On June 4th in a game against the Cincinnati Reds, Johnny Bench's back up catcher; Bill Plummer, crashed into Harrelson at second base, fracturing his hand. He came back after three weeks on the DL only to have & the Pittsburgh Pittsburgh’s; Rennie Stennett crashed into him in rundown play. This injury resulted in a fractured sternum.
Before the injures he was batting .259 & the Mets were struggling to stay out of the cellar in the NL East. Many of the Mets key regular players were hurt that season & all got healthy for the final stretch run which resulted in another Mets Miracle, although one game short of a total championship.
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He entered the month on a ten game hit streak, hitting safely in 19-23. He would actually hit safely in all but five games in the month of September (22 of 27 games), and was on base in every game but two, that entire month.
He scored a dozen runs, drew 12 walks, drove in four runs & hit four doubles in that stretch.
The Mets went on a tear going 20-8 to capture the NL Eastern title. When his ten game hit streak ended on September 7th, he contributed by gathering three walks, & scoring a run in the Mets double header sweep in Montreal. He drove in one of the Mets three runs two days later in Montreal as well.
On September 25th, in another game against the Expos, this time at Shea Stadium, Harrelson singled, was sacrificed over & then scored the game's first run on a Felix Millan base hit. Cleon Jones won the Jerry Koosman-Steve Rogers pitching duel with a HR, 2-1.
Harrelson finished the 1973 season, with a career high .258 batting average, 12 doubles, 20 RBIs & a .348 on base percentage.
On the field he posted one of his best fielding percentages at .979% (second in the NL) making only ten errors in 478 chances. He also helped turn 49 double plays in 103 games played at the position. It was on to his second post season, where he would become one of the Mets most highly publicized players.
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1973 NLCS: The Mets opened up the NLCS in Cincinnati, losing a 2-1 heartbreaker to the Reds. Tom Seaver pitched his heart out, but gave up a walk off HR to Johnny Bench. Seaver provided all the Mets offense with a two run double.
After the game, Harrelson commented to the press on how the, Reds hitters "looked like him" at the plate. This was more of a compliment to Jon Matlack's pitching performance & a poking of fun on to himself as a hitter.
In New York, two days later during batting practice before Game #3 at Shea Stadium, The Reds Joe Morgan approached Harrelson commenting on the remarks Harrelson made after Game #2.
He grabbed Buddy by the jersey, saying “If you ever say that about me again, I’ll punch you”. The Mets Rusty Staub intervened, he knew Morgan since their days together in Houston with the Astros. Morgan cooled off, apologizing, saying that Pete Rose is still going to use those comments to fire up the Reds team.
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Quotes: Seaver recalled. "You knew somehow, somewhere Pete was going to do something. Now Koosman hits Pete with a pitch, and I thought to myself; he's going to go to the mound after Jerry.

But at second base Pete Rose goes in hard, with a pop up, cheap shot slide into Harrelson. The two exchanged words as Harrelson called him a cheap shot @#$% sucker. It was what Rose wanted, he grabbed Harrelson by the top of his jersey, and threw him to the ground, jumping on top of him.
In the word of Mets announcer Bob Murphy-"Rose outweighs Harrelson by about thirty five pounds..." The initial reaction to everyone, was that it seemed so bully like, for Rose to pick on the little shortstop.
Remember it was the third out, so players were on their way to the dugout, focused on jogging away from the field. Both benches emptied, as well as the respective bull pen's.
There was a lot of pushing, shoving & milling around in the infield. Reds reliever; Pedro Borbon, landed a sucker punch to pitcher Buzz Capra from behind. Capra then attacked Borbon, as backup catcher Duffy Dyer, got in some retaliatory punches of his own before being pulled out of the melee by Willie Mays. As Borbon left the field, he put a cap on his head that he picked up off the ground, thinking it was his.
To the crowds delight, it was a Mets cap, when Borbon figured it out, he pulled it off his head and took a bite out of it, then threw it down. It was Buzz Capra's Mets cap & he claims to still have it today.
When order was finally restored on the field, Rose returned to his position in left field. But now it was chaos in the stands, overlooking left field. The Shea Faithful let him know how they felt & let Rose have it.
The umpires met with NL President Chub Feeney who was in attendance and came to a decision that the game may have to be forfeited unless order was restored in the stands.
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Pete Rose was booed mercifully, upon his return to the field. From that day on it would be that way for him at Shea Stadium & for Met fans like myself we have never forgiven him. The next day the always creative Mets fans had signs reading “This Rose Smells” & “Rose is a Weed” etc.
Bud Harrelson became Americas favorite underdog, the little guy hero. He was presented with a superman T-shirt before the next game, which he proudly wore under his uniform, displaying it to the press during the pre game batting practice.
In Game #4, Harrelson was 0-4. Rusty Staub had save the game with a fantastic catch, running into the right field wall, injuring his shoulder, which had him miss the next game. But Rose got revenge, as he hit a 12th inning HR off reliever Harry Parker, putting the Reds ahead for good & tied up the Series at two games each. In those days the NLCS was a best of five & it all came down to a final one game #5.
In Game #5, the Mets took an early 2-0 lead in the 1st inning, on an Ed Kranepool two run single. Harrelson led off the second inning, to a standing ovation from the Shea fans.
Harrelson got another huge ovation when he singled off Jack Billingham in the 4th inning. The Reds eventually tied up the game getting two runs off Seaver, but the Mets rallied with a four run 5th inning & never looked back.
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Overall in the Championship Series Harrelson went 3-18 (.211) with a walk, a run scored & two RBIs.
Quotes: Bud Harrelson: "I always say I hit his fist with my eye. I did a card show with him one year and he gave me a picture. He wrote on it, `Thanks for making me famous.”
On a personal note, Bud Harrelson told me a funny story about his first trip to Riverfront Stadium after that fight, to play the Reds in 1974.
note: The HR came on May 27th, 1974 off Fred Norman, a two run shot scoring Don Hahn, with the Mets already down 4-0. It was the fourth HR of Harrelson's career, the third one to go over the fence. The Reds beat Seaver & the Mets that day 4-2.
1973 World Series: The Mets opened up the World Series in Oakland, facing the reigning World Champion Oakland A's. The Mets were once again, the underdogs. Harrelson was 0-2 that day, but did draw a pair of walks in the Mets 2-1 loss.
Game #2 ended up being a classic on many levels, it featured the return of Willie Mays to the Bay area & his last career hit. The game ended up going 12 innings & was the longest series game played up to that point, lasting four hours & thirteen minutes.
In the top of the 6th inning, the Mets were down 3-, Don Hahn tied the game with a single off reliever Horatio Pena. With the bases loaded Harrelson singled to right field putting New York ahead 4-3.
Harrelson got to third on a Tug McGraw sacrifice & a Sal Bando error at third base. He then tagged up from third base on a short fly ball, off the bat of Felix Millan to left fielder Joe Rudi. Harrelson broke for the plate, after the catch & everyone in America expected him to slide.
Instead he went around the tag, standing up surprising catcher Ray Fosse and the umpire; Augie Donatelli. Donatelli was out of position & actually had fallen down. He made the call lying on the floor because he too was expecting a slide.
Donatelli's view was certainly blocked as catcher Ray Fosse attempted a tag behind the runner. Donatelli called Harrelson out, the inning was over but the Mets went berserk.

Manager, Yogi Berra, usually a quiet one, charged out of the dugout shouting at Donatelli “You missed the damn thing”.
Harrelson jumped in the air & then tumbled around , leaping up in both disgust & shock.
In the 12th inning, Harrelson, did not go away, he led off with a double off Fingers. Got to third on McGraw's sacrifice & scored the go ahead run on Willie Mays last career hit, a single up the middle. The Mets scored three & went on to 10-7 victory in 12 innings, tying up the Series heading back to New York.
In 2013 the A's honored their 1973 team & I happen to be watching a broadcast the night before with the MLB package.
Fosse was now an A's longtime announcer, jokingly mentioned the play, saying he caught a uniform thread on the tag.
In Game #4 Harrelson singled in the 4th inning off Darold Knowles & scored on Rusty Staub's bases loaded single, leading to a 6-1 Mets win.
Overall he hit .250 (6-24) with five walks (tying Wayne Garrett for the Mets lead in the series) good enough for a .379 on base % (fourth best on the club). He had a double, two runs scored & an RBI.
It was the last post season game he played in as a player. He did get to the NLCS in his two years with the Phillies but did not play. In twenty post season games he went 14-70 (.200) with two doubles, a triple, six RBIs, six runs scored & ten walks for a .300 on base %.
Defensively he was spectacular in all series.
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