Biography:
Brian David Harper was born October 16, 1959 in Los
Angeles, California. Brian loved baseball as a child,
and knew he wanted to be a professional player at the
age of five. He attended San Pedro High School in California
where he lettered in varsity football and baseball.
In his senior year he batted .490 and was named first
team all Marine League, first team all South Bay, first
team all Los Angeles City and first team all state as
a catcher. Brian received a baseball scholarship to
Pepperdine University, but was selected in the fourth
round of the June 1977 draft by his favorite ballclub,
the California Angles.
After wandering through six organizations in eleven
years (he was 7-for-26 as a pinch-hitter for the NL-champion
1985 Cardinals), Brian Harper finally found a home in
1988 at catcher for the Twins. He hit .295 in 166 at-bats,
his most playing time to that point at the major league
level. He continued his streak by hitting .325 to remain
the Twins' starting catcher in 1989.
Brian was the primary catcher for the
Twins team that won the memorable 1991 World Series
in seven games over the Atlanta Braves. In particular,
he caught the game 7 masterpiece of Jack Morris, who
threw 10 innings of shutout baseball against the Braves
in one of the most intense ballgames ever played. In
the bottom of the 8th inning, Brain Harper teamed up
with first baseman Kent Hrbek to execute an incredible
3-2-3 double play that prevented the Braves' Lonnie
Smith from scoring while also nabbing Sid Bream at first.
The game was won in the bottom of the 10th inning when
Gene Larkin cracked a bases-loaded single to center
field, scoring Dan Gladden. Although sometimes criticized
for his defense (especially his throwing arm) Brian’s
rock-solid presence behind the plate was highlighted
in that World Series win in 1991. "It hasn't been
since schoolboy football, when he was a quarterback
who got sacked 'a lot', that Harper's been run over
so often and so violently," wrote Tim Wendel of
Baseball Weekly
After the World Series win, Brian Harper
re-signed with the Twins for another two years. He remained
the Twins' first option behind the plate through 1993,
hitting for a good average but little home-run power.
He joined the Milwaukee Brewers for the
strike-shortened 1994 season, and then wrapped up his
career in Oakland the next year. He was hindered by
a calf injury after moving to the Brewers in 1994, and
in late June was struck by a Ken Ryan pitch, fracturing
his wrist and ending his season. He caught on briefly
with the A's the next spring, but retired in May after
starting the year 0-for-7.
Since his retirement in 1995, Brian has
coached high school baseball in Scottsdale, AZ and is
currently the manager of the Mesa Angles Rookie team.
In over 3,300 career at bats, Brian struck out only
183 times. Brian was always one of the toughest batters
to strike out in the major leagues. Brian finished with
a career batting average of .295.
Brian Harper played a total of 18 years
of professional baseball, from 1977 to 1995; including
12 years in the major leagues with seven different teams.
Brian batted over .300, four out of six years with the
Minnesota Twins, from 1988 to 1993. Brian led the team
in hitting during the World Series with a .391 average
and made his mark as a Minnesota Twin “great.”
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