Quotations by and about Harry Hooper
“Speaker, Lewis, and Hooper, of the Red Hose Brigade form the fastest trio know to the game. The great whip of Hooper’s shuts many a run off at the plate.” —El Paso Herald, October 9, 1912, reporting on the World Series.
"Hotel Capitola . . . was the scene Wednesday evening of one of the grandest affairs ever held in that section of the county . . . a reception given in the honor of Harry Hooper.” --Santa Cruz Evening News, November 15, 1912
“Hooper is a likable sort of fellow and is bound to be popular with the players.” --Santa Cruz Evening News, May 3, 1927, on Hooper becoming player/manager for the San Francisco Mission Bells.
“Although his play at times achieved the spectacular, he eschewed flamboyance for simplicity, exaggeration for modesty. . . . Hooper practiced his profession quietly, skillfully, and confidently.” —Paul J. Zingg, 1993, Harry Hooper: A Baseball Life
“Baseball is a good profession to adopt if you wish to get a bit of capital quickly and if you are good enough to make a major league.” —Harry Hooper, 1924
“The worst thing against baseball as a profession, so far as I can see, is that you are through just about the time a man in another profession would start to be good.” —Harry Hooper, 1924
“Sometimes in the Spring when the training camps are opened, a fellow gets the itch to get a glove on again, but between ‘riding herd’ on three children and the real estate business I soon forget it.” —Harry Hooper, 1932
“South of Aptos along the shore is the San Andreas District. Here is one of the finest beaches in the world. Surf fishing and clamming is a popular winter sport. The clams are of a very large variety and very palatable. They are gathered by raking in the sand in low tide with long-tooth rakes.” —Harry Hooper, 1926
"He always loved this area. He fished, hunted, and clammed along the beaches. One way he kept in condition was to go to Manresa in a buckboard and run all the way back to Capitola." —Jean Wenzel in A History of Sunset Beach, 1972
“That Willie Mays, he’s one of the greatest center fielders who ever lived. You can go back as far as you want and name all the great ones. . . . Mays is just as good, maybe better.” —Harry Hooper, 1966, in The Glory of Their Times
"I’ve given up all hope of ever making that. I played the sun field and was a lead-off batter all my life, which are bad handicaps.” —Harry Hooper, 1957, on the Hall of Fame
“I always thought I had the credentials and records to be voted into the Hall of Fame, but now that it has happened—it’s a little hard to believe. It is a great honor.” —Harry Hooper, 1971
“My main gripe is that it didn’t come when Esther [his wife] was still here. She was so much a part of it.”
—Harry Hooper, 1971, on his Hall of Fame induction
“I hate to talk about myself. When I do, I find it’s always in the third person. I was too modest, and that's the worst thing in the world for someone in the public eye.” —Harry Hooper, 1971
“Capitola home—Modern house, Capitola Avenue, furnished, four rooms and bath; lot 40x100; short walk from beach; concrete walks; flower garden. $4,000.” —Harry Hooper real estate ad, 1926.
“Speaker, Lewis, and Hooper, of the Red Hose Brigade form the fastest trio know to the game. The great whip of Hooper’s shuts many a run off at the plate.” —El Paso Herald, October 9, 1912, reporting on the World Series.
"Hotel Capitola . . . was the scene Wednesday evening of one of the grandest affairs ever held in that section of the county . . . a reception given in the honor of Harry Hooper.” --Santa Cruz Evening News, November 15, 1912
“Hooper is a likable sort of fellow and is bound to be popular with the players.” --Santa Cruz Evening News, May 3, 1927, on Hooper becoming player/manager for the San Francisco Mission Bells.
“Although his play at times achieved the spectacular, he eschewed flamboyance for simplicity, exaggeration for modesty. . . . Hooper practiced his profession quietly, skillfully, and confidently.” —Paul J. Zingg, 1993, Harry Hooper: A Baseball Life
“Baseball is a good profession to adopt if you wish to get a bit of capital quickly and if you are good enough to make a major league.” —Harry Hooper, 1924
“The worst thing against baseball as a profession, so far as I can see, is that you are through just about the time a man in another profession would start to be good.” —Harry Hooper, 1924
“Sometimes in the Spring when the training camps are opened, a fellow gets the itch to get a glove on again, but between ‘riding herd’ on three children and the real estate business I soon forget it.” —Harry Hooper, 1932
“South of Aptos along the shore is the San Andreas District. Here is one of the finest beaches in the world. Surf fishing and clamming is a popular winter sport. The clams are of a very large variety and very palatable. They are gathered by raking in the sand in low tide with long-tooth rakes.” —Harry Hooper, 1926
"He always loved this area. He fished, hunted, and clammed along the beaches. One way he kept in condition was to go to Manresa in a buckboard and run all the way back to Capitola." —Jean Wenzel in A History of Sunset Beach, 1972
“That Willie Mays, he’s one of the greatest center fielders who ever lived. You can go back as far as you want and name all the great ones. . . . Mays is just as good, maybe better.” —Harry Hooper, 1966, in The Glory of Their Times
"I’ve given up all hope of ever making that. I played the sun field and was a lead-off batter all my life, which are bad handicaps.” —Harry Hooper, 1957, on the Hall of Fame
“I always thought I had the credentials and records to be voted into the Hall of Fame, but now that it has happened—it’s a little hard to believe. It is a great honor.” —Harry Hooper, 1971
“My main gripe is that it didn’t come when Esther [his wife] was still here. She was so much a part of it.”
—Harry Hooper, 1971, on his Hall of Fame induction
“I hate to talk about myself. When I do, I find it’s always in the third person. I was too modest, and that's the worst thing in the world for someone in the public eye.” —Harry Hooper, 1971
“Capitola home—Modern house, Capitola Avenue, furnished, four rooms and bath; lot 40x100; short walk from beach; concrete walks; flower garden. $4,000.” —Harry Hooper real estate ad, 1926.