Joe Harris

Who was Joe Harris?

Joseph Harris, nicknamed "Moon," was an American first baseman in Major League Baseball. He was born in Coulter, Pennsylvania.

In 1918, he was drafted into the United States Army. He served during World War I and was in a truck accident while serving. He suffered 2 broken legs, 3 broken ribs, and a fractured skull, thus creating the 'lump' under his eye. He did need plastic surgery to help fix his facial injury. In 1919, he was discharged due to injury from the army and returned to the Cleveland Indians for part of the season. At season's end, he played for an industrial team, which offered him money and a business. Harris played with the team for the 1920 season. Baseball commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis promptly banned him from baseball for life for having "played with and against ineligible players in independent games".

Harris later applied for reinstatement; Landis agreed to the reinstatement, in part due to Harris' war service. Harris was the first ballplayer to be reinstated after receiving a lifetime banishment. He died at age 68 in Plum Borough, Pennsylvania.