So when did Buddy Harrelson get inducted into the Mets HOF?

[stevejrogers]

All official Met publication (media guide, yearbooks, etc) info lists the year as 1986. Heck it says so right on Buddy's plaque:



Yet oddly enough several places, including Mets.com have the year of induction for Buddy as 1982. And yet all official publications list the 1982 inductees as just Gil Hodges and George Weiss.

Stranger still is that I can't pinpoint a date for Harrelson's induction in 1986, while video exists of a Rusty Staub day on 7/13/1986, where Rusty was inducted as Harrelson's fellow HOF Class of 1986 member that was listed as such in listings of the 1986 promotional schedule. As opposed to "Hall of Fame Day" or whatnot.

Anyone have any insight onto this mystery?

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

It's no mystery why it happened: The Mets couldn't be bothered to check the accuracy of anything, that's the way they do things.

Now, when? I don't remember.

[Edgy MD]

I'm going to guess the 1982 date is correct, though he was only 38 and scarcely out of baseball at the time. I'm also going to guess they didn't have much of a ceremony, perhaps no on-field ceremony at all. They announced he was in and he was in. Big whoop. It was 1982. The lights didn't come back on at Shea until 1983.

The plaquemaker probably misread the date from a hand-transcribed source. Kick his ass, Steve.

[Ceetar]

It's no mystery why it happened: The Mets couldn't be bothered to check the accuracy of anything, that's the way they do things. Now, when? I don't remember.

no one checks the accuracy of anything. The world is a mess of office workers punching clocks that just don't care about fact checking.

but if all the official Mets stuff says '86, including multiple Wikipedia entries theoretically edited by fans that hopefully remember? I'd go with that and guess MLB/elsewhere is goofing up based on something else.

[Edgy MD]

I found a 1986 article from The Lexington Leader that says "Prior to the double-header, the Mets will induct Rusty Staub and Bud Harrelson into their own Hall of Fame. They are the first players to be inducted."

Makes sense that it happened while Harrelson was in the coach's box and Staub in the announcer's booth. I guess Rusty and the wigs so stole the show that folks forgot the Buddy element.

[G-Fafif]

It was 1986. Buddy and Rusty were the first players in.

[stevejrogers]

Ceetar wrote: but if all the official Mets stuff says '86, including multiple Wikipedia entries theoretically edited by fans that hopefully remember? I'd go with that and guess MLB/elsewhere is goofing up based on something else.

Yeah, there is no mention of Buddy in any media guide or yearbook section on the Mets HOF until 1987 where he and Staub first appear, and are listed as the 1986 inductees.

Actually compounding the strangeness is that every year after induction media guide through 1998 lists the date of the inductions (i.e. it says Hodges and Weiss inducted on September 19th of 1982 in the 1983 media guide), with the exception of 1987 where no date is applied to the 1986 class.

And for the record, the 2 part YouTube video set of Rusty Staub day on 7/13/1986 has no mention of Staub actually entering the Mets Hall.

[ashie62]

Jose Reyes couldn't carry Buddy's jock..

[Edgy MD]

Ashie flips on Jose for the 493rd time.

[ashie62]

Edgy DC wrote: Ashie flips on Jose for the 493rd time.

Cmon...Pick on somebody your own age lol..

Deep down you know I hate Reyes