R.I.P, Bud Harrelson, who has now joined the great Tom Seaver in a suite box up in heaven.
He was born on D Day in 1944 and was an unlikely star in that Mets 1960s - 1970s Mets era, but he played a key role in both 1969's world championship Cinderella team and the 1973 season near-Cinderella II, where the Mets rallied from 10 games under .500 entering September, knocked off the formidable Big Red Machine Cincinnati Reds, and came oh-so-close to doing likewise against the vaunted Oakland As. Against the As, the pesky Buddy had 6 hits and 5 walks in 29 times up.
He was whisper-thin; he was listed at 5'11", 160, but undoubtedly lighter than that weight most of the time. I recall one off-season where he bulked up through weightlifting into the 170s, but by mid-season with a fast metabolism, dropped back down into the 135-140 pound range.
He only averaged a HR every 800 times up, none of which were tape measure jobs, only exceeded 32 RBIs once in 16 years of play, but was an All Star twice, a Gold Glove winner once, and received some MVP votes in 3 different seasons. He provided enough value to play in the majors for SIXTEEN YEARS!
He hustled, tussled with Charley Hussle, and and bustled on the ball field. He had all of his "power" as a righty hitter, choking up heavily as a lefty slap hitter, who went to the plate 4,000 times as a lefty hitter without a single HR.
After a brief call up to the lowly Mets in 1965, he returned to AAA (he learned to hit lefty in AAA, which made him a switch hitter). In 1966 he hit .221 in AAA, but he was clearly ready as he was promoted during the season as he hit better...he jumped a whole point to .222.
His .254 in 1967 was certainly respectable, and he slipped back to .219 (not surprising during the year of the pitcher in 1968), but his .341 OBP in 1969 was a plus factor in Miracle 1969, a season in which he stole just 1 of 4 bases.
In 1970, he scored a career-high 72 runs and stole 23 of 27. In the magical year of 1973 he hit .258.
Hs last Mets season, in 1977, was rough for him, as he hit .178 in over 300 plate appearances with 12 RBIs. Remarkably, in 1979 and 1980, as a part timer with Philly and Texas, he hit .275 over those 2 seasons.
He later managed and coached the Mets and was part owner of the LI Ducks.
Other than 1969 and 1973, his Mets career was mostly on weak Mets teams, and he gave us fond memories of the Mets in those trying years (as well as the 2 successful ones).
He ended his career after 1980 with a .236/.327/.288 slash. He proudly compiled 94 career sac bunts, back when that tool was used far more than it is today.
Interesting to me, he hit between .238 and .240 in his career in the seasons' first 4 months, but then the slender Bud would get fatigued, recording his worst hitting month at .206 in August. But then he'd revive in cooler September as a career .253 hitter that month.
Obviously, the hitting numbers were substandard, but the whole of Bud Harrelson as a player was greater than the sum of the statistical parts.
He was a slick fielder, always exciting on grounders hit deep into the hole at shortstop, and great at turning two. He always gave his all. He committed 32 errors during the 1967 season, but as one might suspect, improved in that regard in the second half.
He was scrappy, and some called him the heart and soul of the Mets.
He may have succumbed to Alzheimer's, but to us, he was unforgettable.
Everyone liked Buddy - even Pete Rose.
A David Bowie lyric snippet said it all:
HIS NAME WAS ALWAYS BUDDY.
Godspeed, Buddy.
METS INTERESTED IN DYLAN CEASE?
Seems other clubs are interested in this Dylan who's not named Bob.
In MLB Trade Rumors, it said that "clubs who’ve spoken to the Sox about (Dylan) Cease tell...that the ask has been “multiple” top prospects with additional lower-end talent; the Sox aren’t open to dealing two affordable years of control over their top starter for a package centered around just one top-tier prospect."
So, would the Mets be willing to trade a few top prospects like Acuna, Parada, and perhaps Vasil to get Cease?
What Mets deal, if any, would you as GM make to get Dylan Cease?
LASTLY:
PETE AVOIDS ARBITRATION, SIGNS FOR 1 YEAR, $20.5 MILLION
AND MARCUS STROMAN SEEMS ABOUT TO BECOME A YANKEE
4 comments:
I never met or talked to Buddy but anyone that did said he was the kindest man on this planet
Even in his LI Duck days
He would coach a few innings and then pulled up a seat at a table and signed autographs for everyone that lined up
Another.one of my heroes
Thanks Tom for writing this
As for Altzheimer's
One of my last gigs was singing and playing guitar at the altzheimer/Parkinson ward. Evert Saturday for three years until I just couldn't take watching sharp minded new friends of mine turn into jelly
Cruel disease
Thanks, Mack, and it is definitely a dastardly disease.
It is a different baseball world now than it was then and a Bud Harrelson wouldn't get a chance these days. I'm very glad he had his Mets career back when intensity on the field counted for something.
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