Galley: Harris helped Montreal Royals clinch 1958 title
Montreal Royals right-hander Billy Harris (Duguayville, N.B.), centre, celebrates after pitching his club to the International League championship in 1958. Photo: Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame
December 31, 2020
By Allen Galley
New Brunswick’s Billy Harris started the fifth and clinching game for the Montreal Royals in the 1958 Governor’s Cup (International League) series.
The Royals were the top farm club of the Los Angeles Dodgers (franchise’s first season in California after relocating from Brooklyn). Their opponents were the Toronto Maple Leafs, who were the only independent team in the IL that season.
The Royals won the series four games to one, with the final game being played on September 24 at Maple Leaf Stadium in Toronto. The Royals finished the regular season in first place with a 90-63-2 record, the Maple Leafs were second at 87-65-1. The Royals won the semifinal series against the Columbus Jets (Pirates) 4-3, while the Maple Leafs won their semifinal 4-1 against the Rochester Red Wings (Cardinals).
Harris was a native of Duguayville, born on December 30, 1930. He started his professional career in 1951, with the class D Valdosta Dodgers of the Georgia-Florida League. He rose through the Dodgers system, making his triple-A debut with the Royals in 1954.
He would be in triple-A full-time two years later. Harris would pitch parts of seven seasons with the Royals during his career. He made two brief stops with the big league Dodgers in 1957 (final season in Brooklyn) and 1959 (when they won the World Series in Los Angeles).
Harris would give up four runs (all earned) in three plus innings in game five. He had won ten straight games heading into this clinching game. The Royals would hold on and win the game 11-10 for their seventh (and last) Governor’s Cup championship, their first in five years. The Royals would go on to lose the Junior World Series 4-0 against the Minneapolis Millers (the American Association farm club of the Boston Red Sox). Harris would pitch game three of that series in Montreal.
The franchise would only last in Montreal another two seasons before relocating to Syracuse becoming the Chiefs, where they still are 60 years later. The city would gain Major League Baseball in 1969 when the Expos played their first season in the National League.
Box score of the clinching game (courtesy Montreal Gazette via Google News archive).
