He Fought Pete Rose on Field, Waved In a Famous Run

Bud Harrelson, the scrappy and sure-handed shortstop who fought Pete Rose on the field during a playoff game and helped the New York Mets win two astonishing championships, died Thursday at age 79 after a long battle with Alzheimer's. The AP has some great nuggets on his career:

• Iconic: He was the only man in a Mets uniform for both their World Series titles. The first came as the infield anchor of the 1969 Miracle Mets, the other as the club's third base coach in 1986. In one of the most famous scenes in baseball history, it was a euphoric Harrelson who waved home Ray Knight with the winning run on Bill Buckner's error in Game 6 of the '86 Series against Boston. (Watch it here.)
• Pete fight: In Game 3 of the 1973 NL Championship Series between the Mets and Cincinnati Reds, Rose slid hard into Harrelson at second base on a double play. The two ended up toe-to-toe and then wrestling in the infield dirt at Shea Stadium, triggering a wild, bench-clearing brawl that spilled into the outfield. Outweighed by more than 30 pounds, the scrawny, gritty Harrelson got the worst of it.
• Pete fight, II: "I have no regrets about going at it with Rose. I did what I had to do to protect myself, and Pete did what he thought he had to do to try to motivate his team," Harrelson wrote in his 2012 memoir, Turning Two: My Journey to the Top of the World and Back with the New York Mets. "We fought and that was the end of it."

• Manager, owner: Harrelson also managed the Mets for nearly two seasons, guiding them to a second-place NL East finish in 1990 after taking over in late May. He was inducted into the team's Hall of Fame in 1986. Harrelson also was part-owner of the Long Island Ducks, an independent minor league team located minutes from his home.
• Stats: During a major league career that lasted from 1965-80, the light-hitting Harrelson was selected to two All-Star Games and won a Gold Glove. He spent his first 13 seasons with the Mets. A switch-hitter, he finished his career with a .236 batting average. He hit seven home runs—never more than one in a season—and stole 127 bases, including a career-high 28 for the Mets in 1971.

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