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Buddy Harrelson Exemplified The Power of 3 While Impacting Millions · OneLegUpAlex Media

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  Now Tommy was terrific, amazing baseball. Flennen was Forliffing, Bud and Champ
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  and Age stood the Test and the Klier and the Crane. They were the
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  events. I'm talking theball Masball. Then the Mets. Well, let me
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  tell you that song resonates because a if you are a New Yorker and you
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  know the history of the Mets, obviously, nineteen sixty nine is one of
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  the ones for the history books, both for the Jets and the Mets.
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  But for the Mets, I can't imagine. Uh. And I wish I
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  was there for that year in nineteen sixty nine when the Mets and the Man
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  on the Moon all happened at once in that summer, culminating with a huge
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  upset World Series victory. Again said Earl Weaver. And and the Orioles.
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  Now that as Terry Cashman, And why I played that is because he honored
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  Buddy Harrison in that song. That's how big a player Bud Harrison was for
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  the Mets that he even made it into a Terry Cashman classic. But what
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  I'm here to tell you today is that and you might know this as well,
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  but beyond being the Mets legend. Buddy Harrison was just a really good
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  guy. And I'm releasing this at three o'clock today to talk about the power
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  of three. That was the number Buddy Harrison wore. It's the number of
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  the Ducks have retired as their first manager, their co founder. And I
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  have to believe in nineteen ninety nine and two thousand when it was developed that
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  the excitement around the Ducks forming in Suffolk County, I'm really was the impact
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  Buddy house and made and will forever have made, because that impact has drawn
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  a nine million plus fans and has built up a community, and they only
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  do it with thirty employees. I was looking this up. The Ducks currently
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  are about thirty employees, which is a very small operation, but look how
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  much good they're doing. And look who started it. Buddy Harrelson started that
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  by co founding it along with a couple other people. And that's how he's
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  known now. He of course is known as being a legend of the outside
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  world. But to those who know Buddy, he knows he was a philanthropist,
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  a giver, and even as he was becoming more and more inflicted with
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  this Alzheimer's, he was a spokesperson for the Alzheimer's Foundation. I mean,
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  my dad and I saw him at walks, we saw him a different fundraisers
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  for the Alzheimer's Foundation. I mean, he was really always pushing for a
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  cure, even as the disease was impacting him. I also should say when
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  we were seeing him during that stage where the Alzheimer's was really getting to him,
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  he still remembered my name. Yes, that was very interesting. He
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  would say, there is my little buddy, alex There's my little buddy Alexander.
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  And that moment will forever stick out to me. As we continue to
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  mourn the loss of Buddy Harrison and remember his life and celebrate his life,
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  I want to take you to the stage in about two thousand and four when
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  our writer for Sports Night at the Viscari Center, Stephen Steiner, wrote this
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  big skit with Ed Charles, Buddy Harrison and yours truly, and I was
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  dotting the number forty one, Tom Terrific's number, Tom sever and the fun
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  we had on that stage, I'll never forget it. Because Buddy Harrison was
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  coaching Ed Charles, his teammate in nineteen sixty nine, through the lines at
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  Viscardi. See, that was the Buddy I knew. The Buddy Harrison I
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  knew and my dad knew was the fun, the always welcoming, always inviting.
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  I didn't fallen over him as a legend. I just saw him as
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  a personal family friend. He welcomed my dad and I into the Ducks fold
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  like it was seamless, and all sorry because of the Viscardi Center's connection,
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  and all sorry because Buddy Horrison gave his time to the Viscardi Center year in
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  and year out, and he've donned the Viking helmets and he donned crazy costumes.
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  Whatever it was that he would do, he fulfilled it and he had
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  fun doing it, and he was always fun, and he always, you
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  know, welcomed us his family. But I learned a lot from him beyond
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  just the baseball world. I learned how he was as a person behind home
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  plate. And one of the first Ducks games he ever took us to behind
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  home plate, he sat there and signed autograph after autograph for all the fans
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  that wanted to come and see him. And oh my god, it's Buddy
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  Arrows an a legend, but here he was sharpie after sharpie, wearing out
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  each Sharpie signing for seven inning straight, any memorabilia that they had, bible
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  heads, baseball's jerseys. It was really something to watch and to see that
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  and to see how he operated stood out to me. In the years I
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  got to know about Harrelson, and whenever we went to the ballpark, he
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  always had called me for tickets we did, we ended up there and we'd
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  always go down on the dugout and he'd stop and take a picture and he'd
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  see us for a few minutes, and he'd always check it on schoolwork and
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  everything like that. I mean, here was a guy who was part of
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  a team in nineteen sixty nine that was larger than life. Yeah, Buddy
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  Harrison made an impact that on my own life, on my dad's life,
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  on people's on millions of people's lives. That was beyond the baseball field.
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  So we could talk about his status a player, We could talk about the
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  nineteen seventy three for Abab he had with Pete Rose. But I kind of
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  like coming in with that other perspective of Hey, he also was in the
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  community as well, and I could tell you that he was a big supporter
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  of the Viscardi Center. He was a big supporter of kids in the community.
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  He was a big porter of Suffolk County beyond just building a championship winning
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  team. He got it, he understood it, and I would say when
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  they decided to break ground, if you will, in Central is of New
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  York on what's now called Fairfield Properties Ballpark, I would say that that changed
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  the lives of so many the employees that work for him, the legend of
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  Bob at home, those like Jason Lennock who get to be the voice of
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  the Ducks game and in game out, season after season, and those behind
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  the scenes that I get to work with every year at the same usual All
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  Star game. Even that, but he created that opportunity by just being there.
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  Jimmy Road was able to take that long island, same usual league and
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  do the All Star Game of Fairfield Properties Ballpark. And all of these people
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  I mentioned why it was, Kara, tij Rabino, Jimmy, they all
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  carry on that legacy of Buddy Harrelson. So while he will be mourned as
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  a met legend and a Duck's legend, he should also be remembered as someone
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  who gave back and gave back his time, his energy, his love of
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  people, right up to the end. When I learned that Buddy was in
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  a home, if you will, as his living home, that was kind
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  of sad, and I pray that he lived out his days the best he
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  could while dealing with alzheimer, because that is a tough disease. And they
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  had a very supportive family behind him as well. They showed up at the
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  retirement ceremony eighteen. I mean, look at ray Navarett. Okay, Raynaverrett
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  is now a guy who's passing on the legacy that he created at Duck Stadium
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  thanks to Buddy Harrison. He's passing on with the coach Ray brand and the
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  kids. You know, he's coaching kids now. But that all sorry because
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  he got that chance with the Ducks. I firmly believe that he was an
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  excellent player. And then look at what Buddy Harrison was able to do for
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  those who were former Major leaguers. Many of them came back to play on
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  the Ducks. I remember Black Guerrero was a big player on the Ducks at
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  one point at Garo Alfonso he played, he played for them, did imagine
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  a little bit. I forget if you managure or not, but he definitely
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  played for them. I mean, these guys would come back and play on
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  the ducks, and that gave him a second life after the major leagues.
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  That was the power of three. But I love that the power of three
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  and the number three and the man of war number three has impacted millions.
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  That's why I'm releasing it as at three o'clock today, because if we just
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  lived our lives in the number of three, doing things repetitively three times a
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  day, or manifesting things, you know, three times a charm, that
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  type of thing, and he has dies related to Nicole Tesla's three six y
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  nine theory, then that we could be empowered by that number of three.
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  I believe so anyway, and we could just use that inspiration that Buddy Harrison,
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  of Buddy Harrison, who not only wore number three, but maybe an
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  impact while they're wearing that number. And I believe he he had manifested a
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  lot wearing that number of three, and we too by doing things three times,
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  six times, nine times or any factor of three and manifested as well.
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  And I was just thinking here of other stories probably Buddy him and he
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  was just he was always there for us, for the viscari Center, and
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  even for the Irish American youth team. They dole out a bunch of tickets
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  for us, which is great to be part of that night. And you
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  know, getting to meet lou Ford is pretty cool because he got to He's
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  now manager of the Ducks, and lou Ford became the oldest player in the
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  Atlantic League Professional base Ball world. I'm data Homer last year at the age
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  of forty seven, now be a manager player. And I think this year,
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  especially especially for the Ducks, with the new fresh face as manager and
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  the loss of Buddy, I think they are going to be inspired this year
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  to win not only the first half of the second half, but the whole
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  thing and do it for Buddy right. And my favorite hashtag that came out
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  of that retirement ceremony was thank you Buddy. And so though we never had
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  him on this podcast, I believe I made it known in twenty eighteen how
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  much we thank Buddy for all the impact he made on and off the field,
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  and that impact cannot be duplicated by anybody else because Buddy Harrison had a
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  way of making you feel included. I loved young and old, and part
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  of his family too. He included the Viscardi family and his family, and
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  he made that known every time he was there and through him because he showed
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  up. Because he showed up, I believe he's helped impact the Viscardi Center's
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  growth. He's helped impact the numerous kids that have graduated the Viscardi Center and
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  the Viscardi School. And how cool was that? I think it's ah,
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  it's pretty special. How him showing up was just part what was a big
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  part of the impact made for the Viscardi Center and the kids that graduated from
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  there. And we've got to honor him well at SPORTSNIGHTE this year. I
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  pray we do, because he was a cornerstone, a cornerstone to the growth
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  of the hen Viscardi School and the and the graduating and the graduating classes of
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  your and that cannot be forgotten and that will not be forgotten. On this
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  podcast, he carried on what doctor Vascarti did. He got what doctor Viscarti
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  was doing to empower kids with disabilities. He understood that. That's why he
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  showed up every year the Ascarti Center. And yes, this hits me because
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  my dad and I would take trip after trip after trip out to the Scent
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  out to the Central Islip Ballpark. I mean it was a twenty minute walk
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  there and back. And uh we would go on the summer hot days on
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  my roll blade. He was walking. We needn't come back late at night,
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  and that was intense, but we did it because we loved being around
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  Buddy. We loved being around the Ducks. We loved being around that environment.
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  I mean Bob atone saying Duck fans, I mean, come on,
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  there was nothing like that either. And that was the environment created by Buddy
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  Harrison. And I think, I know there were others, but I think
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  Buddy Harrison alone help create that environment. And with that being said, I
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  pray the Ducks continue to be that inclusive, welcoming environment. I pray that
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  the Viscardi Center remembers him well this year, and I pray for the family
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  of Buddy Harrelson. And I thank him as I'm sure he and my dad
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  are talking it up up there, but I thank him for including my dad
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  and I in a lot over these last twenty something years, both at Biscardi
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  and at the Duck Stadium. We miss you, Bud, and I say,
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  once again in this three o'clock hour, thank you Buddy.