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
 

One Season Wonders: Bernard Gilkey

In the music business, many artists have recorded one big hit and then never went on to score another.  When In Rome spent more than a day near the top of the charts in 1988 with "The Promise" but made no promises about creating another hit.  One year earlier, T'Pau gave us a little bit of "Heart and Soul" but never gave us another hit.  Recording a hit song doesn't guarantee success with future recordings. (Isn't that right, Biz Markie?)  Similarly, having a breakout season in the major leagues doesn't mean a player is headed for the Hall of Fame.  In fact, for some Mets, one good season was all they had in them.

For the next thirteen weeks, we'll be focusing the spotlight on some of the biggest one season wonders in Mets history.  These players had some of the greatest seasons in club annals, but don't look for them on the career leaderboard.  All they had was 162 games of fame with the Mets, which I guess is more than the 15 minutes of fame some players had (I'm talking to you, Richard Hidalgo).

So sit back and enjoy the first part of One Season Wonders, as we take a look at a Met who had one of the most complete offensive seasons in franchise history, but never came close to replicating his magical season.  It's time to party like it's 1996 and the host of this party is Bernard Gilkey.

One season wonder Bernard Gilkey sporting the snow white cap that itself was a one season wonder.

Otis Bernard Gilkey was a man of many firsts.  He was the first player in Mets history to go by the name Bernard (or Otis for that matter - Amos Otis doesn't count since that was his last name).  He was also the first Met to be bopped in the head by a fly ball while an alien spaceship flew over Shea Stadium.  (He can thank Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones for that fielding error.)  Despite all that, it was his first season as a Met that really opened eyes in Flushing.

Prior to the 1996 season, the Mets were desperately seeking a cleanup hitter.  With most available power-hitting free agents already off the table, GM Joe McIlvane traded for the best available player who wouldn't cost him too much talent.  The Cardinals had just signed outfielder Ron Gant to a five-year contract and were looking to cut payroll to have the finances to acquire 41-year-old closer Dennis Eckersley.  Gilkey became the odd man out in St. Louis despite having a solid year for the Cardinals in 1995 (.298, 33 doubles, 17 HR, 69 RBI in 121 games).

On January 22, 1996, the Mets got their man, trading minor league prospects Erik Hiljus, Eric Ludwick and Yudith Orozio to St. Louis for Bernard Gilkey.  Hiljus never pitched for the Cardinals and only logged 124 innings over parts of four seasons in the major leagues.  Ludwick pitched even less over his four-year major league career (74.2 innings), but at least 16.2 of those innings came in a Cardinals uniform.  Orozio never made it to the majors and was out of professional baseball by 1998, at the tender age of 23.  By that time, Gilkey had already given the Mets more than they ever could have expected from him.

The 1996 Mets went into the season with high expectations following a surprising second-place finish in the strike-shortened 1995 campaign.  The outfield of Gilkey in left, the newly-acquired Lance Johnson in center and the Butch Huskey/Carl Everett platoon in right was loaded with raw talent and athleticism.  The only question was how they'd play together as neither of the four had ever played in the same outfield with the others prior to 1996.

Although Joe McIlvane was seeking a cleanup hitter when he traded for Gilkey, manager Dallas Green inserted the new leftfielder into the two-hole on Opening Day 1996.  It didn't take long for Gilkey to hit his way into the middle of the lineup.  Beginning with his Opening Day performance, in which he helped erase a six-run deficit to the Cardinals with a sixth-inning home run and a game-tying RBI single one inning later, Gilkey scorched opposing pitchers.

Over his first 11 games, all as the Mets' No. 2 hitter, Gilkey hit .375.  But Gilkey wasn't just slapping singles around the ballpark in compiling that high average.  In those 11 games, he lashed four doubles and blasted four home runs, giving him an impressive .708 slugging percentage.  He also drove in 13 runs over the first two weeks of the season, while not hitting in a traditional RBI spot in the batting order.  It was clear early on that Gilkey had to be moved down in the batting order, and Dallas Green did just that on April 16, when Gilkey batted third for the first time.  It would be the spot from which he would primarily bat for the rest of the season while assaulting the Mets' single-season record book.

Now firmly entrenched in the No. 3 spot in the Mets' batting order, Gilkey continued to pound out the extra-base hits in May.  During the season's second month, Bernard ripped 13 extra-base hits (seven doubles, six home runs) and collected 24 RBIs.  Gilkey "only" hit .295 in May, but it was the only month during the 1996 season in which he failed to hit .300.

In June, Gilkey went on his most prolonged slump of the season, going hitless in 15 at-bats against his former team when the Mets traveled to St. Louis.  How did Gilkey respond to this mini-slump?  Very well, thank you very much.  Over the next nine games following his oh-fer at Busch Stadium, Gilkey reached base an astonishing 20 times (17 hits, three walks).  He slugged at an .800 clip in those nine games, mostly on the strength of seven more extra-base hits (five doubles, two homers).

Despite an amazing first half of the season in which he hit .302 with 21 doubles, 16 HR, 62 RBI and 10 stolen bases, Gilkey was snubbed for the National League All-Star team.  Any frustration Gilkey might have felt for the obvious oversight was taken out on National League pitching after the break.  And boy, did he ever take out those frustrations.

From July 11 (the first game following the All-Star Break) through August 25, a span of 43 games, Gilkey gave new meaning to the term "raking the ball".  During those six weeks, Bernard hit .356 with 15 doubles, two triples and 12 home runs.  He also scored and drove in almost a run per game, crossing the plate 40 times and driving in 40 as well.

Whereas the 1995 Mets closed out the season on a 34-18 tear, the 1996 squad took the other fork in the road and ended their season poorly, losing 35 of their final 54 games and their manager (Dallas Green was replaced by Bobby Valentine in late August).  Despite the poor finish by the team, Bernard Gilkey just kept on chuggin'.

Beginning with the Mets' final game in August, Gilkey batted .329 and reached base at a .440 clip over his final 22 games.  Of course, the extra-base hits kept on coming as well, as Gilkey hit seven more doubles, one triple and two home runs over the final three weeks of the season.

Bernard Gilkey's 1996 season was one of the most complete seasons by a non-pitcher in Mets history.  For the year, Gilkey hit .317 with 44 doubles, three triples, 30 HR, 117 RBI, 108 runs scored and 17 stolen bases.  In addition, he finished with a .393 on-base percentage, a .562 slugging percentage and was deadly with runners in scoring position, batting .406 (63-for-155) in those situations.  But Gilkey was not just an offensive threat on the field, as evidenced by his National League-leading 18 outfield assists in 1996.

At the time, Gilkey's .317 batting average was the fifth highest single-season mark in Mets history for players who qualified for the batting title.  Only Cleon Jones (.340 in 1969 and .319 in 1971), Dave Magadan (.328 in 1990) and Lance Johnson (.333 in 1996) had ever posted a single-season batting average higher than Gilkey's .317.  Furthermore, Gilkey's .562 slugging percentage in 1996 was the second-highest single-season mark in the franchise's first 35 years, surpassed only by Darryl Strawberry's .583 slugging percentage in 1987.

With his 44 doubles in 1996, Gilkey broke Howard Johnson's franchise record of 41 two-baggers in a season, a record that still stands.  Gilkey also became the second Met to record 40 doubles and 30 homers in the same season, following Johnson's 41 HR/36 double campaign in 1989.  In addition, Gilkey tied Johnson's club record with his 117 RBIs, a record that would eventually be surpassed by Mike Piazza, Robin Ventura and David Wright.  Finally, Gilkey became the third Met to reach triple digits in runs scored and RBIs in the same season, joining Darryl Strawberry (1987, 1988) and Howard Johnson (1989, 1991) as the only Mets to accomplish this feat during the team's first 35 seasons.

Unfortunately, Gilkey's breakthrough season in 1996 did not carry over into the 1997 campaign.  Although the Mets did far better in the standings in '97, finishing 88-74 and competing for the National League wild card berth until the final week of the season, Gilkey's performance left a lot to be desired.  The leftfielder saw his batting average drop to .249 and he didn't hit for as much power (18 HR) or drive in nearly as many runs (78 RBI) as he did during his stellar '96 season.

 Was Gilkey's close encounter with aliens over Shea the reason for his dropoff in 1997?

Given one final chance by Bobby Valentine to regain his 1996 form, Gilkey was moved back into the two-hole after the Mets acquired Mike Piazza from the Florida Marlins in late May 1998.  Despite having excellent protection by having Piazza and John Olerud hitting behind him, Gilkey floundered in the No. 2 spot.  In June and July, Gilkey hit a mere .168 and his power disappeared, as he hit only five doubles and two home runs in 45 games.

The Mets were in contention for the wild card, but having Gilkey in the lineup every day was hurting them more than it was helping them, so a day before the trade deadline, Gilkey was sent to Arizona for pitcher Willie Blair and catcher Jorge Fabregas.  Neither Blair nor Fabregas contributed much to the Mets, and the team fell one game short of ending their decade-long playoff drought, a skein that ended in 1999 when the Mets defeated Gilkey's new team, the Arizona Diamondbacks in the NLDS.  Gilkey literally did nothing against the Mets in the NLDS, going 0-for-6 against his former team in two games.

When the Mets acquired Bernard Gilkey prior to the 1996 season, the team was looking for a veteran player with some pop in his bat who could bat cleanup.  They didn't get a cleanup hitter, but they did get one of the finest offensive seasons ever recorded by a Mets player.  Alas, it was the only great season by Gilkey in a Mets uniform, making him one of the biggest one season wonders in team history.