John Harris' collegiate career got off to only a so-so start (1-for-7, no RBIs), but all that changed the first time he took the mound. He gave 11 hits and five runs (two earned) with one walk and three strikeouts in an 8-5 win over Western New Mexico. He was also the star at the plate in that win, blasting three home runs and driving in five runs.
By the time Harris left LCC in the summer of 1976, he was know as The Franchise. Why? Becuase he finished with a .400 career batting average (7th-highest in school history), played in 181 games, scored 159 runs, had 33 game-winning hits, blasted 63 home runs (most in school history), 12 triples, 57 doubles and drove in 237 runs (4th-most in school history). And that was just his hitting. On the pitching side, he hurled 258 innings in 41 games, compiling a 29-8 record with 29 complete games, striking out 183 and walking 108 with an earned run average of 2.86 (6th-lowest in school history, minimun 90.0 innings pitched).
A three-time All-American (twice on the First Team), Harris wasl All--conference three times and twice the league's player of the year. Some of the stories and feats from Harris' LCC career even sound apocryphal.
As a freshman in 1974, Harris led the nation in home runs with 19 and was so impressive at the District VIII Tournament in Arlington that an aging scout boasted to his colleagues, "I'll have that kid signed to a contract before this tournament's over!" Asked by one of his fellow scouts, "How can you sign a freshman and we can't?" the astonished old-timer replied, "You mean that kid's just a freshman! I'll probably be dead by the time he can sign."
In his junior season, after which he would be eligible to sign, Harris made sure the scouts who came to LCC games took notice. That year, he hit .469 with 102 hits, 66 runs scored, 21 doubles, 5 triples, 25 home runs and 94 RBIs. He committed no errors in 394 chances at first base, had nine game-winning hits, 208 total bases, a .954 slugging percentage and a .570 on-base percentage. Harrisalso during that season recorded a hit in 44 straight games, a Chap record that still stands to this day. Meanwhile on the mound he was 9-2, hurling 80.2 innings with 54 strikeouts and a 2.81 earned run average.
After that season Harris was selected by the California Angels in the 29th round (Pick #638)
of the Major League Baseball draft. He hit better than .300 at every minor league stop in 1977, '78 and '79 and on September 26, 1980 he became the first LCU player in history to reach the big leagues. A backup to the legendary Rod Carew, Harris split time between AAA and the bigs from 1980-82. He hit .258 in 120 at-bats at the big league level with five home runs and eight doubles. Following the 1982 season, he was traded to Cincinnati, who traded him to Detroit in 1983, but he never appeared in the majors with either of those teams. Harris retired from professional baseball in 1985 and served as an assistant coach at LCU in 1986 and 1996.
