New York Mets: Where are they now, Bud Harrelson

Looking back and ahead at New York Mets legend Bud Harrelson.

This one may be interesting to our younger readers. There is only one person to earn a World Series ring with the New York Mets as both a player and a coach. His name is Buddy Harrelson. He won one as the shortstop of the 1969 team and the third base coach of the 1986 team. He was always a fan favorite, especially during his playing days.

Older readers hold him in high regard from the fight in the 1973 playoffs. For the young readers, the incident I am talking about was in the 1973 NL Championship series. Pete Rose slid hard into second base where Harrelson was covering and Buddy didn’t like it. Take a look:

In a sense he represented the blue-collar work ethic of the New York Mets. That team wouldn’t back down to anybody, and that year it turned into the franchise’s World Series appearance. Unfortunately they camp up one game short, falling to the Oakland A’s in seven games.

For his career, Harrelson was a much better fielder than he was a hitter. He only had a career batting average of .236 but his fielding percentage at SS for his career was .969.

Younger fans that might remember 1986 would remember that he was the one jumping up and down as Ray Knight crossed the plate to give the Mets the pivotal game six win over the Boston Red Sox. What a night that was! What some may not remember is that Harrelson actually managed the team for two years. His winning percentage was decent over the two seasons, coming in at .529.

But what has Harrelson been up to since he left the franchise? Well he has spent a good period time as an owner/coach of the Long Island Ducks baseball team. Where does this team play? They are in Central Islip, NY and are a professional team not associated with the MLB, founded in 1998. They are part of the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball, giving guys that didn’t make, or have left the MLB another chance to play. The team has sported former MLB players like Dontrelle Willis and currently Jordany Valdespin.

In addition to being an owner he was the team’s first manager. Now he remains as part of the ownership group and is the first base coach. How is the team doing? Overall they have posted a record of 1119-998 since the year 2000. They won back to back championships in 2012 and 2013 although their regular season record was under .500 after winning one in 2004.

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Last year, the team went 73-67, finishing third in their division. They lost the championship series to the York Revolution. The previous season they went to the championship series and lost to the Sugar Land Skeeters.

Harrelson’s team was led by Giovanny Alfonzo with a .309 batting average. John Brownell led the pitching staff with ten wins. It has been a solid franchise and that no doubt in part due to Harrelson’s teachings.