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During the vetting process on Longoria, Harrison had a vested interest in seeing Longoria play during Dirtbags\u2019 home games, meet him and his family and reconnect in some way to his own roots. Maybe that sweetened the deal. Harrison, 65, the Rays’ senior advisor for scouting and baseball operations, can now admit that \u201cEvan was always the guy we wanted,\u201d an assessment validated by longtime friend and Dirtbags manager Dave Weathers.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe just crossed our fingers on the two picks ahead of us and we feel we were fortunate,\u201d Harrison adds.<\/p>\n
Before Longoria would become the player taken highest in Long Beach State\u2019s history of eight first-round draft picks, there were two picks ahead of him that are now rather forgetful\u2014Kansas City had first choice and took pitcher Luke Hochevar from Tennessee, who had turned down the Dodgers a year earlier. Colorado then took Stanford pitcher Greg Reynolds.<\/p>\n
Interestingly, his father Bob had a similar experience with the 1986 MLB Draft.<\/p>\n
His employers, the Mariners, then the worst team in baseball, had the No. 1 overall pick. Bob Harrison had to convince team owner George Argyros that this high school kid from Cincinnati, Ken Griffey Jr., was worth the pick despite all sorts of talented pitchers that were available, most notably Mike Harkey from Cal State Fullerton and Southern California natives Jack McDowell and Kevin Appier.<\/p>\n
That worked out, too.<\/p>\n With Longoria, a 20-year-old who Harrison handed a $3 million signing bonus, the payoff came rather quickly. Two years later, the All-Star selection and winner of the American League Rookie of the Year Award (27 homers, 85 RBIs and a .272 average) would shine on a team\u2014now known simply as the Ray\u2014that won the AL East with 97 wins, eliminated the Boston Red Sox in the American League championship series, and found itself in its first and, to date, only World Series under manager Joe Maddon.<\/p>\n That team, Harrison admits, brought him the greatest sense of professional satisfaction.<\/p>\n \u201cTo watch that group, after scouting them, signing them, seeing them come up through rookie ball and now we\u2019re in a World Series\u2026 \u201d Harrison said from his home near Phoenix. \u201cI\u2019ve had a lot of good moments, but when I see so many young guys who start this journey, some of them break through, and they remain good human beings, that\u2019s just special.\u201d<\/p>\n The roster included David Price, who would win the Cy Young in 2012, a player Harrison pushed to take with the No. 1 overall choice in the 2007 draft. It also had organizational draft picks with future All Stars like pitcher James Shields (Class of 2000), outfielders Carl Crawford (1999) and Melvin Upton Jr. (2002) and DHs Jonny Gomes (2001) and Rocco Baldelli (2000). Harrison even marvels at how that team had a 30-year-old middle reliever named Dave Wheeler, originally drafted in the 34th round in 1996, released in 2001, and who spent time with three other teams, and then came back to Tampa in a 2007 trade to be an effective part.<\/p>\n They are among the 49 MLB players that Harrison was instrumental in signing for the Rays, a resume that includes six All-Stars and 2018 Cy Young winner Blake Snell.<\/p>\n R.J. Harrison will attend Saturday\u2019s ceremony with his wife Jane\u2014they\u2019ve been in Arizona since his playing days at ASU in the mid-\u201870s. He was drafted again in the 23rd round by St. Louis in \u201975, converted to a pitcher, then experienced the success, injuries and other setbacks playing in the Cardinals\u2019 and Mariners\u2019 system.<\/p>\n Harrison quit playing at age 27 and went right into minor-league coaching, then managing. Eventually, he felt his personality and experience fit into the business of scouting, like his dad, who did it part-time until he retired from a government job at age 55 and was a full-time scout until the age of 90.<\/p>\n With 44 years in pro baseball, 30 years in scouting and 25 years with Tampa, Harrison can go back to thinking about the local youth leagues at El Dorado Park, not far from his family home on Petaluma Avenue between Stearns and Atherton, one that was spared in a neighborhood that went through some tear-downs in the late 1950s for the expansion of the 405 Freeway.<\/p>\n As a kid in the early \u201860s, Harrison recalls marveling at the exploits of Jeff Burroughs playing on Jack Graham and Red Mears\u2019 Wilson American Legions teams at Blair Field, before Burroughs would be the star athlete out of Wilson High and the No. 1 overall draft pick by Texas in 1969. Burroughs would hit home runs \u201cas if they were shot out of a rocket launcher, and with a wooden bat,\u201d said Harrison.<\/p>\n Harrison\u2019s dad was a coach on the 1965 Long Beach Pony League team that won a national World Series with Burroughs and future MLB pitcher Craig Swann.<\/p>\n The player depth of the Moore League may not be as fruitful as it once was, but on last year\u2019s Rays roster that produced 96 wins and went to the American League Division Series, there were two Lakewood High alums, infielder Matt Duffy and catcher Travis d\u2019Arnaud. In 2015, Harrison\u2019s last year as the team\u2019s scouting director, they drafted catcher Chris Betts out of Wilson High with the 52nd overall choice.<\/p>\n The Professional Baseball Scouts Foundation, started in 2003 and included Long Beach legendary scout Harry Minor as one of its four founders, continues to shine a light on the work by baseball lifers like Harrison.<\/p>\n \u201cBaseball is good at taking care of their own,\u201d he said. \u201cNone of us take for granted with Dennis Gilbert has done for this field, helping countless people. We\u2019re all in this business because of our passion and I\u2019ve been fortunate enough to spend my whole adult life in this game.\u201d<\/p>\n Gilbert, the former agent who has been a huge supporter of baseball scouts and the youth game in Southern California, says, \u201cthe vote was 100 percent to give this award to R.J., and we are really proud to see Bob\u2019s son follow in his dad\u2019s footsteps. Long Beach is and always will be a special place for baseball and a facility like Blair Field and the Area Code games is one of the places all the top scouts look forward to attending.\u201d<\/p>\n Of all the things Harrison says he learned from his father, who was there from the launch of the expansion Seattle Mariners in 1977, it was all about his work ethic, and ability to adapt with the times, along with a devotion to the game\u2019s success.<\/p>\n \u201cI know when I go back to Blair Field to watch the Area Code All Star games in the summer, inevitably there\u2019ll be someone I grew up with who shows up\u2014because he knows I\u2019ll be there\u2014and we\u2019ll sit and talk about the old times, get caught up,\u201d Harrison said. “From the youth leagues to the rivalries we had. I can\u2019t imagine a greater place to grow up as a young baseball player in the \u201860s and \u201870s for me.<\/p>\n \u201cEvery time I walk into Blair Field, I get an overwhelming feeling of nostalgia. It\u2019s still one of my favorite places.”<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/staging-live.lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Kph7bIj4.jpeg\")
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