Twice, Bud Harrelson, the 1969 World Series winner and MLB All-Star who notably faced Pete Rose in the 1973 National League Championship Series, passed away on Wednesday at the age of 79, the league announced. Throughout his 16-year MLB career, Harrelson spent 13 of those seasons with the New York Mets, 2 with the Philadelphia Phillies, and 1 with the Texas Rangers.
The MLB has announced the passing of former shortstop and World Series champion Bud Harrelson. He was 79.
On Wednesday, Harrelson passed away in East Northport, New York. The cause of death was not revealed; however, according to MLB, Harrelson had been living in an assisted living home since 2021 and had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in 2016.
Harrelson, a two-time All-Star, spent 16 seasons in Major League Baseball (1965–1988). He spent his first thirteen seasons as a player with the New York Mets, helping the team reach the 1969 World Series championship. After that, he played for the Texas Rangers for one season and the Philadelphia Phillies for two.
Apart from winning the World Series, becoming a two-time All-Star, and receiving the Gold Glove award, Harrelson is most recognized for his altercation with Pete Rose, the star of the Cincinnati Reds, on the field in Game 3 of the 1973 National League Championship Series. The altercation broke out in the game’s fifth inning when Rose slid into Harrelson, who was turning a double play while covering second base. The two tussled on the infield dirt near second base while both teams cleared their benches and stormed the field to break up the dispute.
Rose and Harrelson then joined the Philadelphia squad as teammates in the 1979 MLB season. In his 2012 biography, “Turning Two: My Journey to the Top of the World and Back with the New York Mets,” which he co-wrote with Phil Pepe, Harrelson discussed their altercation on the field.
“I didn’t think twice about pursuing Rose. Pete took the necessary actions to try to inspire his squad, and I took the necessary actions to protect myself,” Harrelson wrote. “It ended there after we got into a fight.”
Following his playing career, Harrelson became a coach and worked as the third-base coach for the Mets from 1985 to 1990. Seventeen years after winning a World Series as a player with the Mets, he was a coach on the squad that won the 1986 World Series. Later, he managed the Mets for a portion of the Major League Baseball seasons in 1990 and 1991, ending with a 145-129 management record.
