James Vernon Handrahan (November 27, 1936 – November 2, 2016) was a Canadian

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Modern professional ...

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 ...

who played for the

Kansas City Athletics The history of the Athletics Major League Baseball franchise spans the period from 1901 to the present day, having begun as a charter member franchise in the new American League in Philadelphia before moving to Kansas City in 1955 for 13 sea ...

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), ...

(MLB) in 1964 and 1966. He is noted for being one of only three major-league players from

Prince Edward Island Prince Edward Island (PEI; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is the smallest province in terms of land area and population, but the most densely populated. The island has several nicknames: "Garden of the Gulf", ...

, the others being 19th-century

outfielder An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder. As an outfielder, their duty is to c ...

George Wood and

catcher Catcher is a position in baseball and softball. When a batter takes their turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the ( home) umpire, and receives the ball from the pitcher. In addition to this primary duty, the ca ...

Henry Oxley.

Biography

Handrahan threw right-handed, batted left-handed, and was listed as tall and . He was originally signed by the Milwaukee Braves as a 22-year-old amateur in 1959. After playing sandlot and youth baseball in his native Charlottetown, then pitching in a semi-professional league for Stellarton, Nova Scotia, in the heart of that province's coal mining country, he was signed by veteran Braves scout Lucius "Jeff" Jones,Moscovitch, Philip (2012), "Right Place, Right Time." ''Saltscapes''
/ref> whose territory encompassed

New England New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York (state), New York to the west and by the Can ...

and Atlantic Canada. Handrahan spent four years at the lower levels of the Braves' farm system before the Athletics selected him in the 1962 minor league draft. He made the Kansas City roster out of spring training in 1964, and worked in 18 games between April 14 and June 9. Sent to Triple-A, he didn't return to the majors until Kansas City recalled him in the middle of 1966 for a 16-game audition. Handrahan made two starts for the Athletics, one in 1964 and the other in 1966, and they resulted in both of his MLB decisions: defeats at the hands of the

Los Angeles Angels The Los Angeles Angels are an American professional baseball team based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Angels compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. Since 1966, the team h ...

on May 5, 1964, and the

Chicago White Sox The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team is owned by Jerry Reinsdorf, and ...

on April 17, 1966. He earned his only major-league save in his penultimate MLB appearance when he worked a scoreless one-third of an inning against the

Cleveland Indians 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 Fi ...

to complete a 1–0 Kansas City triumph on September 15, 1966. Handrahan returned to minor league baseball in 1967 for the remainder of his 12-season career. During his MLB service—34 games (32 in

relief Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces are bonded to a solid background of the same material. The term '' relief'' is from the Latin verb ''relevo'', to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that th ...

)—Handrahan compiled an 0–2 won–lost record and an

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 ...

of 5.31. In 61 innings pitched, he permitted 53 hits and 40 bases on balls, and

struck out In baseball or softball, a strikeout (or strike-out) occurs when a batter accumulates three strikes during a time at bat. It usually means that the batter is out. A strikeout is a statistic recorded for both pitchers and batters, and is denote ...

36. Handrahan was elected to the Prince Edward Island Sports Hall of Fame in its first year, 1968, but could not attend the induction ceremony because he was pitching across the country for the Triple-A Vancouver Mounties at the time. He died in Charlottetown on November 2, 2016. Handrahan was inducted into the

Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame The Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum (french: Temple de la renommée du baseball canadien) is a museum located in St. Marys, Ontario, Canada. The museum commemorates great players, teams, and accomplishments of baseball in Canada. H ...

in 2021.

References

External links

*
Handrahan's page at the PEI Sports Hall of Fame
{{DEFAULTSORT:Handrahan, Vern 1936 births 2016 deaths Baseball people from Prince Edward Island Birmingham A's players Boise Braves players Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame inductees Canadian expatriate baseball players in the United States Eau Claire Braves players Iowa Oaks players Canadian baseball players Canadian sportspeople of Irish descent Jacksonville Suns players Kansas City Athletics players Lewiston Broncs players Major League Baseball pitchers Major League Baseball players from Canada Montreal Expos scouts Portland Beavers players Rochester Red Wings players Sportspeople from Charlottetown Toledo Mud Hens players Vancouver Mounties players Wellsville Braves players