1973 Topps - Vic Harris.

Not a whole lot going on today. The Rangers beat the Angels last night in Arlington and are tied right now. Still hanging on to first place though. I was going to announce the first match-up in the Strat-O-Matic contest but there are only three votes as to the final team to face off with the Rangers in the contest. Need someone to break the three way tie so I will be extending the voting. I will announce the final team on Friday along with the first match-up. Get your vote in now and get ready to play the contest.

Decided to take a look at Vic Harris' 1973 season today. Card number 594 in the 1973 Topps set lists Vic as a second baseman. He was primarily a second baseman in 1972, his only prior MLB season, but got bumped by Dave Nelson in 1973.

With the loss of second Vic moved to the starting center fielder's job. He played 937 innings there of the 1,282 he played on defense that year. He also appeared at second and third base, right field, and left field.

In center Harris made just seven errors in 303 chances for a .977 fielding percentage. That was six points below the league average. His 2.84 range factor per nine innings was six points higher than the league average however and that may have contributed to a couple of the errors.

On offense Vic managed a .249 batting average and a .317 on base percentage in 618 trips to the plate. His 55 walks were the second highest in the starting nine. He led the team in triples with seven and and tied for first in runs scored with 71.

Vic probably didn't know it but 1973 was his career year. He wouldn't even come close to those offensive numbers again. The Cubs definitely didn't know it. In October of 1973 they sent Fergie Jenkins to Texas in trade for Bill Madlock and Vic Harris.