Up for auction the "Texas Rangers" Toby Harrah Hand Signed 3X5 Card. This item is certified authentic by JG Autographs and comes with their Certificate of Authenticity.

ES-267A

Colbert Dale (Toby) Harrah (born October 26, 1948) is an American former professional baseball player. He played as a shortstop and third baseman in Major League Baseball from 1969 to 1986. Harrah played for the Texas Rangers both before (Washington Senators era) and after their 1971 franchise shift. He also played for the Cleveland Indians and the New York Yankees. In 1992, he briefly served as manager of the Rangers. Harrah most recently served as the assistant hitting coach for the Detroit Tigers. Harrah played high school baseball in his hometown of LaRue, Ohio and was scouted out but was not signed at graduation as most scouts thought he planned to attend college on a baseball scholarship. A few months later, Tony Lucadello followed up and found that Harrah was not attending school, but was instead working in a factory in nearby Marion, Ohio. Lucadello signed Harrah for the Philadelphia Phillies in December, 1966. After one year in the Phillies organization, Harrah was drafted by the Washington Senators in the fall of 1967. He advanced to the major league club in 1971; the next year the franchise relocated and became the Texas Rangers. He was the regular shortstop through 1976, then moved to third base, although he still saw some action at short. He was selected to the American League All-Star team in 1972, 1975, and 1976. He had a career best 93 RBIS in 1975. On June 25, 1976, Harrah played an entire doubleheader at shortstop without recording a single chance in the field. The following season he and teammate Bump Wills would hit back-to-back inside-the-park home runs. In 1978, Harrah was traded to the Cleveland Indians for Buddy Bell, a player thought to be fairly similar in many respects. He was the Indians' regular third baseman through 1983 and made the All-Star team in 1982. That year he had 100 runs and a career-best .304 batting average. In 1984, Harrah was traded to the New York Yankees, where he was a part-time player, then he was traded again to the Rangers, where he played regularly again for the 1985 and 1986 seasons, primarily at second base. With the retirement of Jeff Burroughs in 1985, Harrah became the last active major leaguer to have played for the Washington Senators franchise. He was also the last player to see a pitch for the Senators in their final game on September 30, 1971 when Tommy McCraw was caught stealing during his plate-appearance for the Senators final out in the bottom of the 8th. Harrah was noted for his good eye at the plate, placing in the top ten in the league for bases on balls on nine occasions, including an AL-best 109 in 1977. He finished his career with more bases on balls than strikeouts, with 1153 and 868, respectively. He also had better than average power for a defensive infielder, hitting 195 career home runs. Combined with good speed, he accumulated three seasons of 20 home runs and 20 stolen bases. Harrah's on-base skills and respectable slugging ability led to a solid career Adjusted OPS of 114. According to sabermetrician Jay Jaffe of Baseball Prospectus, Harrah is the 25th best third baseman in Major League Baseball history, outpacing several Hall of Famers. Despite his superior statistical accomplishments, Harrah only received a single vote for the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1992, thereby removing his name from future ballots. Harrah's chances for the Hall were seemingly hurt by his multiple position switches: from shortstop, to third base, to second base, and often back and forth. He did not match the awards or "counting stats" (avg, HR, RBI) of well-hitting contemporary shortstops like Cal Ripken Jr. and Barry Larkin, or third baseman such as Wade Boggs or George Brett, all of whom were on their way to HOF careers by the time Harrah was eligible in 1992. Contemporary baseball historians have placed more value on Harrah's career after the fact, noting that he was a solid all-around player who placed among the league leaders in Wins Above Replacement on 5 occasions. In 2009, Harrah was named to the Texas Rangers Hall of Fame.