Tim Harkness’ career with the Dodgers began far from Los Angeles. The team was still based in Brooklyn when the Philadelphia Phillies acquired shortstop Chico Fernandez for Harkness, a first baseman playing for the Dodgers’ farm team in Miami, and four other players on April 5, 1957.
By the time Harkness made his debut four years later, the Dodgers had moved west, won a World Series and — not coincidentally — were on the verge of parting ways with a future Hall of Fame first baseman, Gil Hodges.
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A left-handed hitter, Harkness would go on to spend two seasons with the Dodgers and two more with the New York Mets before playing his final major league game in 1964. Harkness was 87 years old when he died recently, as first reported Sunday by Bob Elliott of the Canadian Baseball Network.
By August of 1957, his first season in the Dodgers’ organization, Harkness was regarded as “one of the best looking young ball players of the Midwest League” by the Decatur (Ill.) Daily Review. By 1959, Harkness had been promoted to Triple-A Montreal — his hometown and the Dodgers’ top farm team.
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Harkness debuted on Sept. 12, 1961, pinch-hitting for catcher Doug Camilli in the bottom of the ninth inning. He was walked by Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Jack Baldschun in the Dodgers’ 19-10 loss at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
Harkness went 4-for-8 with a stolen base and three walks in five games as a rookie — a promising audition as a potential replacement for the aging Hodges.
But after Hodges was selected by the Mets in the 1962 expansion draft, the primary first baseman’s job instead went to Ron Fairly — a left-handed hitter with more power and patience at a position that demanded it.
Fairly or unfairly, Harkness played only 92 games in his second season with the Dodgers. He slashed .258/.370/.387, hitting two home runs, driving in seven runs, and scoring nine.
Blocked at first base again, Harkness was traded to the Mets (of all teams) after the season. The second-year team from Queens sent pitcher Bob Miller to the Dodgers in return.
With the Mets, Harkness would get the opportunity to spend a full season as the primary first baseman that he wouldn’t have had in Los Angeles. It came at the expense of winning; while the Dodgers won 102 games in 1962, the Mets lost 120 — a modern record that wouldn’t be broken until 2024.
Harkness played two seasons with the Mets before being traded to the Cincinnati Reds midway through the 1964 season. He retired with a career batting average of .235 in 562 at-bats.
