Cubs “One Hit” Wonders – #2 – Mike Harkey

Taking a look back at the 10 players who had one really good or great year in their career while they were with the Cubs.

Year: 1990
WAR: 4.6 (only pitching WAR)
+3.8 WAR = 82.6% Improvement

OK, now THIS is a true “One-Hit Wonder”. Mike Harkey had a great year in 1990, but it was the only good year of his career in the majors.

If advanced stats had been around in 1990, he might have won rookie of the year, but he ended up finishing fifth. While MLB awards voters have gotten better at looking at value statistics (such as WAR) when choosing who should win, they still have a propensity to favor position players over pitchers for MVP and Rookie of the Year.

Here were the 8 players receiving votes for NL Rookie of the Year in 1990, and their WAR

Rank	Player	WAR
1	David Justice	2.9
2	Delino DeShields	1.4
3	Hal Morris	1.8
4	John Burkett	1.7
5	Mike Harkey	5.2 (includes oWAR)
6	Todd Zeile	2.0
7	Marquis Grissom	1.3
7	Larry Walker	3.4

The results of the voting based on this is really strange. But it was an era where WAR was not even a stat, and Justice had the most home runs and RBIs, which was what the voters looked at.

But Harkey even finished behind John Burkett, and had a better ERA and WHIP- but was hindered by have 5 fewer starts.

Pitcher	ERA	WHIP	FIP	SO/BB
Mike Harkey	3.26	1.22	3.91	1.6
John Burkett	3.79	1.28	3.75	1.9

Harkey was also a good hitting pitcher in 1990, slashing .250/.276/.321, posting a 0.6 oWAR, which was second to Doug Drabek among pitchers.

Looking back, Harkey had been drafted out of high school in the 18th round by the Padres in 1984, but went to Cal State Fullerton, and was a first round pick of the Cubs in 1987. Harkey had a brief cameo in 1988 with the Cubs, but had a couple of injuries in 1989, including tearing knee cartilage at Iowa, keeping him out of the majors. So, he was still considered a rookie in 1990.

After 1990, injuries derailed Harkey’s career. A shoulder injury in 1991 limited him to 4 starts. And then in 1992, he ruptured his patella tendon attempting a cartwheel in pregame warmups. He came back to make 28 starts in 1993, but struggled with a 5.26 ERA.

He only had three more seasons in the Majors, signing with Colorado in 1994, posting a 5.79 ERA in 24 appearances (13 starts). He struggled again in 1995 pitching for Oakland and then the Angels after being released. After spending the entirety of 1996 with the Dodgers AAA team, Harkey got 10 appearances in the majors in 1997 before ending his career.

Harkey has stayed in baseball after his playing career, serving as bench coach for the Marlins and Yankees, and in between, was pitching coach for the Diamondbacks. He was fired by the Yankees after the 2025 season.