The big and powerful Harrelson was baseball’s 1960s flower child. He wore his blond hair long and sported Nehru jackets, beads, bell bottoms, and no socks. Catcher Duke Sims dubbed him “Hawk” for his aquiline nose, and he had that emblazoned on the back of his uniform. A careless-fielding power hitter, he hit 23 homers for Kansas City in 1965. Late in 1967, Harrelson was quoted as saying, “Charlie Finley is a menace to baseball.” The angered A’s owner released him. Seven teams approached Harrelson; the Red Sox, in the thick of a pennant race, won him with a $73,000 bonus, and Harrelson helped them to the ’67 pennant. In 1968, he hit 35 homers and led the AL with 109 RBI. Boston fans picketed Fenway Park early in 1969 when Harrelson was traded to Cleveland. He missed most of 1970 with a broken leg and played grudgingly for the Indians until 1971, when he quit to become a pro golfer, something he had threatened for years. When that failed, he became an outspoken broadcaster, and, for 1986, was the White Sox much-criticized GM.
