was ninth all-time in career hits (behind Al Rosen
Al Rosen
Albert Leonard Rosen , nicknamed "Al", "Flip", and the "Hebrew Hammer", is a former American professional baseball player who was a third baseman and right-handed slugger in the Major Leagues for ten seasons in tthe 1940s and 1950s.He played his entire 10-year career with the Cleveland Indians in...
) among Jewish major league baseball players.
Career statistics
Danning was a career .285 hitter with 57 home runHome run
In baseball, a home run is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to reach home safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team in the process...
s and 397 RBIs
Run batted in
Runs batted in or RBIs is a statistic used in baseball and softball to credit a batter when the outcome of his at-bat results in a run being scored, except in certain situations such as when an error is made on the play. The first team to track RBI was the Buffalo Bisons.Common nicknames for an RBI...
in 890 games. He had a career fielding percentage
Fielding percentage
In baseball statistics, fielding percentage, also known as fielding average, is a measure that reflects the percentage of times a defensive player properly handles a batted or thrown ball...
of .985. Danning led National League catchers three times in putout
Putout
In baseball statistics, a putout is given to a defensive player who records an out by one of the following methods:* Tagging a runner with the ball when he is not touching a base...
s, and twice in assists
Assist (baseball)
In baseball, an assist is a defensive statistic, baseball being one of the few sports in which the defensive team controls the ball. An assist is awarded to every defensive player who fields or touches the ball prior to the recording of a putout, even if the contact was unintentional...
and baserunners caught stealing
Caught stealing
In baseball, a runner is charged, and the fielders involved are credited, with a time caught stealing when the runner attempts to advance or lead off from one base to another without the ball being batted and then is tagged out by a fielder while making the attempt...
. He caught the screwball
Screwball
A screwball , is a baseball pitch that is thrown so as to break in the opposite direction of a slider or curveball. Depending on the pitcher's arm angle, the ball may also have a sinking action....
er Carl Hubbell
Carl Hubbell
Carl Owen Hubbell was an American baseball player. He was a member of the New York Giants in the National League from 1928 to 1943, and remained on the Giants' payroll for the rest of his life, long after their move to San Francisco.Twice voted the National League's Most Valuable Player, Hubbell...
, and also was a teammate of Mel Ott
Mel Ott
Melvin Thomas Ott , nicknamed "Master Melvin", was a Major League Baseball right fielder. He played his entire career for the New York Giants . Ott was born in Gretna, Louisiana. He batted left-handed and threw right-handed...
, Bill Terry
Bill Terry
William Harold Terry was a Major League Baseball first baseman and manager. Considered one of the greatest players of all time, Terry was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1954. In 1999, he ranked number 59 on The Sporting News list of the 100 Greatest Baseball Players, and was a nominee...
and Travis Jackson
Travis Jackson
Travis Calvin Jackson was a Major League Baseball player during the 1920s and 1930s. His exceptional range at shortstop led to the nickname "Stonewall."...
, four Hall of Famers.
After baseball
Danning retired from baseball after serving in the militaryMilitary
A military is an organization authorized by its greater society to use lethal force, usually including use of weapons, in defending its country by combating actual or perceived threats. The military may have additional functions of use to its greater society, such as advancing a political agenda e.g...
, working later as a minor league
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...
coach
Coach (baseball)
In baseball, a number of coaches assist in the smooth functioning of a team. They are assistants to the manager, or head coach, who determines the lineup and decides how to substitute players during the game...
. He received one vote in Hall of Fame Voting in both 1958
Baseball Hall of Fame balloting, 1958
Elections to the Baseball Hall of Fame for 1958 followed a system established after the 1956 election. The Baseball Writers Association of America voted by mail to select from recent major league players and elected no one...
and 1960
Baseball Hall of Fame balloting, 1960
Elections to Baseball Hall of Fame for 1960 followed a system established after the 1956 election. The Veterans Committee was meeting only in odd-number years . The Baseball Writers Association of America voted by mail to select from recent major league players and, same as in 1958, it elected no...
. Danning died in Valparaiso, Indiana
Valparaiso, Indiana
Valparaiso is a city in and the county seat of Porter County, Indiana, United States. The population was 31,730 at the 2010 census, making it the 2nd largest city in Porter County.-History:...
, at the age of 93.
Other highlights
- The BBWAA in TSNThe Sports NetworkThe Sports Network, commonly abbreviated as TSN, is a Canadian English language Category C specialty channel and is Canada's leading English language sports TV channel. TSN premiered in 1984, in the first group of Canadian specialty cable channels...
poll names the 1940 All Star team: Frank McCormickFrank McCormickFrank Andrew McCormick was a first baseman in Major League Baseball who played for the Cincinnati Reds , Philadelphia Phillies and Boston Braves . McCormick batted and threw right-handed...
, 1B – Joe Gordon, 2B – Luke ApplingLuke ApplingLucius Benjamin Appling was an American shortstop in Major League Baseball who played his entire career for the Chicago White Sox . He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1964....
, SS – Stan HackStan HackStanley Camfield Hack , nicknamed "Smiling Stan," was an American third baseman and manager in Major League Baseball who played his entire career for the Chicago Cubs and was the National League's top third baseman in the late 1930s and early 1940s...
, 3B – Harry Danning, C – Bob FellerBob FellerOn December 8, 1941, Feller enlisted in the Navy, volunteering immediately for combat service, becoming the first Major League Baseball player to do so following the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7. Feller served as Gun Captain aboard the USS Alabama, and missed four seasons during his service...
, Bucky WaltersBucky WaltersWilliam Henry "Bucky" Walters was an American Major League Baseball All-Star pitcher. A native of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Walters played for the Boston Braves , Boston Red Sox , Philadelphia Phillies and Cincinnati Reds...
, Paul DerringerPaul DerringerSamuel Paul Derringer was an American right-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball who played for three National League teams from 1931 to 1945, primarily the Cincinnati Reds....
, pitchers (January 8, 1941)
See also
- Hitting for the cycleHitting for the cycleIn baseball, hitting for the cycle is the accomplishment of one batter hitting a single, a double, a triple, and a home run in the same game. Collecting the hits in that order is known as a "natural cycle". Cycles are uncommon in Major League Baseball , occurring 293 times since the first by Curry...
- List of select Jewish baseball players