Alfred Driscoll

July 24, 2008 - 9:01am

Hackensack Harry

Before Bill Bradley, there was Harry C. Harper.

Widely known as "Hackensack Harry," Harper spent ten seasons as a major league baseball pitcher with the Washington Senators, Boston Red Sox, New York Yankees, and Brooklyn Dodgers, compiling a lifetime record of 59-77. The southpaw started the sixth game of the 1921 World Series for the Yankees against the New York Giants.

After his baseball career ended, the 32-year-old Harper entered politics, winning election as the Bergen County Sheriff in 1927.

Harper became a candidate for State Senator in 1931, seeking the seat vacated by Republican Ralph Chandless. Chandless had been expelled for his role in a Lodi sewer scandal. Harper, who ran with the support of Bergen GOP leder Daniel Thomson, a Chandless rival, won 61% of the vote against John Zabriskie, who had the support of Chandless' political organization.

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