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California Angels
Bill Harrelson’s dad had a bar in East Bakersfield. I would visit him there from time to time when he was bartending. I knew him from the Marine Corps.
Harrelson, a full-blooded Cherokee Indian, was born in Tahlequah, Okla, November 17, 1945. A towering 6’5” right-handed baseball pitcher weighing 215 lbs., he was a switch hitter.
After debuting July 31, 1968, on August 27, he earned his only MLB victory by going 52⁄3 shutout innings against New York at Yankee Stadium. He allowed only one hit (to Joe Pepitone) but walked six, leaving with a 1–0 lead in the sixth. Andy Messersmith completed the two-man, one-hit shutout and earned the save, as the Angels won 2–0.
He appeared in 10 games and was 1-6.
I found this write-up about him in the Californian newspaper by Bob Slocum:
Harrelson grew up in Bakersfield and attended Bakersfield High School. He was lured off the BHS campus by the Los Angeles Angels and a five-figure bonus in 1963, as a flame- throwing righthander. Though be intended to pursue football after a brilliant Driller grid career, Harrelson was enticed and overwhelmed by the bonus and the prospective glamour of bigtime baseball. But bigtime ball proved to be something less than a rose garden for him. Harrelson spent Jong seasons in Idaho Falls, Quad Cities, HI., San Jose. EI Paso and Seattle before finally getting a coffee and doughnut stint with tbe Angels to 1968 — his first taste of the majors. He finished the '68 season with one win and six losses, though incredibly, in five of his defeats, the Angels were shut out. Harrelson's only victory that season was a sparkling one-hit handcuffing of the New York Yankees in Yankee Stadium, a memorable contest in which he also collected his first major league hit. fireballer gets kicks JBA team By BOB SLOCUM "I think the game in New York has to be my biggest baseball thrill," Harrelson says. "Pepitone (Joe, the Yankee first baseman at the time) got the only hit, a blooper off the hands in the fourth inning as Jim Fregosi, our shortstop, had let the ball brush off his glove and die in short left. "I also had gone to the plate 13 times without a hit — actually I think I fanned all 13 times — and I finally dropped one in for a single." Glamour, which came deliberately, departed swiftly for the muscular moundsman who was traded to Cincinnati the following season and immediately found himself on a proverbial yo-yo string from Indianapolis (Cincinnati AAA farm club) to the Reds. Disillusionment set in and Harrelson, tired of the grind, decided to get out of the game at the close of the 72 season. "It was just a vicious circle," Harrelson says of his bumpy career. "I got tired of promises, the politics of pro ball. My confidence was shot and I just decided to get out while I could still get into something else at a decent age. "Every season it seemed like I was sent to triple A with encouragement and a promise that I'd be back after I bad a couple of games to get my sharpness. "But I was never given the opportunity to really pitch," Harrelson continues. "I was labeled a hurler with control problems and every time I issued one walk, somebody would hop up in the bullpen. That sort of has a way of biting into your confidence. "I really can't say I'm bitter, it's just that 1 feel 1 had the arm and the ability to be a successful pitcher in the big leagues. Maybe I just wasn't as fortunate as someone else who got a break at the right time." Harrelson, who stays in excellent condition year-round by playing handball and tackling the golf links, admits he misses the game and that he still occasionally toys with tbe idea of attempting a comeback. After all. at 28 a guy is still a year or two away from the old folks home. "It's difficult to do some thing you enjoy for to years, then leave it and not miss it to some degree," Harrelson confesses. "It's a great game and sometimes I wish I were still playing. I tell you, my arm still feels good. "It's particularly tough to see a game on television and see guys you played with and against, a friend, or a former roommate. I see someone playing that I know I am at least an equal to in talent and it makes me say to myself, 'where's my glove?'" Harrelson, who roomed with Andy Messersmiih in 1968, now stifles bis occasional big league urge vicariously via his San Joaquin Electric junior club. He spends approximately eight to 10 hours per week tutoring the youngsters and usually comes out early to throw batting practice. And when he is beset occasionally by that gnawing, irrepressible baseball bug, with the batting cage empty, he'll uncork a fast ball. The same one that carried him lo a near no-hitter in '68. A fast ball that really hasn't lost that much smoke. When he was sharp, he threw almost untouchable heat, a good slider, and an average curve. Erratic control was his ticket home. He now makes a living as a sales representative for Service Paper Products. He says he enjoys it. But an unquenchable flame seems to flicker deep down inside him. And the birth of a World Baseball League, which is not completely out of the realm of possibility, could conceivably lure the former hurler back to the game. "There has been talk, mostly just that, of a world league," Harrelson says. "But if it ever materialized, it might be worth considering going back. I never really thought the World Football League would get off the ground. Anything can happen, you never know." In the meantime, Harrelson will not sit on the edge of his seat. Currently co-coaching his JBA club, he hopes to land his own team next year. Eventually he may go back to school to obtain credentials for a coaching spot on the high school level. To him. as to most, it is incomprehensible how quickly the years have drifted by. It is not difficult for him to recount JBA 20 years ago. "I think that kids when I was playing were s little more dedicated," he says. "I remember when I put on my little uniform, it meant something very special to me Today, kids seem to take things for granted more." Though just a rookie at coaching, Harrelson has his own distinctive style and feels that the most effective way to instruct a young ballplayer is to let him know in a rather stern manner of his mistakes, making sure he understands what he did wrong and why. "Sometimes I may be a little hard and get down on them a little." he explains. "But it's just to get an important point across and I always make sure they understand what the mistakes are. why they are mistakes, and that I'm just trying to help them become better players " I really love to win, and I try to instill this attitude in my players. But I try to teach them, above all. to do their best and to have confidence in themselves." "Coaching can be unbelievably rewarding." Harrelson continues. For example a parent came to me earlier in the season and said that last year her boy didn't make contact at the plate once — like he didn't even hit a foul ball. He also couldn't catch a ball for anything. She couldn't believe the change. This year the boy has had some hits and has been fielding really pretty well . he's become a ballplayer." And this year Bill Harrelson has become a coach. Rookie coach Bill Harrelton directs mound conference with his San Joaquin Electric battery and Infielderi during recent JBA action. Harrelson, 28, has embarked on the final leg of a "storybook" baseball iourney that began with JBA participation 20 years ago, included a 10 -year tour of professional ball and concludes with a return to the league where he got his start, this time from the other side of the fence. -(Photo by Laurie MacLeod) Foreman 2-5 pick over Ali LONDON (API - London bookies Tuesday made George Foreman 2-to-5 odds-on favorite to beat Muhammad Ali in the world heavyweight title fight at Kinshasa. Se
