Harry Danning, a beefy former New York Giants catcher who had been the oldest living Jewish Major Leaguer, died of natural causes on Nov. 29 in an Indiana hospice. He was 93.
Nicknamed “Harry The Horse,” after a Damon Runyon character, Danning spent his entire career in black and orange, breaking in with the Giants as a 21-year-old rookie in 1933 and playing his last game in 1942 at age 30. He never returned to the game following his military hitch.
He was an All-Star in 1938, ’39, ’40 and ’41. His brother, Ike, also caught briefly for the St. Louis Browns.
After his playing days, Danning was a minor league coach and later a car dealer, a newspaper and magazine distributor and an insurance executive.
Danning’s poor health kept him from attending last year’s celebration of Jewish Major Leaguers at the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y.