During his short MLB career, Harry Lumley was one of the most feared sluggers in the game. He played only 5 full seasons in the Majors, and his stats are staggering. He was sidelined by injuries, rheumatism, and a tendency to put on weight. If he had remained healthy, it’s not hard to imagine him as a member of the Baseball Hall of Fame.
In 1903, Lumley played for Seattle of the Pacific Coast League, which was an outlaw league at the time. He led the league in batting average with a .383 clip. Following that season, the PCL joined organized baseball. As a result, all of Seattle’s players were eligible for the Rule 5 Draft, and Lumley was selected by the Brooklyn Superbas. As a 23 year-old rookie in 1904, he led the National League in both triples (18) and home runs (9). He put up an average of .279 with an OPS of .759. It was an incredible rookie season, but he was just getting started.
In 1905, Lumley’s average climbed to .293, though his triple (10) and home run (7) totals dropped a bit. His 7 HRs were still good for 3rd in the NL. 1906 was his best year by far. His batting average jumped to .324, good for 3rd in the NL behind only Harry Steinfeldt and Honus Wagner. He led the league in slugging (.477) and was second in triples (12) and home runs (9), trailing only his teammate Tim Jordan.
1907 was another great year for Lumley, but sadly it was the last season he performed at a high level. He hit 9 home runs, good for second in the NL and slugged .425, which slotted in just behind Wagner and Magee on the NL leaderboard. Near the end of the season, he broke his ankle while sliding, which ended his season after 127 games. The injury lingered into the 1908 season and made it tough for him to keep his weight down. Prior to the season, he was named team captain. He played 127 games in 1908, but only hit .216 with 4 home runs.
Prior to the 1909 season, Brooklyn owner Charles Ebbets named Lumley manager. He skippered his squad to a 55-98 record, which was good for 6th in the NL. That doesn’t look too good at first glance, but in 1908 the club went 53-101 and finished 7th, so it was a nice, if small, improvement. As a player, Lumley appeared in 55 games, but injuries and weight gain had sapped him of his effectiveness. He put up a decent average (.250) but didn’t hit a single home run.
After the season, Ebbets replaced Lumley with Bill Dahlen as the new manager. Lumley started the season with the club as a player, but he only played 8 games before being released in June of 1910.
If the T206 set had begun production in 1904, Lumley might have been featured on three or four cards. As it was, he made the cut to be included mainly because he was the current manager of the 1909 Brooklyn team. Fans no doubt were hoping for him to return to form, but injuries had taken their toll. Lumley is one of the more compelling players in the T206 set, and I am very happy he was included, even if we only got one card of him.
I want to thank baseball-reference.com for the stats and leaderboards and Tom Simon for his great article that can be found here. Both of these resources were a big help to me in telling the fascinating story of Harry Lumley.