Danning was born in Los Angeles and is Jewish. He was nicknamed "Harry The Horse" for Damon Runyon's Broadway character. He attended Los Angeles High School in Los Angeles. His brother, Ike Danning, played for the St. Louis Browns in.
Baseball career
Danning first played with the New York Giants in 1933. From 1934 to 1936, he served as the Giants reserve catcher, working behind Gus Mancuso. In 1934 in spring training, despite a team reservation Jewish ballplayers Phil Weintraub and Danning were refused entry to the Flamingo Hotel in Miami Beach, Florida, which had a "No Jews" policy. However, they were allowed to stay when Giants manager Bill Terry threatened he would take the whole team to another hotel if his Jewish ballplayers were not allowed in. In the 1937 season, Danning and Mancuso shared the catching duties with Danning appearing in 93 games, while Mancuso appeared in 86 games. In 1938 Danning took over the role as the Giants starting catcher. He was selected for the National League All-Star squad in four consecutive years, was on the world champion Giants team which defeated the Washington Senators in the 1933 World Series, and appeared in the pennant-winning clubs that were defeated by the New York Yankees in the 1936 and 1937 World Series. From 1938 through 1940 Danning hit.306,.313 and.300, and finished in the top 10 in National League MVP voting in 1939 and 1940. He collected career highs in home runs in 1939, and in RBIs in 1940. He led all National League catchers with a.991 fielding average in 1939. On June 9, 1939 against the pennant-winning Cincinnati Reds at the Polo Grounds, Danning was one of five Giants to hit a home run in the fourth inning, breaking the prior record of four home runs by a team in one inning. Remarkably, all five were hit by the Giants with two outs. Then, on June 15, 1940, he hit for the cycle in a game against Pittsburgh. His home run came on an inside-the-park home run that landed on the fly in front of the Giants' clubhouse, wedged behind the Eddie Grant memorial. Through 2010, he was ninth all-time in career hits among Jewish major league baseball players.
Career statistics
In addition to batting.300 or higher in three consecutive seasons, Danning had a.285 career batting average, tying Yogi Berra for the 18th highest lifetime batting average among Hall of Fame eligible major league baseball catchers. He hit 57 lifetime home runs and 397 RBIs in 890 games. He had a career fielding percentage of.985, leading National League catchers three times in putouts, and twice in assists and baserunners caught stealing,. During his career, he threw out 47% of runners attempting to steal. He caught the screwballer Carl Hubbell, and was also a teammate of Mel Ott, Bill Terry and Travis Jackson, four Hall of Famers.
