Frederick Harvey "Spec" Harkness (December 13, 1887 – May 16, 1952) was a professional baseball

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

. In his nine-year career, he won 111 games, including 12 in

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

for the

Cleveland Naps The Cleveland Guardians are an American professional baseball team based in Cleveland. The Guardians compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. Since , they have played at Progressive ...

. Harkness was 5 feet, 11 inches tall and weighed 180 pounds."Spec Harkness Statistics and History"
baseball-reference.com. Retrieved November 3, 2011.

Career

Harkness was born in

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

, in 1887. He started his professional baseball career in 1908 with the

Northwestern League The Northwestern League was a sports league that operated in the Central United States during the early years of professional baseball for five seasons: 1879, 1883–1884, and 1886–1887. After the 1887 season, the league was replaced by the We ...

's Butte Miners. That season, he had a

win–loss record In sports, a winning percentage is the fraction of games or matches a team or individual has won. The statistic is commonly used in standings or rankings to compare teams or individuals. It is defined as wins divided by the total number of match ...

of 22-15 and led the league in wins."Spec Harkness Minor League Statistics & History"
baseball-reference.com. Retrieved November 3, 2011. He was drafted by the

Pacific Coast League The Pacific Coast League (PCL) is a Minor League Baseball league that operates in the Western United States. Along with the International League, it is one of two leagues playing at the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A level, which is one grade bel ...

Portland Beavers The Portland Beavers was the name of separate minor league baseball teams, which represented Portland, Oregon, in the Pacific Coast League (PCL). The team was established in 1903, the first year of the PCL. Franchise history Many baseball teams ...

, and in 1909 he went 29-21, posting a 1.95

earned run average In baseball statistics, earned run average (ERA) is the average of earned runs allowed by a pitcher per nine innings pitched (i.e. the traditional length of a game). It is determined by dividing the number of earned runs allowed by the number ...

in a career-high 434

innings pitched In baseball, innings pitched (IP) are the number of innings a pitcher has completed, measured by the number of batters and baserunners that are put out while the pitcher is on the pitching mound in a game. Three outs made is equal to one innin ...

."'Spec' Harkness Back to Portland"
''Eugene Register-Guard''. July 10, 1911. Harkness joined the Cleveland Naps for the 1910 season. During his first campaign in the major leagues, he appeared in 26 games, including 16 starts, and went 10-7 with a 3.04 ERA. In 1911, his ERA rose to 4.22, and the Naps waived him in July. Harkness then returned to the Beavers. He played the next two seasons for them and had two losing records. In 1913, he went to the

Venice Tigers Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 bridges. The islan ...

and stayed with that team for two seasons. Harkness played in the Northwestern League in 1915. He pitched a

no-hitter In baseball, a no-hitter is a game in which a team was not able to record a hit. Major League Baseball (MLB) officially defines a no-hitter as a completed game in which a team that batted in at least nine innings recorded no hits. A pitcher wh ...

on May 20 but finished the year with a record of 8-18. That was the last full season of his career, though he did pitch in four PCL games in 1921. Overall, he won 99 games and lost 94 in the minor leagues. In 1933, Harkness was on an "Old Timers" team that barnstormed across the country, playing exhibition games."Stars of Other Days Meet Spokane Nine Tomorrow; Bushers' Banquet Tonight"
''Spokane Daily Chronicle''. May 5, 1933. He died in

Compton, California Compton is a city in southern Los Angeles County, California, United States, situated south of downtown Los Angeles. Compton is one of the oldest cities in the county and, on May 11, 1888, was the eighth city in Los Angeles County to incorporat ...

, in 1952 and was buried in Calvary Cemetery in Los Angeles.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Harkness, Spec 1887 births 1952 deaths Major League Baseball pitchers Cleveland Naps players Portland Beavers players Butte Miners players Venice Tigers players Aberdeen Black Cats players Spokane Indians players Baseball players from Los Angeles