Robert B Harrison

Robert B. "Bob" Harrison passed away peacefully on June 20th at Kaiser Hospital in Harbor City of pneumonia at the age of 95. Bob's family were with him during his passing. Bob lived in his Long Beach home until June 17, 2016. Bob was born in Banning, CA and his family moved to Long Beach in 1925. His Dad, Lawrence "Jake" Harrison retired as a Patrolman from the Long Beach Police Department. Bob was a 1938 graduate of Jordan High School in Long Beach. He was an excellent athlete in high school playing several sports but baseball was his love and he played baseball every chance he could. After high school he wanted to learn a trade and so he accepted an offer from Maco Construction to start learning a trade and played baseball for their semi-pro team on the weekends. He did that for 2 years until World War II when he enlisted in the United States Navy. Before going in the Navy he married his sweetheart, Mary Cuda in 1941. Bob and Mary were married for 59 years until Mary passed away in November, 2000. After Bob's honorable discharge from the Navy, he returned to the trade he had learned as a welder at the Long Beach Naval Shipyard where would eventuallly be a superintendent. Bob still had baseball in his system so he started coaching youth baseball in Long Beach. He coached a team of 13-14 year olds in 1959 which won a Pony League World Championship. During that same period Bob also coached American Legion teams. Bob was very active in the Long Beach youth programs and in 1965 coached another Long Beach Pony League team that won a World Championship. Off of the 1965 team he would have players who eventually went into professional baseball, including Jeff Burroughs and Craig Swan. In 1961, the Angels got a Major League Baseball Franchise. The scouts who first started in the Angels organization asked Bob to run a winter program for young players and also help the Angels in scouting young players. Bob told them that he could not quit his job at the Naval Shipyard but that he could work late afternoons and weekends. That is how Bob started his scouting career of 50 years. Bob would later on in 1965 take a better position with the St. Louis Cardinals. The Cardinals allowed Bob to coach the Long Beach Connie Mack team in 1967 where Bob took that team to a World Championship that year. That was the same year that the Cardinals won the World Series and Bob has a World Series ring from the 1967 team. After three Long Beach Championships Bob focused all of his time to scouting and working and running the Professional Scout Program in the Scout League. Bob would work for the Cardinals 10 years. When the Seattle Mariners were awarded a Major League Franchise Bob was offered a good contract and Seattle offered him a chance to help put together a team from the ground up and be the West Coast Scouting Supervisor. Bob had charge of the Latin American countries and traveled frequently to Latin America for the Mariners. Bob was employed by the Mariners a total of 27 years and the Angels for 13 years. Bob is credited with signing 27 players who made it to the Major Leagues including Ed Crosby, Garry Templeton, Dave Henderson, Bob Stoddard, Jamie Allen, Bud Black, Al Chambers, Carlos Diaz, Darnell Coles, John Moses, Paul Serna, Ed VandeBerg, Matt Young, Mark Langston, Mike Moore, Ricky Nelson, Alvin Davis, Dave Hengel, Calvin Jones, Jim Bowie and the pride of his "collection" Ken Griffey Jr. who was selected on the first ballot in 2016, with the highest vote total ever to be inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York. Bob had an "eye for talent" throughout his 50 year major league baseball career and in addition to being recognized in 2003 as "Scout of the Year" by Major League Baseball, he was also inducted into the 2007 Class of Long Beach Baseball and Softball Hall of Fame.
Bob is survived by his sons, Frank Harrison(Charlene) of Indio, Mike Harrison(Sue) of Mission Viejo and R.J Harrison(Jane) of Phoenix, AZ, grandchildren Kristan Livingston, Colleen Gamble, Douglas Harrison, Lauren Ember and Anna Harrison and Six great grandchildren. A Celebration of Bob's Life is being held on Saturday July 2nd at 2:00pm at Luyben Dilday Chapel located at 5161 E. Arbor Road, Long Beach, CA 90808. A Reception will follow at the Lakewood Country Club from 3:30-6:00pm . The address of Lakewood County Club is 3101 Carson Street, Lakewood, CA 90712. In lieu of flowers Bob requested that donations be made to the Professional Baseball Scouts Foundation, 5010 N. Parkway Calabasas, Suite 201,
Calabasas, CA 91302.