You often hear players on successful teams referring to themselves as a family. The 1979 World Series champion Pittsburgh Pirates even took the Sister Sledge disco-era hit We Are Family as their theme song.
But for the North Division first-half champion Victoria HarbourCats of the West Coast League, the familial element is literal and spans from the Lone Star State to the Island. Baseball is definitely a family affair for the Haneys.
HarbourCats head coach Todd Haney, a five-season former MLB infielder, coaches son and infielder Tanner Haney on the HCats.
It is their second season together on the Island as Tanner was a HarbourCats rookie last year and Todd the assistant coach before moving up to the head-coach position this season.
“My dad coached me on select teams in Waco, Texas, so this is nothing new for me,” Tanner Haney said.
“It’s been awesome to continue that in Victoria.”
These family baseball connections run deep. Todd Haney attended the University of Texas and played for the Longhorns and went to the College World Series.
Tanner Haney, although growing up in Waco where Baylor University is located, always knew he wanted to follow in his dad’s spikes and be a Longhorn in Austin, which is what he became last season as a redshirt freshman for the University of Texas.
“We grew up a Longhorns family. My dad and mom [Kira Haney] even met at the University of Texas,” Tanner Haney said.
The love of baseball has even deeper family roots. Joseph (Bud) Haney, who is Todd’s father and Tanner’s grandfather, is the only four-season all-American in Sam Houston State history.
“I’ve been around it all my life,” Tanner Haney said. “I’m used to it.”
That old adage is that bench bosses in any sport who coach their sons are probably less lenient on their offspring than they are on the other players.
“My dad is tough on me as a coach, but in a good way, because it’s to make me better,” Tanner said.
Todd Haney is not an imposing man — his playing size was five-foot-nine and 165 pounds.
Yet he scratched and clawed his way to a pro baseball career, with stops in winter ball in Puerto Rico, Venezuela and Mexico, and minor-pro ball in Bellingham, Calgary, Edmonton and Ottawa before playing in the MLB.
Todd was drafted by the Seattle Mariners in 1987 and played second base in the MLB for the Montreal Expos, Chicago Cubs and New York Mets for parts of five seasons from 1992 to 1998.
He finished with a .244 batting average, three home runs, 12 RBIs and a .979 fielding percentage in 101 games in the majors.
“I was undersized and always had to fight for my opportunities and playing time,” Todd Haney said.
Like his dad, Tanner Haney is an undersized infielder who has had to earn everything the hard way in the game. His dad certainly serves as an inspiration in that regard.
“I’m not the biggest, fastest or strongest guy out there,” said Tanner Haney, an only child.
“But I always try to be the guy who is playing the hardest.”
Tanner is hitting .233 this season for Victoria with three doubles, a homer, nine walks, five RBIs and nine runs scored in 18 appearances heading into Saturday night, with a fielding percentage of .963.
The two summers in Victoria — with Kira Haney also up for the summer with her husband and son — will always be a cherished memory, the family says.
It is common in high-level sports to have children move away at young ages to play in academies or junior leagues, or at universities or colleges away from home.
“Anytime you get an opportunity to spend time with your children, you take it,” Todd Haney said.
“This has been a great opportunity in Victoria for us to do that.”
DIAMOND DUST: The HarbourCats led the Bend Elks 10-3 in the seventh inning of a late finishing game Saturday night in Bend. The game was in progress at press time. The HarbourCats defeated the Elks 12-3 in the first game Friday night. The teams meet again today in Bend to close out the series. The first-half North Division champion HarbourCats are 3-2 in the second half and 21-11 overall. The Elks are 2-2 and 12-16 in the South Division.
