One Season Wonders: Dave Magadan

In 1986, the Mets were rolling towards their first division title in 13 years.  Entering September, the Mets' lead in the NL East had increased to 20 games and the inevitable clinching was only days away.  As with any other team, the Mets called up a number of minor leaguers once the rosters expanded on September 1.  One of those players was a lanky first baseman from Tampa who was an excellent contact hitter, even if that contact produced mostly singles.

In four minor league seasons, the first baseman never hit lower than .309 and never had an on-base percentage lower than .411.  But of his 495 base hits, only 104 went for extra bases and a mere four left the ballpark.  Despite his penchant for collecting singles and drawing walks, the Mets didn't call him up to the big leagues until after he had amassed over 1,500 minor league at-bats.  But he made a name for himself quickly once he got his first start.

On September 17, 1986, the Mets were playing before a packed house at Shea Stadium, needing a win to seal the deal on the NL East crown.  However, team leader Keith Hernandez was unable to start because of the flu, so the start was given to the rookie with the singles bat.  Four plate appearances, three hits and two RBIs later, the September call-up took a seat so that Hernandez could take part in the on-field celebration.  Before September 17, no one had heard of the Mets' rookie, but after his performance in the Mets' first division clincher since 1973, everyone knew who Dave Magadan was.

Dave Magadan never met a single he didn't like.

David Joseph Magadan wasn't the only baseball player in his family.  The cousin of Lou Piniella, Magadan played the game much like his famous family member.  Just as Sweet Lou had done before him, Magadan carved out a nice résumé for himself in the minor leagues before getting an opportunity to play in the majors.  (Piniella was drafted in 1962 but did not become a regular in the big leagues until 1969.)  Also like his cousin, Magadan followed in the family tradition of lashing single after single.  (1,257 of Piniella's 1,705 hits went for one base.)  But the one difference in Magadan's game was his ability to draw a walk.  Piniella never walked more than 35 times in any of his 18 years in the big leagues, while Magadan had never walked less than 51 times in any of his four seasons in the Mets' minor league system.  And it was because of that ability that Magadan never returned to the minor leagues as a Met, even with Keith Hernandez still blocking his path to first base.

In 1987, Keith Hernandez was still the Mets' regular first baseman, but with the departure of third baseman Ray Knight, the Mets needed a backup at the hot corner now that Howard Johnson was taking over the position.  Unfortunately for Magadan, HoJo had a breakout season in 1987, so he was mostly relegated to pinch-hitting duties, appearing in only 85 games and collecting 192 at-bats.  But things began to change in 1988 when Hernandez started to show his age at first.

After a letdown in 1987, the Mets were back atop the NL East in 1988, although they were doing it without the help of their co-captains.  Gary Carter went through a prolonged power slump as he was seeking to hit his 300th career home run and Keith Hernandez injured his hamstring twice.  With the Mets needing a replacement at first base, Magadan stepped in, but for the first time in his professional career, failed to hit .300, finishing the year with a .277 batting average in 112 games.  The next year, Hernandez was hurt again and Magadan found himself playing more than he did in 1988.  But for the second straight year, Magadan was not able to maintain a lofty batting average, although it did improve slightly to .286 in 127 games. 

As the '80s turned into the '90s, Dave Magadan had been with the Mets for parts of four seasons.  However, he still had not become an everyday player, with less than 900 at-bats over those four seasons.  He mainly served a pinch-hitter or an injury replacement.  But when the Mets chose not to re-sign Keith Hernandez after the 1989 season, a full-time spot finally opened for Dave Magadan.  He responded with the best season of his career.

After four years in Keith Hernandez's shadow, Dave Magadan set his sights on a career year in 1990.

Dave Magadan appeared to finally have the everyday first baseman's job once Keith Hernandez signed a free-agent contract with the Cleveland Indians in early December 1989.  But two weeks after Hernandez was officially an ex-Met, the team swung a deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers for reliever Alejandro Peña and first baseman Mike Marshall.  Dave Magadan was back on the bench and Mike Marshall was named Keith Hernandez's replacement at first base by manager Davey Johnson.

Marshall, who hit 137 home runs in nine years as a Dodger, was a complete disaster at first base, hitting .226 with four home runs and 20 RBI through May 27.  His performance at the plate mirrored the team's performance on the field, and on that date, the Davey Johnson era came to a close with the firing of the Mets' most successful manager.  Long-time Mets player and coach Buddy Harrelson replaced Johnson as skipper, immediately making the team his own.  After only two weeks on the job, Harrelson took Mike Marshall out of the lineup, replacing him with Dave Magadan.  This time, there was no one in Magadan's way to prevent him from breaking out.  And it all started with a windy day at Wrigley Field.

On June 12, 1990, the Mets were playing the second game of a four-game series at Wrigley Field in Chicago.  At the time, Magadan was hitting .307 in 75 at-bats, with one home run and six runs batted in.  By the time the game was over, those numbers had doubled.  In what became Dave Magadan's breakout week, the first baseman went 4-for-4 with a triple, home run and six RBI.  The next day, Magadan collected four more hits in a doubleheader against the Cubs.  The Mets then traveled to Pittsburgh.  Different venue, same result, as Magadan went 4-for-4 with two doubles, a run scored and an RBI in a 7-5 victory over the first place Pittsburgh Pirates.

In his first seven days as an everyday player, Magadan collected an astounding 18 hits, but what was more amazing was that he was collecting his share of extra-base hits as well.  For the seven-game period, Magadan hit .563 (18-for-32), with three doubles, a triple and a home run.  He also scored eight runs and drove in ten, all with an un-Magadan-like .813 slugging percentage.  By the time the week was over, Magadan was hitting .383, which would have led the league had he collected enough at-bats to qualify.  But with Magadan now firmly entrenched at first base, it wouldn't be long before his name appeared among the league leaders in batting average.

Every once in a while, Dave Magadan put on a glove, but it was his bat that did the talking in 1990.

From June 24 until the end of July, Magadan continued his torrid pace.  In 35 games (33 starts), Magadan hit .336 with 15 extra-base hits (ten doubles, three triples, two home runs), 25 runs scored and 19 RBI.  He also continued to show exceptional discipline at the plate, drawing 18 walks while striking out only 12 times.  By the time July was over, Magadan was officially among the National League's leading hitters, while Mike Marshall was on his way to Boston, traded for minor leaguers Ed Perozo and Greg Hansell (the same Greg Hansell who was the losing pitcher against the Mets in the 162nd game of 1999, the game that sent the Mets to Cincinnati for the one-game playoff to determine the National League wild card berth).

As hot as Magadan was, the Mets were even hotter.  In a two-month stretch from June 4 to August 3, the Mets' record was 40-15.  They had gone from a season-high 9½-game deficit on June 7 to a one-game lead on August 3.  The Mets had become Buddy Harrelson's team, a scrappy bunch that won games in every possible way.  And this feisty attitude had brought them back into division contention, with Dave Magadan leading the way.

On August 24, Dave Magadan was second in the league in batting, hitting .337 to Lenny Dykstra's .341.  Willie McGee was right on their tails with a .336 batting average.  Five days later, a trade was made that would influence the National League batting race when Willie McGee was shipped off to the Oakland A's.  Since McGee was switching leagues, his .335 batting average at the time of the trade would stay frozen and McGee's batting average in the American League would remain separate.  Therefore, regardless of what McGee did in Oakland, his season-ending batting average in the National League was locked in at .335.  At the time of the deal, Dykstra was still leading the league with a .340 batting average, but McGee had passed Magadan into second place, as the Mets' first baseman had dropped to .333.  There was one month to go in the season to see if Magadan was going to become the Mets' first batting champion, but more importantly, the Mets were down to their final month if they wanted to take the division from the Pittsburgh Pirates.

The Mets were still leading the division by a half-game on September 3, but a five-game losing streak, which included a three-game sweep at the hands of the Pirates, knocked them 3½ games back.  Magadan did his best to keep the team afloat, batting .350 with a double, two triples and a home run in the six games he played from September 4 to September 9.  But by then, his teammates had gone into a team-wide slump, and the Mets never took over first place again.  The only thing left to decide was the National League batting race, and one of the participants was also in the midst of a slump.

Lenny Dykstra, who appeared ready to win his first batting title for the Phillies, completely lost it at the plate in the month of September.  On the morning of September 8, Dykstra was still leading the league with a .343 batting average.  Eight days later, he had already fallen behind Willie McGee and his stationary .335 average.  By season's end, Magadan had also passed Dykstra.  The former Met had to settle for a .325 batting average, the result of hitting .213 over his final 20 games.  As cold as Dykstra was, it was a future Met who went on a tear of his own in September.  Eddie Murray, then a member of the Los Angeles Dodgers, hit .411 over his final 30 games to insert his name into the batting race.  Murray's blazing finish raised his average to .330 by season's end, just five percentage points behind Willie McGee.  Unfortunately, Murray's average had also surpassed Dave Magadan, who settled for a .328 average and a third-place finish in the National League batting race.

Although Dave Magadan fell short in his quest to become the Mets' first batting champion, his .328 average was still the second-highest batting average ever recorded by a Met who qualified for the batting title (Cleon Jones set the franchise record of .340 in 1969).  However, since Jones was a right-handed batter, Magadan's average was the highest recorded by a left-handed hitter in Mets' history.  (Both Jones' and Magadan's marks were erased by John Olerud in 1998, when the sweet-swinging lefty set the new team standard with a .354 batting average.)

We're not worthy!  We're not worthy!  Such was life in Dave's World.

Dave Magadan's 1990 season was by far the best year of his career.  The first baseman set career highs in batting average (.328), slugging percentage (.457), OPS (.874), hits (148), doubles (28), triples (6), home runs (6), RBI (72) and runs scored (74).  It was also the only time in his career that he received MVP votes, as Magadan earned four votes to finish 22nd in the NL MVP vote.

As quickly as Magadan rose to the top, his star faded quickly.  In 1991, his average plummeted to .258 and in 1992, he played in only 99 games, batting .283 with 12 extra-base hits.  By then, the Mets had already signed Magadan's old batting champion rival, Eddie Murray, to be the team's first baseman, and Magadan was back to splitting his time between first base and third base.  The 1992 season would turn out to be Magadan's last season in New York.

After the 1992 season, Magadan became a journeyman.  Just as Don Zimmer became the first Met to play the hot corner, Dave Magadan became the first Florida Marlins' third baseman, playing the position in the Marlins' inaugural game in 1993.  Magadan's stay in Florida didn't last very long, as he was traded to Seattle in June.  Magadan returned to the Marlins in 1994, followed by stints with the Houston Astros (1995), Chicago Cubs (1996), Oakland A's (1997-98) and San Diego Padres (1999-2001).  Although he played for nine seasons after leaving the Mets, Magadan was never able to duplicate his successful 1990 campaign.  Still, Magadan's longevity made him the only position player from the 1986 team to extend his playing career into the 21st century.  (Pitcher Jesse Orosco hung up his spikes after the 2003 season.)

Dave Magadan was never a great player, but he was still good enough to play 16 seasons for seven different teams.  He was a decent hitter, finishing his career with a .288 batting average and had a great eye at the plate (.390 lifetime on-base percentage).  As a result, Magadan is still in the major leagues, serving as the hitting coach for the San Diego Padres from 2003 to 2006, before joining the Boston Red Sox in the same role in 2007.  Magadan won a World Series ring with the Red Sox 21 years after making his major league debut for another World Series winner.  He is now entering his sixth season as the Red Sox hitting instructor and his first under former Mets manager Bobby Valentine.

After spending four seasons in the minor leagues, Dave Magadan finally got a chance to play in the big show.  He waited four more years to become an everyday player.  It was his patience at the plate that first got him noticed and it was his patience on the bench that allowed him to have one of the most unexpected seasons in Mets history.  The Mets might not have won the division title in 1990, but Dave Magadan proved to be a winner that season.  He's still winning today.


Note: One Season Wonders is a thirteen-part weekly series spotlighting those Mets who had one and only one memorable season in New York.  For previous installments, please click on the players' names below:
 
January 2, 2012: Bernard Gilkey
January 9, 2012: Terry Leach 
January 16, 2012: George Stone
January 23, 2012: Roger Cedeño
January 30, 2012: Frank Viola
February 6, 2012: Joe Christopher

One Season Wonders: Frank Viola

The 1989 Mets were a team in transition.  After cruising to their second division title in three years in 1988, the Mets fell flat in '89.  Co-captains Keith Hernandez and Gary Carter spent much of the year on the disabled list, combining to play in only 125 games.  Dwight Gooden did not make a start after the All-Star Break, missing over two months of the season with a shoulder injury before returning in September to make two relief appearances.

Assistant GM Joe McIlvane was also in the process of dismantling the team that enjoyed great success from 1984 to 1988.  Veterans Mookie Wilson and Lee Mazzilli became teammates in Toronto.  Roger McDowell and Lenny Dykstra were shipped off to Philadelphia.  Terry Leach became a Kansas City Royal.  Despite all the changes in personnel, the Mets remained competitive in the NL East.  At the All-Star Break, the Mets were only 2½ games out of first place, albeit with a less than spectacular 45-39 record.

But the plethora of injuries, especially the one to Gooden, were beginning to catch up to them in late July.  The Mets finished the month on a seven-game losing streak, which included a three-game sweep at the hands of the division-leading Chicago Cubs.  The team was also losing their patience with Rick Aguilera.

Aguilera, who was the winning pitcher in Game 6 of the 1986 World Series, had begun the year brilliantly after two poor middle relief appearances to start the season.  From April 18 to June 19, Aggie had one of the most dominant stretches in Mets' history, allowing one earned run in 39 innings (0.23 ERA).  Opposing batters hit .169 against him and he had a phenomenal strikeout to walk ratio, fanning 47 batters while walking only eight.  It was during this stretch that the Mets started using him more in the final innings and he rewarded them by going 6-for-6 in save opportunities to go with three wins.

But then Aguilera hit a wall, one in which he never recovered from as a Met.  In 14 appearances from June 20 to July 30, Aggie was brutal to watch.  He blew four out of five save opportunities, lost five games and had a 4.78 ERA, while allowing opposing batters to hit just under .300 against him.  By then, Randy Myers was firmly entrenched as the team's closer (a position he also held in 1988) and Aguilera was deemed expendable.  The Mets were teetering close to the .500 mark and had fallen five full games behind the first place Cubs.  Joe McIlvane felt a change was needed and did not hesitate when the opportunity presented itself.  He needed more than just Rick Aguilera to complete the deal, but when it was completed, the Mets had themselves a former World Series champion and Cy Young Award winner in Frank Viola.

Frank Viola wore shades because he thought his future would be bright with the Mets.

The late July swoon and the need to find a suitable replacement for the injured Dwight Gooden led the Mets to make a major move at the trade deadline.  On July 31, 1989, the Mets sent Rick Aguilera, minor league prospects Kevin Tapani, David West, Tim Drummond and a player to be named later (Jack Savage) to Minnesota for left-handed starter and Long Island native Frank Viola.

Frank John Viola had built quite a résumé in the Twin Cities, winning 112 games in 7½ seasons, including a 24-win season in 1988 that earned him the American League Cy Young Award.  That came on the heels of the Twins' first World Series championship, a series in which Viola won two games against the St. Louis Cardinals, including the seventh and deciding game.  The Mets had acquired themselves one of the best pitchers in baseball and expected Viola to turn the team around in 1989 and beyond.

Unfortunately, the Mets did not come back to win the division in 1989, finishing in second place with an 87-75 record.  It was the first season since 1983 in which the Mets failed to win 90 games.  Viola was only mediocre in his 12 starts for the Mets, going 5-5 with a 3.38 ERA.  The man known as Sweet Music failed to deliver a division-winning concerto for the Mets in 1989.  However, with the return of a healthy Dwight Gooden in 1990, Viola took the National League by storm as part of a formidable one-two punch.  His renaissance started early and continued throughout the season.  Before he was done, Viola found himself doing things no left-handed pitcher had ever done before in a Mets uniform.

When the Mets traded for Frank Viola in 1989, they expected to see a Cy Young-caliber performance in almost every start.  They got much more than that over Viola's first seven outings in 1990.  Through mid-May, Viola was off to one of the best starts in franchise history.  Sweet Music started seven games and was the winning pitcher in all seven, allowing five runs in 51⅔ innings, striking out 52 batters while walking only six.  Five of the seven games resulted in shutouts.

Although Viola was 7-0 to start the season, the same could not be said for the rest of the staff.  After winning his seventh game on May 12, the Mets were just barely over .500 with a 16-14 record.  The Mets were depending too much on Frank Viola to carry the staff while the other players got their act together.  So when Viola had his first mini-slump of the season, although it was only two starts, the team completely fell apart, leading to the dismissal of their long-time manager.

No need to look so mean, Frank.  It wasn't your fault that Davey Johnson got fired in 1990.

Following his scorching start, Viola cooled down.  In his final two appearances in May, Viola faced the San Diego Padres both times.  The Friars did as they pleased with the Met lefty, scoring 11 runs (10 earned) in 11⅓ innings off Viola, handing him the loss on each occasion.  With Viola not winning, the team followed suit, losing nine of 13 games to go below .500.  During this cold streak, manager Davey Johnson was fired, replaced by Buddy Harrelson.  As with most managerial changes, the team responded quickly with Frank Viola leading the way.

From June 1 to the All-Star Break, Viola returned to his winning ways, going 6-1 over his next eight starts (one no-decision).  In his one loss, Viola gave up seven runs in 5⅓ innings to the Pittsburgh Pirates.  But in his six wins, Viola was back to making the sweet music he was creating in the early part of the season.  Viola allowed five runs in 48⅔ innings in those six victories for a 0.92 ERA.  In the team's final game before the All-Star Break, Viola pitched 7⅔ innings of one-run ball, improving his record to 13-3.

After losing their first game under Buddy Harrelson, the Mets had suddenly become the hottest team in the National League, going 27-9 in their final 36 games before the All-Star Break to pull to within half a game of the first place Pirates.  With his 13-3 record at the break, Viola was named to the National League All-Star team for the first time, where he pitched one scoreless inning in relief.  

Unfortunately, the break couldn't have come at a worse time for the Mets, as the time off killed any momentum they had gained since the beginning of June.  In their first 33 games after the Midsummer Classic, the Mets were barely a winning team, going 17-16.  However, the Pirates weren't exactly taking advantage of the Mets' mediocrity, going 15-16 over the same time period.  The Pirates' slump catapulted the Mets into first place, but by late August, the Mets were once again behind Pittsburgh in the NL East, and this time they were four games back.  Needing one more push to retake the lead in the division, the Mets called upon Frank Viola to deliver.  The southpaw did all he could to carry the team on his back.

After seeing his record fall to 15-8 in mid-August, Viola turned it up a notch for the stretch run.  In a six-start span from August 22 to September 15, Viola went 4-1 with a 1.69 ERA.  He pitched at least eight innings in all but one of those six starts (Viola pitched seven innings in his one loss, a 2-1 defeat to the Los Angeles Dodgers) and held opponents to a .283 on-base percentage.  During this stretch, the Mets retook the lead in the National League East, only to fall behind by 3½ games in early September.  When Viola defeated the Phillies on September 15 for his 19th win of the season, the Mets were back to within half a game of first place.  That would be the closest the Mets would come to wresting the division lead away from the Pirates, as New York went 8-9 over their final 17 games while the Pirates took 11 of their final 16 contests to win the division by four games over the Mets.

Viola would win his 20th game of the season in the season finale against the division champions, but by then, it was too late.  The Pirates had won the first of three consecutive NL East titles and the Mets would go on to post six consecutive losing seasons after 1990.

Frankie V made Sweet Music throughout the entire 1990 season for the Mets.

Despite the disappointing end to the 1990 campaign, the Mets thought they would be able to count on Frank Viola for years to come.  Viola finished the year with a 20-12 record and a 2.67 ERA, becoming only the fifth pitcher (and second lefty) to win 20 games in a season for the Mets.  For his efforts, Viola finished third in the NL Cy Young Award vote, behind Doug Drabek and Ramon Martinez.  It would be the last time Viola would taste that type of success in the major leagues.

Although Frank Viola began the 1991 season strongly, going 11-5 with a 2.78 ERA over his first 19 starts and earning his second All-Star Game selection as a Met, he was an absolute disaster over the second half of the season.  From July 17 until the end of the season, Viola's music turned sour.  In 16 starts, Viola went 2-10 with a 5.75 ERA, failing to pitch more than six innings in 11 of those starts.  He wasn't fooling anyone at the plate, allowing 121 hits while striking out only 57 batters in 92⅓ innings.

For the season, Viola finished 13-15 with a 3.97 ERA.  The most telling stat of Viola's 1991 season was his hits allowed.  In 231⅓ innings, Viola surrendered 259 hits.  It was the most hits allowed by a Met since Roger Craig gave up 261 safeties in 233⅓ innings during the team's inaugural 1962 campaign.  To this day, Viola's figure remains the second-highest total in club history.  In addition, since 1991, the only National League pitcher to give up more than 259 hits in a season has been Livan Hernandez, who accomplished the feat in 1998, 2001 and 2005.  That's how bad Viola's 1991 season was, especially after the All-Star Break.

The Mets finished the 1991 season with a 75-86 record, their first losing record since 1983.  That offseason, Frank Viola became a free agent.  Given his poor second half in 1991, the Mets decided to go in another direction, allowing Viola to sign a three-year, $13.9 million deal with the Boston Red Sox. 

Viola had a so-so season in his first year in Boston (13-12, 3.44 ERA), followed by a decent second year (11-8, 3.14 ERA).  However, despite still being relatively young (age 33), Viola made only 15 more appearances in the major leagues following his second season in Boston, winning two of them.  A torn ligament in his left elbow sent Viola to the disabled list for the first time in 1994 and he underwent Tommy John surgery to fix it.  He ended up making six starts for Boston in 1994, three starts for Cincinnati in 1995 and six starts for Toronto in 1996, combining to go 2-5 with a 6.19 ERA before retiring at the age of 36.  He finished his career with a 176-150 record and a 3.73 ERA, going 38-32 in 2½ seasons with the Mets.

It's a shame Frank Viola didn't get to go out on top of his game.  He certainly was on top in 1990.

Frank Viola came to the Mets in 1989, hoping to get the team back to the heights it had reached in 1986 and 1988.  In his first full season in New York, Viola became the second left-handed pitcher in club annals to win 20 games.  However, he followed that up by giving up the second-most hits in franchise history in 1991.  By 1992, he was no longer a Met and by 1996, he was out of baseball.  Meanwhile, the players he was traded for made quite a name for themselves in the major leagues.

Rick Aguilera became a top closer in the American League, setting the Twins' career franchise record for saves (eventually surpassed by Joe Nathan in 2011).  Kevin Tapani won 143 games in the major leagues, of which 75 came in Minnesota.  In 1991, while Viola was giving up hit after hit for the Mets, Aguilera was tying the Twins' single-season record with 42 saves and Tapani was en route to a 16-9 record with a 2.99 ERA, helping the Twins win their second World Series championship.

The Mets wanted sweet music from Frank Viola when they acquired him in 1989.  All they got was one season of greatness.  However, his one spectacular season has become the last 20-win season recorded by a Mets' pitcher, as no one has won more than 17 games since 1990 (Al Leiter won 17 games for the Mets in 1998).  The fact that no Met has approached 20 wins since Viola accomplished the feat in 1990 is as much a wonder as Viola's one season was.


Note: One Season Wonders is a thirteen-part weekly series spotlighting those Mets who had one and only one memorable season in New York.  For previous installments, please click on the players' names below:
 
January 2, 2012: Bernard Gilkey
January 9, 2012: Terry Leach 
January 16, 2012: George Stone
January 23, 2012: Roger Cedeño
 

Loyalty And Leaderboards

Former Yankee catcher Jorge Posada officially announced his retirement from baseball today.  He left the game after playing exclusively for the Yankees since his promotion to the major leagues in 1995.

Those aren't sentences I usually begin a blog post with.  After all, this is Studious Metsimus, which the last time I checked, focused on Mets-related news.  But I couldn't help but notice something about Posada's career numbers with the Yankees, especially when compared to some of the Mets' all-time greats.

Jorge Posada collected 6,092 at-bats over his 17-year career.  In those at-bats, he picked up 1,664 hits, of which 379 were doubles and 275 were home runs.  Posada also walked 936 times, scored 900 runs and piled up 1,065 RBIs.  He's nowhere near the Yankee team leaders in any of those categories, nor does he rank among the top five hitting catchers of all-time, as players like Mike Piazza, Ivan Rodriguez, Johnny Bench, Ted Simmons, Yogi Berra and Roy Campanella were all better hitters than Posada.  So why am I making such a big deal about this?

Because Jorge Posada would be the Mets' all-time leader in hits, doubles, home runs, walks, runs scored and RBIs if he had played his entire career in Flushing.

As hard as it is for me to admit it, Jorge Posada was a better hitter than Ed Kranepool.

Jorge Posada surpassed 150 hits in a season only once (2007), a figure that has been achieved by many Mets.  One might argue that Posada's hit total would be lower than most hitters because of all his time spent as a catcher.  To those people, I submit the fact that Mike Piazza, also a catcher, reached the 150-hit plateau three times as a Met and eight times in his career.  Posada also hit 30 or more doubles four times, reached 30 home runs once, walked 100 times once, drove in 100 runs once and never scored 100 runs in any of 17 seasons.  Several Mets players have reached those numbers multiple times, except for walks, where John Olerud is the only Met to walk 100 times in a season.

Had Jorge Posada played his entire career as a Met and produced the same numbers, he'd be considered the greatest offensive player in Mets history and would be counting down the days till his number joined Nos. 37, 14 and 41 on the left field wall at Citi Field.  Instead, he is just one of many Yankees who had very good careers in pinstripes.  Is this a testament to the fact that the Yankees have been Slugger Central over the past century or have the Mets just done poorly developing and keeping their offensive stars?

There's a reason why Tom Seaver is referred to as "The Franchise".  It's not because he's the sole player in the Hall of Fame with a Mets cap on his plaque.   It's because the Mets have a tough time producing elite players, and when they do, they end up trading them or letting them walk via free agency.  Tom Seaver was an elite player with the Mets for 11 years.  Since 1983, when Seaver played his last game as a Met, the only player developed in the Mets' minor league system who spent over a decade in Flushing was Dwight Gooden.  The only hitters originally drafted by the Mets who played over a decade in New York were Ed Kranepool, Cleon Jones, Bud Harrelson and Ron Hodges.  That's not exactly a Murderer's Row we're talking about there.

Perhaps one day the Mets will develop a player in their minor league system, watch him become an All-Star in Flushing and keep him around for a while.  Jose Reyes could have been that player.  David Wright could still be that player if the Mets don't decide to keep their pennies to themselves.  Jorge Posada was that type of player for the Yankees.  Had he been a Met, he'd be atop the team's all-time leaderboard in a plethora of categories.  See what a little loyalty can do for you?

Mets Teammates Who Played Together The Longest

Within the next two weeks, longtime Yankees catcher Jorge Posada will announce his retirement from baseball.  The 40-year-old Posada will hang up his catchers' gear after 15 full seasons (17 overall) in Yankee pinstripes.  With Posada's retirement, that will leave Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera as the only Yankee teammates to be together since the days of Buck Showalter.  Jeter and Rivera made their major league debuts six days apart during the 1995 season and will be entering their 18th season as Yankee teammates in 2012.

Only one pair of teammates played together longer than Jeter and Rivera.  From 1977 to 1995, Lou Whitaker and Alan Trammell were double play partners in Detroit.  Their 19 seasons as teammates surpassed the previous record of 18 years set by George Brett and Frank White when they played together in Kansas City from 1973 to 1990.

It's rare for an athlete to play for a single team over his entire career, especially if his career is lengthy.  It's even rarer for teammates to stay together for an extended period of time.  Lou Whitaker and Alan Trammell played an unprecedented 19 seasons together.  No individual player, let alone a set of teammates, has ever been a Met for that long, as Ed Kranepool's 18 seasons with New York has remained the franchise record for over three decades.

This brings up an interesting question.  If no individual Met has played more than 18 seasons with the team, which pair of Mets were teammates the longest?  Surely, one of the dynamic duo had to be Kranepool, right?  We've gone through mounds of paperwork (and by paperwork, I mean baseball-reference.com) and came up with the teammates who played together the longest in orange and blue.  These pairs of Metropolitans played all or parts of twelve (or more) seasons together.  Here they are:

• Ed Kranepool and Cleon Jones (12 seasons; 1963, 1965-75)
• Bud Harrelson and Jerry Grote (12 seasons; 1966-77)
• Ed Kranepool and Jerry Grote (12 seasons; 1966-77)
• Ed Kranepool and Jerry Koosman (12 seasons; 1967-78)
• Ron Hodges and Craig Swan (12 seasons; 1973-84)
• Ed Kranepool and Bud Harrelson (13 seasons; 1965-77)

Ed Kranepool was everyone's teammate so long ago that color film hadn't been invented yet.

That was kind of boring, wasn't it?  Other than the Hodges/Swan combo that most Mets fans might have overlooked, the other pairs of teammates all played in the same era of Mets baseball.

The more interesting question might be which teammates played the longest since the '80s began?  That list is probably one you wouldn't be able to recite off the top of your head.  In fact, we uncovered only one pair of teammates that played at least ten seasons together since the Reagan administration and another nine that played a minimum of eight seasons with each other.  Time to go through those mounds of paperwork again...

• Darryl Strawberry and Ron Darling (8 seasons; 1983-90)
• Sid Fernandez and Ron Darling (8 seasons; 1984-91)
• Dwight Gooden and Ron Darling (8 seasons; 1984-91)
• John Franco and Bobby Jones (8 seasons; 1993-2000)
  
• Jose Reyes and David Wright (8 seasons; 2004-11)
• Mookie Wilson and Wally Backman (9 seasons; 1980-88)
  
• Sid Fernandez and Howard Johnson (9 seasons; 1985-93)
• Dwight Gooden and Howard Johnson (9 seasons; 1985-93)
• John Franco and Todd Hundley (9 seasons; 1990-98)
• Dwight Gooden and Sid Fernandez (10 seasons; 1984-93)

(Editor's note:  John Franco missed the 2002 season with an injury.  That eliminates a pairing of Franco and Edgardo Alfonzo as eight-year teammates, as Fonzie was with the Mets from 1995 to 2002, thereby only making him Franco's teammate for seven years.  Ya gotta believe... in semantics!) 

We know Sid Fernandez wore No. 50.  But he wore No. 10 in this photo to commemorate the number of seasons he was Dwight Gooden's teammate with the Mets.  We wouldn't lie to you about that.

With Jose Reyes now waiting for the latest fire sale in Miami, David Wright and Mike Pelfrey have become the current longest running duo on 126th and Roosevelt, having played all or parts of six seasons together.  Since neither player is guaranteed to return after the 2012 season, it may be a while before the Mets have a pair of teammates play at least eight seasons together, let alone the number of seasons that players like Ed Kranepool, Jerry Grote, Bud Harrelson and others from the early days of the franchise played together.

The business of baseball has changed quite a bit since the Mets were the little team that could.  Keeping a team intact for an extended period of time has become more difficult than spelling Mientkiewicz after downing a few Coronas.

Where have you gone, Eddie Kranepool?  The Mets don't have the same look to me...

Joey's Small Bites: Everything's Bigger In Texas, Like Mets' Comebacks

So last night I was settling in with some cupcakes and the remote control (and my sister Iggy), hoping to see the Mets try to continue their winning streak against the Houston Astros. The Astros, who own of the worst record in the National League, had somehow taken two out of three games from the Mets in April at Citi Field, something that this Mets fan had not forgotten. Dillon Gee was starting for New York against Bud Norris, and I was expecting the Mets to do well against Norris. Well, they didn't. But that doesn't mean the end result wasn't good.

For the first six innings, the Mets' bats were silent against Norris, as the Astros' starter faced two batters above the minimum. But Gee was matching Norris pitch for pitch, and the score was only 1-0 in favor of the Astros as they came to bat in the bottom of the sixth.

Then I had an "Oh, $#!+" moment. No, I didn't do anything wrong. I just had to go to the bathroom. (Those cupcakes were doing the loop-de-loop in my tummy.) Of course, once I returned from the loo, the Astros had taken it to Gee, scoring three runs off the rookie. That's when I had another "Oh, $#!+" moment, but this was directed more at the Mets. It could have been a lot worse (the game, not my bowel movements), but Pat Misch induced an inning-ending double play to keep the score at 4-0.

In the seventh inning, Norris continued to roll, striking out David K. Wright and Carlos Beltran to start the frame. As I watching this, all I could think of was that we were allowing a guy named Bud to toy with us. I mean, when I think of Bud, this is what I think of...

Bud Harrelson and his "bud" Pete Rose, Bud (a.k.a. Kenny) from the Cosby Show, Bud from the Budweiser ads.

This was Bud Norris, who had won all of 17 games in his three-year career and "boasted" a career 4.55 ERA and 1.44 WHIP, numbers that were eerily similar to what Victor Zambrano posted during his three-year stint with the Mets (10 wins, 4.42 ERA, 1.49 WHIP). In other words, WE SHOULD BE HITTING THIS GUY!!!

Well, they must have noticed that I was using caps because with one swing of the bat, the Mets were no longer bound by Bud, as Jason Bay hit his eighth career home run as a Met, cutting the Mets' deficit to 4-1. That set things in motion for what was to follow.

Pat Misch pitched a one-two-three inning in the bottom of the seventh. Then the Mets' bats woke up from their lumber slumber in the top of the eighth, as Fernando Martinez hit a two-run homer into the second deck in right field to make it a one-run game. Jose Reyes followed F-Mart's blast by getting Norris to walk him. That was enough for Astros' manager Brad Mills, as he closed his tab, having his fill of Bud for the night. In came Jeff Fulchino, a 31-year-old with only 160 innings pitched in the majors. That should say it all.

David K. Wright legally changed his middle initial to H.R., taking Fulchino deep into the Crawford seats, completing the Mets' comeback and giving them a 5-4 lead. The Mets then scored an insurance run in the ninth inning and K-Rod held on to the lead to record his 11th consecutive save.

The Mets had rallied from a four-run seventh inning deficit to defeat the Astros 6-4, causing my sister to celebrate with her special Mets pom poms.

With the victory, the Mets improved to 10-9 on the road this season, which is Amazin' considering that for the past two seasons, the road was where winning streaks went to die. (The Mets were 61-101 away from Citi Field over the past two seasons.)

Later this afternoon, the Mets will try to extend their winning streak to four when R.A. Dickey takes the mound against J.A. Happ in an all-initial affair. Should the Mets win, they will have taken their fourth series on the road, matching last season's total before Memorial Day.

They say everything's bigger in Texas. I can see why. Last night, the Mets proved that comebacks are bigger in Texas. Hopefully, by this evening, the Mets' winning streak can also get bigger. I'll eat to that!

Happy Birthday To Moooo, Happy Birthday To Moooo...

Think fast! Who hit 62 triples, stole 281 bases, hit one little roller up along first and has 55 candles on his birthday cake today? It's none other than Mets Hall of Famer and current first base coach Mookie Wilson, that's who!

One of the above will be blowing out 55 candles today; the other will be counting them.

When Mets fans think of No. 41 on the Mets, they always think of Tom Seaver. The same thing goes for No. 14 (Gil Hodges), No. 17 (Keith Hernandez), No. 31 (Mike Piazza) and No. 37 (Casey Stengel). For me, No. 1 will always be synonymous with William Hayward Wilson.

Most fans will tell you that Mookie Wilson was one of the most electric and charismatic players to call Shea Stadium home. Those fans will also say that Mookie had the most crucial at-bat in franchise history, when he faced Bob Stanley in the tenth inning of Game 6 of the 1986 World Series. But even those fans might not know everything about Mookie Wilson.

To celebrate the 55th birthday of the man who brought out the inner cow in Mets fans (Moooooo.....), here are a few things about Mookie Wilson you may not have known.

What's bubblier? The champagne in Mookie's hand or his effervescent personality?

Mookie Wilson made his major league debut for the New York Mets on September 2, 1980 at Dodger Stadium. Another key player from the 1986 World Champions also made his major league debut on that day, as Wally Backman played second base and batted eighth in the Mets' lineup (Mookie was the leadoff hitter). Wally's debut (2-for-4, 2 RBI) was slightly better than Mookie's (0-for-4, RBI groundout), but both went on to become favorites among the Shea faithful.

Despite being called up in 1980, Mookie Wilson qualified for the 1981 Rookie of the Year Award. Wilson finished seventh in the voting, receiving 1½ votes. Who did Mookie split a vote with? It was none other than teammate Hubie Brooks, who received 8½ votes to finish third.

No one would say that Mookie Wilson was a great hitter, but for two seasons, he was among the best in the league. In 1982, Mookie finished 10th in the National League with 178 hits and followed that up with 176 hits in 1983, good for 8th in the NL.

Mookie Wilson was known for his lightning fast speed, setting the franchise record for triples and stolen bases in a career (both marks have since been surpassed by Jose Reyes). Who held those records before Mookie claimed them for his own? That would be Bud Harrelson (45 triples) and Lee Mazzilli (139 stolen bases).

Bud Harrelson: The "3" in his uniform number stood for three-base hits.

Lee Mazzilli: Stole his way around the bases and into teen-aged girls' hearts.

When Mookie Wilson hit 10 triples and 10 home runs in 1984, he became the first Met to reach double digits in both categories. The only other player in Mets history to accomplish that feat is Jose Reyes, who has done it four times (2006, 2007, 2008, 2010).

There is one stolen base record that Mookie Wilson still hasn't lost to Jose Reyes. That would be caught stealing. The über-aggressive Mookie was thrown out 90 times in 371 attempts. Reyes will probably surpass him this season, as he has been gunned out 85 times.

It should come as no surprise that Mookie Wilson was able to get out of the way of Bob Stanley's wild pitch in Game 6 of the 1986 World Series. After all, in ten years as a Met, Mookie was only hit by 16 pitches. By comparison, John Olerud only played three seasons in New York, but he was hit a total of 28 times.

Finally, what do Mookie Wilson and Mark McGwire have in common? Not much. But they do have one shared piece of baseball history. In 1989, Mark McGwire finished the year with 33 HR and 95 RBI, helping the Oakland A's win the World Series. Mookie Wilson was traded from the Mets to the Blue Jays on July 31, picking up two home runs and 17 RBI in 238 at-bats for Toronto. Somehow, both Mookie Wilson and Mark McGwire received exactly one American League MVP vote apiece, finishing in a tie for 25th place in the voting. Something tells me that one of the voters was also a member of the Toronto chapter of the Jeff Musselman Hate Club, and was thrilled that Mookie's arrival led to Musselman's departure.

Let's not talk about this picture, shall we?

Mets fans have not seen the last of Mookie Wilson, as the fan favorite will be the team's first base coach in 2011. With stolen base threats like Angel Pagan, Jose Reyes, David Wright and Carlos Beltran, the Mets have a number of candidates who will be heeding Mookie's "GO" command from first base. It will be interesting to see how the players respond to having an experienced basestealer coaching them at first base.

Mookie Wilson once said "thou shalt not pass at thy offering" to describe his hitting philosophy. Therefore, as we celebrate his 55th birthday today, we shall not let the day pass without offering Mookie Wilson our best wishes for a happy birthday and a successful 2011 season as the Mets' first base coach. It may be true that the baseball season is a marathon and not a sprint, but try telling that to one of the fastest and most beloved Mets of all time.

Jesse Orosco's Glove Has Been Found!

So you think Jesse Orosco looks happy in the picture to the left? Wait till Studious Metsimus tells him that we located his glove. Then he'll experience joy like he's never felt before!

You know the glove we're talking about. It's the one Orosco threw up in the air triumphantly after he struck out Marty Barrett of the Red Sox to end the 1986 World Series. Well, where did that glove go after he threw it up in the air? After all, what goes up must come down (with the rare exception being Oliver Perez's walk rate).

If you own the 1986 World Series DVD set, pop Game 7 into your DVD player. If you recorded the game on a VHS tape like I did, good for you! Now try to find a VCR to play it in, if one still exists.

Fast forward to the final out of the game where Orosco throws his glove up in the air. After Jesse flings his glove skyward, he falls to his knees and then gets up just in time to have catcher Gary Carter jump into his arms as the rest of the Mets (and Paul the Bat Boy) rush from the dugout to pile on top of Carter and Orosco.

I should say ALMOST the entire team piles up on top of the Gary and Jesse. (This is where you have to watch the DVD or VHS tape in slow motion.) Watch as third base coach Buddy Harrelson (wearing #23) runs around the pile and then starts to bend over as he's about to go off-screen. Before he goes off-screen, notice that he's carrying nothing in his hands. A split second later, he appears on the screen with a glove in his left hand. That's Jesse Orosco's glove!

Today is the 23-year anniversary of the Mets winning their last World Series. Now Jesse Orosco can truly celebrate because Studious Metsimus has solved the mystery of the missing glove. Get happy, Jesse! You have every reason to celebrate!

New Jerseys For New York

In Bart Hubbuch's New York Post blog, it is being reported that the Mets are considering some significant changes to their uniforms for the 2010 season.

Gone will be the pinstripes, a staple of all Mets home jerseys since their inaugural season in 1962. In will be the cream-colored jerseys worn back in August, similar to the ones worn by David Wright when he went coocoo for Cocoa Puffs.












It is not yet known whether the blue NY will replace the script Mets logo that has been a part of the team's home uniforms since 1962. If it does replace it, it will be the most significant change to the Mets logo since 1993. In that memorable season, the Mets made a change to their font and added Felix Millan's mustache underneath the word "Mets".

The change in uniform clearly helped fan-favorite Anthony Young. He entered the record book with his 27 consecutive losses while wearing said jersey.


Studious Metsimus is all for change. We would like to see change in the front office, change in the trainer's room and change in Oliver Perez's address. However, we do NOT want to see the pinstripes go. If the Wilpons need more money, they can sell Oliver Perez on eBay. They can even throw in Felix Millan's mustache to sweeten the deal.

Pinstripes are the Mets. It was what they wore when they celebrated their 1969 World Series championship and what they wore in 1986 when Jesse Orosco sent his glove on a one-way ticket to the Heavens.

(By the way, for the SMFs who are trivia nuts, Bud Harrelson was the one who picked up the glove after Orosco flung it into the air. Watch your 1986 World Series DVD. When the team rushed the mound, Harrelson went around the pile of players on the left, is seen to bend over before going off camera, then returns with a glove in his hand that he did not have when he rushed the field. You learn something new every day!)

New York is getting New Jerseys. If the front office would put this much effort into getting New Results with New Players, perhaps the fans would have a New Reason to come out to New Shea.

Sigh. Felix Millan would be spinning in his grave if he wasn't still alive.