Walter ‘Buddy’ Harris Jr., entrepreneur, and baseball and basketball hall of famer, has died at 73

Walter “Buddy” Harris Jr., 73, of Roxborough, a gregarious and popular business owner, hall-of-fame baseball and basketball star, and former major league pitcher for the Houston Astros, died Saturday, Nov. 5, of sepsis at Penn Medicine Rittenhouse.

The longtime owner of Cannon’s Cold Cuts & Deli on Manayunk Avenue, Mr. Harris was also a math and history teacher in the Philadelphia and Norristown school districts, a Realtor, and executive vice president of the Apollo Parking Corp. in Palm Beach, Fla.

He was a legendary high school, college, and professional sports figure to fans of all ages in Roxborough, Manayunk, Wissahickon, and East Falls. He won the 1966 Markward Memorial Basketball Club Award as Philadelphia’s best high school player, and was inducted into the athletic hall of fame at Philadelphia College of Textiles & Science, now Thomas Jefferson University, in 1984 and the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame in 2008.

He was a minor-league baseball all-star in 1969 and 1970, and had his own Major League baseball cards in 1971 and 1972. The son of Walter “Bucky” Harris, the hall-of-fame men’s basketball coach at Textile, his willingness to share stories and spend time with neighborhood fans after his retirement from baseball was, according to one local writer, “too good to be true.”

“Bud touched so many lives, and I was fortunate to be one of them,” a friend said in a Facebook tribute. “Buddy,” another friend said, “you were always one of the good guys.”

A 6-foot-7, 245-pound power pitcher, Mr. Harris signed with the Astros in 1968 and spent two seasons in the minor leagues before making his big-league debut as a relief pitcher on Sept. 10, 1970. He ended his big-league career in 1971 with 23 strikeouts in 38 innings over 22 games and a record of 1-1, his victory coming as a reliever in a 3-2 win on July 19, 1971, over his visiting hometown Phillies.

In that game, he struck out Phillies catcher Mike Ryan in the top of the 11th inning with two runners on base to end a scoring threat. His Astros roommate, Cesar Cedeno, won the game with a bases-loaded single in the bottom of the 11th.

Mr. Harris spent the next three seasons in the minor leagues and the Mexican League, and injuries to his right arm ended his baseball career in 1974. In seven seasons in the majors, minors, and Mexican League, he went 46-46 with 646 strikeouts in 803 innings and notably surrendered one of Willie Mays’ 660 career home runs.

In September 2020, the Jefferson athletic department recognized Mr. Harris’ achievement as the university’s first major league player by publishing a story that ended: “Fifty years ago, the Houston Astros and San Francisco Giants prepared to play a meaningless game. Fifty years later, it is a landmark moment in Rams history.”

Born Dec. 5, 1948, in Philadelphia, Walter Francis Harris Jr. grew up in East Falls, attended Central High School for one year and graduated from Roxborough High in 1966. He dressed as the Rams’ mascot for his father’s team at Textile when he was a boy and invited his buddies, known at the “Bowman Street boys,” to shoot hoops at all hours on the college’s basketball court.

He grew to 6-foot-7 at Roxborough, was a two-time Philadelphia Public League basketball all-star, and made third team All-America as a senior. He was a Public League all-star pitcher and named Pennsylvania’s best player in that summer’s American Legion baseball program.

The Men of Cliveden, a Philadelphia cultural organization, named him the city’s outstanding athlete as a high school senior, and his biography for the Jefferson hall of fame said he “accomplished many things in two sports which many athletes find difficult to do in one.”

Mr. Harris married Barbara Meika, and they had sons Walter III and Brent. After a divorce, he married Cathy Capone in 1978, and they had daughter Ashley and sons Bradley and Jonathan.

He went back to Textile after his baseball career, earned a bachelor’s degree in business management, and lived in Florida, Roxborough, and East Norriton before returning to Roxborough.

Mr. Harris had a remarkable memory for things that caught his interest. He excelled at networking, was an engaging public speaker, and liked to watch Jeopardy! In 1972, he was honored by President Richard Nixon for his participation in a national antidrug abuse campaign.

He experienced a variety of health issues over the last decade, and his wife of 44 years, a registered nurse, served as his primary caregiver. “He was a warm person,” she said. “He was people oriented and intelligent. He was a humanitarian, and we clicked very well.”

In addition to his wife and children, Mr. Harris is survived by six grandchildren, a sister, and his former wife. A brother died earlier.

A celebration of his life was held Nov. 12.

Donations in his name may be made to East Falls Presbyterian Church, 3800 Vaux St., Philadelphia, Pa. 19129.