Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, May 30, 1990 TAG: 9005300538
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-5 EDITION: EVENING
SOURCE: The New York Times
DATELINE: CINCINNATI LENGTH: Medium
Their new manager, Bud Harrelson, was born on D-Day, and it shows.
"Buddy has a little bit of fire," is the way Sam Perlozzo, a former Mets coach now with the Cincinnati Reds, put it Tuesday, noting that on his occasional stints as acting manager, Harrelson, a generally mild-mannered coach, underwent a personality change, becoming "a lot more fired up, a lot more vocal."
"Buddy," he said, "is a little more than you think. Buddy is a lot more."
Almost from the moment he became a Met regular in 1967, Harrelson was a crowd favorite, a sure-fielding shortstop whose ability to turn a hard grounder into an easy out (he won a Gold Glove Award in 1971) was all but overshadowed by what was inevitably, and somewhat inaccurately, called his daring baserunning.
By the time he had made good on his first seven attempted steals, it became apparent that Harrelson was both too fast and too smart to be regarded as reckless, at least on the field. (During the off season he has more willingly accepted risks, shooting the Colorado rapids in a raft, for example, and even making a country and western record.)
As a baserunner, he didn't break any records, but his 127 steals in 16 major league seasons, including a high of 28 in 1971, are an indication that when he took off for second, Harrelson generally got there, and sometimes beyond.
During one game in 1967, as he was sliding into second, he was hit by the throw from the plate, but not hard enough to put him out of action. When the dust cleared, Harrelson was on third.
Although he was a key member of Met teams that beat the Baltimore Orioles in the 1969 World Series and lost to the Oakland A's in the 1973 Series, Harrelson is perhaps best remembered for a game against the Cincinnati Reds during the 1973 National League playoffs at Shea Stadium when the 200-pound Pete Rose barreled into the 146-pound Harrelson at second base, touching off one of the most memorable melees in major league history.
In all that has been written about the resulting brawl, it is sometimes forgotten that Rose's locomotive slide into Harrelson was for naught.
Before Rose was wiped out and came up fighting, Harrelson not only got Rose out at second, he nailed Joe Morgan at first.
Derrel McKinley Harrelson was born in Niles, Calif., on June 6, 1944, and grew up in Hayward, Calif., where he attended Sunset High School.
After a year at San Francisco State, he was signed as a free agent by the second-season Mets on his 19th birthday.
After three years in the minors, he made his first trip to the majors in 1965, was recalled again in 1966 and took over the shortstop position from Roy McMillan in 1967.
Hampered by injuries during his last three seasons with the Mets, he was traded to the Philadelphia Phillies for the 1978 season, was cut during spring training in 1980 and made a brief comeback with the Texas Rangers later that year.
Harrelson, who returned to the Mets as a batting practice pitcher the next season, coached first base under Manager George Bamberger in 1982, served as a Mets cable television broadcaster in 1983, then managed the Little Falls Class A farm team to a championship in 1984 and was named manager of the year for the New York-Penn League.
After starting the 1985 season as manager of the Mets' farm club at Columbia, S.C., he was called back to New York to begin what was to be a five-year grooming as a coach under Davey Johnson.
Harrelson, who in recent years has been considered for the managerial spot of the Chicago White Sox and the Toronto Blue Jays, has been regarded as Johnson's heir apparent for some time, and was all but ceded the job by Johnson last fall when Johnson thought a decision had been made to dismiss him.
Regarded as something of a homebody, Harrelson, who has two children from his first marriage, lives in Hauppauge, N.Y., with his second wife, the former Kim Battaglia, and their three children.
by CNB