Willie Harris hit the first inside-the-park homer at Nationals Park, connecting for Washington in 2010. He also hit a leadoff homer, walk-off homer and grand slam during three seasons with the Nationals.
But the former Nationals outfielder/infielder also has vivid memories of something that happened during batting practice at Nationals Park involving Mark Lerner, now the principal owner of the team.
“He would come down and take flyballs,” recalls Harris, 40, who broke into the majors with the Orioles in 2001. “One day he missed a ball and it hit him in the face. The next day he was out there again.”
There were plenty of missteps off and on the field in the early day of the Nationals, who lost more than 100 games twice when Harris was with the team.
But Harris understands those growing pains.
“All teams go through struggles when they are in a rebuilding phase,” he said. “Right now they have a great thing going there. I am happy for the Lerner family and happy for Nats’ Nation. I have a special place in my heart for them.”
After his time with the Nationals, Harris played with the New York Mets in 2011 and ended his career with the Cincinnati Reds and manager Dusty Baker in 2012.
Harris has followed in Baker’s footsteps and is now a first-year skipper in the San Francisco Giants farm system.
He is the manager for the Double-A Richmond Flying Squirrels of the Eastern League.
Richmond is 47-54 entering Thursday and fifth in the league in team ERA at 3.85.
“You give them everything they need to succeed,” Harris said.
“He’s awesome,” Richmond lefty pitcher Garrett Williams said of Harris. “I feel like he is one of us, with everything he has been through in the game. He is young and understands the grind of minor league baseball.”
Harris stays in touch with some of his former Nationals teammates, including current first baseman Ryan Zimmerman.
Harris was drafted by the Orioles in 1999 and made his big league debut with Baltimore two years later.
He also spent part of 2001 with the Bowie Baysox, a team he now manages against in the Eastern League.
He was with the Chicago White Sox from 2002 to 2005 and part of the 2005 team that won the World Series.
Harris, who is black, would like to one day manage in the majors.
He was just the second Cairo, Georgia, native to make the majors as a player. The first was Jackie Robinson, who broke the color barrier in 1947 with the Brooklyn Dodgers.
“You look at the great players of the game, be it Latin America or African-American, there are a lot of great ones,” he said.
“Not one of them can say they are from the same hometown as Jackie Robinson. It is definitely an honor, not only to play the game but also be a manager.”
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