One Season Wonders: Lance Johnson

The 1995 Mets were only two years removed from the team's first 100-loss season since 1967.  But they were one of the surprise teams in the National League, finishing in a second-place tie in the NL East with a 69-75 record in the strike-shortened season.  The future looked bright for the Mets, especially with Generation K, their highly touted trio of homegrown pitchers, about to make a splash.

However, one thing was missing for the Mets going into the 1996 season.  In 1995, the Mets traded their leadoff hitter, Brett Butler, to the Los Angeles Dodgers during the stretch run.  That left the Mets with a musical chairs situation in the leadoff spot, with Damon Buford, Joe Orsulak and Alex Ochoa trying to be the last person to sit on the leadoff seat.

Neither Buford, Orsulak or Ochoa figured to be the team's leadoff hitter in 1996, especially with general manager Joe McIlvane openly shopping for one.  Two months after the conclusion of the 1995 season, the Mets found their man in Chicago.  And he provided the team with the best season a leadoff hitter had ever produced to date.

"Leading off and playing center field, No. 1, Mook -- correction -- Lance Johnson!"

Kenneth Lance Johnson was not a young player when the Mets signed him.  At 32, he was entering a time in his life when speedsters tend to lose a step or two.  But the Mets decided to take a chance on Johnson after he had reached career highs in at-bats (607), hits (186), runs scored (98), home runs (10) and RBI (57), while batting .306 with 12 triples and 40 stolen bases in his final year with the White Sox.

Despite the fact that the Texas Rangers offered Johnson a three-year deal with a fourth-year option, guaranteeing him $8.35 million, the centerfielder chose to take his talents eastward, signing with the Mets for two years and $5.7 million.  Johnson settled on the Mets after talking to Bobby Bonilla, Daryl Boston and Mookie Wilson, all former Mets and good friends.

The Mets now had their leadoff hitter in place, but Johnson was a centerfielder.  Their Opening Day starter from the previous year, Brett Butler, had been the team's leftfielder.  That was also the position played by Damon Buford and Joe Orsulak.  One month after the Mets acquired Johnson, they orchestrated a trade for leftfielder Bernard Gilkey.

With the outfield set, the addition of a defensive wunderkind at short in Rey Ordoñez, and Generation K on the way, the Mets were ready to take the 1996 season by storm.  They didn't wait very long to make a positive impression on the fans, and Lance Johnson had a lot to do with it.

On April 1, before a packed house at Shea Stadium, the season opened ominously for the Mets, who fell behind early to the Cardinals by six runs.  But the Mets began to chip away at the lead and by the seventh inning, the Cardinals' lead had been halved.  After an exciting conclusion to the top of the seventh, where a perfect relay from Gilkey to Ordoñez helped nail Royce Clayton at the plate to keep the score 6-3, the Mets rallied for four runs in the bottom of the inning.  Smack dab in the middle of the rally was Lance Johnson.  The Mets' new centerfielder used his speed to generate a run, plating Ordoñez with an infield hit, then scored the go-ahead run on a sacrifice fly by Rico Brogna.  Johnson's run proved to be the difference in the 7-6 Mets' victory.

Although Johnson helped contribute to the Mets' Opening Day victory, he didn't start the season very well.  One month after the season opener, Johnson had a decent batting average (.272), but was only reaching base at a .286 clip, drawing three walks in the season's first month.  The Mets expected more from their leadoff hitter, and beginning with the second game of a doubleheader against the Montreal Expos on May 1, Johnson gave the Mets exactly what they wanted and more.

Photo by David G. Whitham

Over a six-game stretch from May 1 to May 7, Johnson batted .500 (14-for-28), scoring five runs and driving in another.  He also collected his seventh triple of the season, after hitting six in the season's first month.  The season was barely a month old and Johnson was already only three triples short of Mookie Wilson's single-season franchise record for three-base hits.  Before the season was half over, that record would be history.

On June 16, Johnson picked up his 11th triple of the season against the St. Louis Cardinals, breaking Mookie Wilson's club record that he set in 1984.  For Johnson, the moment was extra-special because it was the Cardinals who originally drafted him in 1984 before trading him to the White Sox just months after he played for St. Louis in the 1987 World Series.

By the All-Star Break, Johnson was already having an historic season for the Mets.  Through his first 87 games, One-Dog (as he was affectionately referred to by his teammates) was hitting .322 with 16 doubles, 13 triples and five home runs.  He also had 40 RBI out of the leadoff spot, which was an unusually high number for a No. 1 hitter.  What was not unusual for a leadoff hitter was his 65 runs scored and 28 stolen bases.

For his efforts, Johnson was selected to his first All-Star team, joining catcher Todd Hundley to become the first Mets' teammates in five years to represent the club in the Midsummer Classic.  Due to an injury to Padres' outfielder Tony Gwynn, Johnson started the All-Star Game and surprised everyone by playing the entire game, going 3-for-4 with two singles, a double, a run scored and a stolen base in the 6-0 National League victory.

Johnson continued to hit after the All-Star Break.  In his first 32 games after the break, Johnson had 12 multi-hit games and stole 14 bases.  However, the team, who had remained within a few games of the .500 mark for most of the season, was starting to feel the dog days of August, especially the young pitching staff.  Generation K had become Generation K.O., as Jason Isringhausen's ERA was climbing near 5.00 and Paul Wilson's ERA had already gone north of that mark.

By August 18, the Mets had fallen 20 games behind the first-place Braves.  One week later, manager Dallas Green was gone, replaced by Bobby Valentine.  Despite the poor play on the field and the upheaval in the clubhouse, Lance Johnson continued to shine.

Beginning with his 2-for-4 performance on August 14, Johnson hit .399 over the team's final 41 games.  In addition, the centerfielder scored 35 runs and drove in 20 more during the final quarter of the season.  Mostly everyone else wilted in the summer heat (save for Gilkey and Hundley), but Johnson just got better.  Despite not being a big on-base percentage player or a slugger, Johnson had an impressive 1.004 OPS over the last month and a half of the season, reaching base at a .426 clip and producing a .578 slugging percentage (13 doubles, six triples, two home runs in 173 at-bats).  The Mets finished the season with a disappointing 71-91 record, but Johnson's season was anything but disappointing.

For the season, Lance Johnson hit .333.  At the time, it was the second-highest batting average in team history (Cleon Jones hit .340 in 1969).  Johnson also became the second Met to play in 160 games (Felix Millan played 162 games in 1975) and the second to reach the 50-steal plateau (Mookie Wilson stole 58 bases in 1982 and 54 bases in 1983).  But there were a number of offensive categories in which Johnson was second to none.

In 1996, Johnson set the Mets' single-season record for at-bats (682), runs scored (117), hits (227), total bases (327), multi-hit games (75), singles (166) and triples (21).  He also had the rare distinction of having more stolen bases (50) than strikeouts (40).  To this day, Johnson still holds the single-season franchise records for hits, multi-hit games, singles and triples.

Following Johnson's record-setting campaign, the Mets rewarded him with a two-year contract extension worth $10 million, keeping him under the team's control until 1999.  But Johnson was also a year older, and a year closer to breaking down.  The 33-year-old Johnson started the 1997 season where he left off in 1996, hitting .309 with five stolen bases over the Mets' first 13 games.  But shin splints knocked Johnson out of the lineup on May 1 and he missed six weeks of action, returning to the Mets just in time to see Dave Mlicki shut out the Yankees in the first regular season Subway Series game on June 16.

By early August, Johnson was still hitting above .300, but he was hitting mostly singles.  His 17 extra-base hits (ten doubles, six triples, one home run) were a far cry from his 1996 production, when he finished the year with 61 extra-base hits.  Johnson also wasn't running as much, stealing 15 bases in 25 attempts.  His 60% success rate was well below his 77% career rate.  Despite Johnson's regression, the Mets were overachieving and competing in the National League wild card race.  However, the team was leading the league in blown saves and needed to improve their bullpen if they wanted to have a realistic shot at making the playoffs.

On August 8, the Mets made a deal to improve their bullpen, but the cost was steep, as they had to part ways with Lance Johnson.  In a six-player deal with the Chicago Cubs, the Mets sent Johnson, starting pitcher Mark Clark and backup shortstop Manny Alexander to the Windy City for centerfielder Brian McRae, closer Mel Rojas and set-up man Turk Wendell.  Although McRae went on to record a 20-20 season with the Mets in 1998 (21 HR, 20 SB), he never quite replaced Lance Johnson in center.  Meanwhile, Mel Rojas went on to become one of the most hated relievers in Mets' history.  However, Turk Wendell became one of the most successful middle relievers in team history, and was a key player in the Mets' postseason runs in 1999 and 2000.

The injuries that sidelined Johnson during the 1997 season continued to keep him off the field for extended periods of time over the next three years.  As a member of the Cubs in 1998 and 1999, Johnson missed a total of 145 games.  He then played 18 games for the Yankees in 2000 before being released on June 6, just four months before he would have gotten the chance to play against the Mets in the World Series.  Although Johnson was only 36 years old, he would never play in the major leagues again.

Although his career was cut short by injuries, Lance Johnson still had plenty to smile about.

Lance Johnson became an everyday player in 1990 as a member of the Chicago White Sox.  Over the next six seasons, he was one of the best leadoff hitters in the game not named Rickey Henderson, batting .289 and averaging 12 triples and 34 stolen bases per year from 1990 to 1995.  Then he became a Met in 1996 and obliterated his six-year averages.  But injuries and a subsequent trade in 1997 curtailed his career, ending it at a relatively young age.

The Mets did not play well as a team in 1996, finishing 20 games below .500.  But Lance Johnson did all he could to make the season a memorable one for Mets fans.  Mookie Wilson captured the fans' hearts with his speed and smile in the 1980s.  Two decades later, Jose Reyes did the same.  The Mets did not have many players like that in the 1990s, but for one season, they did.

Lance Johnson was Mookie Wilson after the fan-favorite retired and he was Jose Reyes before anyone knew who Reyes was.  But without his one magnificent season in 1996, perhaps no Mets fan would have known who Lance Johnson was.  It's amazin' what one wonderful season can do to a player.


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 
February 13, 2012: Dave Magadan 
February 20, 2012: Pedro Martinez
February 27, 2012: Bret Saberhagen 
March 5, 2012: Robin Ventura 
March 12, 2012: Willie Montañez

Is Terry Collins 2011's Answer To Bobby Valentine?

Prior to the 2011 season, the Mets interviewed a number of potential candidates for their open managerial position before deciding to hire Terry Collins, a pick that was popular in the front office, but not immediately liked by the fans. Less than half a season later, Collins has made believers out of the skeptics who thought anyone not named Wally Backman would be able to manage the Mets. After a rough 5-13 start, the Mets have responded by going 28-21 (.571 winning percentage) and currently find themselves in third place in the National League East.

Collins has been able to piece together a team that has been without Johan Santana for the entire season and sans corner infielders Ike Davis and David Wright for the past month. His makeshift lineups have led to the emergence of various players who had been career minor leaguers or fringe players. Players such as Justin Turner, Ruben Tejada and Daniel Murphy have all contributed in the absence of Davis and Wright, and pitchers such as Dillon Gee, Chris Capuano and Jonathon Niese have all flourished while Santana has been rehabbing his surgically repaired shoulder.

The 2011 Mets have all the makings of a nice story in Flushing, after two lost seasons at Citi Field which immediately followed two heartbreaking seasons at Shea Stadium. But this is not the first time a manager has taken a downtrodden Mets team and turned them around faster than anyone ever expected. In fact, it was only 14 years ago when another former major league manager was given a chance by the Mets to bring respectability back to the franchise.

Still beloved by Mets fans, Bobby Valentine was the club's second winningest manager after Davey Johnson.

Bobby Valentine managed the Texas Rangers from 1985-1992, where he became the franchise's all-time leader in managerial victories. But after a slow start in 1992, Valentine was relieved of his duties by future president George W. Bush and did not manage again for three years. In 1995, Bobby V took his managerial talents overseas and led the Chiba Lotte Marines to a surprising second-place finish in the Japanese Pacific League. Valentine's success in Japan (he was fired due to a conflict with the team's general manager) led him back to the States and a job managing the Mets' Triple-A team in Norfolk.

After leading the Tides to an 82-59 record in 1996, Valentine was promoted to the Mets to replace the recently ousted Dallas Green. The Mets finished the season by winning only 12 of the 31 games under their new skipper. However, with a new season came new hope, and Valentine was the purveyor of that hope.

The 1997 Mets went into the season with little to no expectations. Their biggest acquisition of the offseason was John Olerud, a former batting champion in 1993 who had done little since winning that batting title, averaging 13 HR and 61 RBI from 1994 to 1996, and failing to hit over .300 in each of those three seasons. The rest of the infield consisted of the past-his-prime Carlos Baerga at second, light-hitting shortstop Rey Ordoñez and young Edgardo Alfonzo, who had been shuttled back and forth between second and third base for the better part of three seasons.

Although Bernard Gilkey and Lance Johnson were returning to the outfield, both were coming off career years in 1996 that did little to help the team in the standings. Rounding out the outfield was Butch Huskey, who had always shown power potential, but never quite fulfilled it. Todd Hundley (he of the record-setting 41 home runs in 1996) was yet again behind the plate catching a ragtag group of starting pitchers that included Bobby Jones, Rick Reed, Dave Mlicki, Mark Clark, Armando Reynoso and Brian Bohanon. Those six pitchers combined to win a mere 40 games in 1996 and were now being counted on to lead the 1997 Mets. It didn't start off the way Valentine would have liked.

The 1997 Mets lost 10 of their first 14 games and were already seven games out of first place just two weeks into the season. But Bobby Valentine did not let the poor start deter his team. By mid-May, the Mets had climbed back to .500, but then hovered around the mediocre mark until mid-June. It was then that the team took off, winning six straight against Pittsburgh and Atlanta. By September, the Mets were still alive in the Wild Card race, but their playoff hopes finally burst during the final week of the season, as the Marlins took the Wild Card on the way to their first World Series championship. Despite falling just short of the playoffs, the Mets still finished the year with an impressive 88-74 record.

Bobby Jones and Rick Reed emerged as solid starting pitchers for the Mets, with Jones winning 15 games and earning his first (and only) All-Star selection and Reed finishing sixth in the National League with a 2.89 ERA, to go along with 13 wins (after winning a total of 10 games from 1988-1996). The infield also surpassed all expectations, with John Olerud leading the way. The first baseman batted .294 with 22 HR and 102 RBI. He also led the team in on-base percentage with an even .400 mark. The left side of the infield impressed as well, as Edgardo Alfonzo hit a then-career high .315 and Rey Ordoñez won his first Gold Glove Award. Bernard Gilkey and Lance Johnson couldn't sustain their 1996 paces, but Butch Huskey made up for that by setting career marks in batting average (.287), hits (135), doubles (26), home runs (24), RBI (81), stolen bases (8) and slugging percentage (.503). In addition, Todd Hundley followed up his memorable 1996 campaign with another solid season, batting .273 with 30 HR and 86 RBI.

No one would say that the 1997 Mets were loaded with All-Stars. But Bobby Valentine took that group of individuals and turned them into a team. Valentine used 143 different lineups, utilizing all 25 players on the roster and going with the hot hand whenever possible. The final result was the first winning season for the Mets in seven years.

Fast forward to 2011. Terry Collins is now the former major league manager who was hired by the Mets after a layoff of several years. After spending time guiding young players in the Mets' farm system in 2010, Collins is now managing a number of them in the big leagues.

Not much was expected from the Mets in 2011, but after a slow start, the Mets are now playing very good baseball. They're coming together as a team, with veteran leadership (Carlos Beltran, Jose Reyes), emerging talent (Justin Turner, Ruben Tejada, Daniel Murphy), and young pitchers developing into top starters (Jonathon Niese, Dillon Gee).

Like Bobby Valentine did with the 1997 Mets, Terry Collins is instilling confidence in the 2011 Mets. His goal is not to reach .500, but to surpass it. Mediocrity is not an option with the current Mets. It is a stepping stone. Terry Collins expects this team to perform on the field, regardless of who he puts out there. It is why the Mets have been able to leapfrog past the Nationals and Marlins in the NL East and why they are within 4½ games of the Braves for the Wild Card lead.

Bobby Valentine did wonders with a group of players that "on paper" shouldn't have performed as well as they did. He taught them how to believe in themselves and their ability to get the job on the baseball field. The players responded to their manager and made the fans believers as well. Fourteen years later, Terry Collins is trying to do the same thing with his group of Mets.

Will Collins succeed as Bobby Valentine did almost a decade and a half ago? That remains to be seen. One thing is certain, though. If the players continue to follow Collins' philosophy, then there's no reason to believe that this team can't surpass expectations. The Mets can go as far as they want to go. It's a good thing they have a manager who knows this and is willing to take them there.

Joey's Small Bites: Things I Noticed On Opening Day

Greetings, Mets fans! This is your fav'rit roving reporter/culinary expert Joey Beartran. Welcome to the first semi-regular installment of "Joey's Small Bites", where I present my opinions on anything Mets-related. However, unlike my "Joey's Soapbox" series, these will be abbreviated opinions, or "small bites" if you will. There's also a chance I may be having a snack while sharing my thoughts with you, but I will probably be taking bigger bites out of those.

In today's first installment, I will discuss my thoughts on last night's season opening loss against the Marlins, which looked as if it should have been Game No. 163 of the 2010 season.

Last year, Mike Pelfrey gave up two earned runs in the entire month of April. Last night, he gave up four runs on one swing of John Buck's bat. This is the same John Buck who had a .243 career average in seven seasons entering last night's game. I see Pelfrey is already in mid-season form, and by mid-season form, I mean last year's mid-season, when he finished with a 10.02 ERA in his five July starts.

David Wright said he was going to embrace being the team leader this year. He led the team all right; led them in strikeouts, that is. Wright struck out in each of his first two at-bats against Josh Johnson en route to an 0-for-4 evening at the plate.

The two Rule 5 picks (Brad Emaus and Pedro Beato) made their major league debuts last night, and both performed reasonably well.

Emaus reached base once in three plate appearances and did not follow David Wright's lead (Emaus didn't strike out). It was Emaus' walk on the seventh pitch of his at-bat that ended Josh Johnson's night, after Johnson took a no-hitter into the seventh inning. He also made a fine defensive play in the sixth inning, sliding to his left to prevent the runner on third from scoring.

Beato pitched two scoreless innings, allowing a long double to the first batter he faced (John Buck, who apparently wants to win the batting title this year) before retiring the next three batters he faced, then giving up two singles in his second inning of work, sandwiched around a timely double play. Oh, did we mention that Beato was also born on the same day the Mets last won the World Series (October 27, 1986, just like teammate Jonathon Niese) and lived most of his life in Queens, growing up in Woodside, home of Donovan's Pub, which serves the best burger in New York? No, seriously. Take a look at the photos below and see for yourself.



On a positive note, Carlos Beltran made his first start in right field and showed no signs of pain or discomfort. He went 1-for-4 at the plate, driving in the first run for the Mets on a seventh-inning double down the right field line and scoring the second run on a groundout by Ike Davis. He also played flawless defense and prevented a run from scoring by charging a ball in right field and throwing a bullet to Josh Thole at the plate to hold Omar Infante at third base.

Also welcome to this bear's eyes was Mookie Wilson wearing his familiar No. 1 as he made his return to first base coaching duties. When Mookie wore No. 51 in his first stint as first base coach in the mid-90s, it was because Lance Johnson was wearing No. 1. Of course, Johnson produced one of the best seasons in franchise history in 1996 (.333 batting average, 50 stolen bases and a franchise-record 227 hits and 21 triples), so he earned the right to wear No. 1 temporarily. But the last wearer of the number didn't earn a thing. Because Luis Castillo wouldn't give up his No. 1 to Mookie when the Mets legend was re-hired to coach first base, the Mookster had to wear the ungodly No. 53.


Castillo was eventually released before the end of spring training and Wilson got his familiar number back. On a night when not much else went right for the Mets, seeing Mookie wearing No. 1 was enough to make me smile.

I seemed to notice a lot on Opening Day, despite the fact that I was enjoying the game with one paw on the sliders and the other paw on the waffle fries. Yes, it was a tough loss, one that was reminiscent of many losses in 2010. After all, the Mets gave up 12 grand slams last season without hitting any, and last night, Pelfrey was victimized by the bases-clearing blast and the Mets didn't even come close to homering. But it was only Day 1 of a long season.

CLICHÉ ALERT! CLICHÉ ALERT!

Baseball is not a sprint. It's a marathon. The Mets and their fans have to take it one game at a time. One loss does not make or break the season. They'll be back in Game No. 2, and will do their best to win the ballgame.

END OF CLICHÉ ALERT! END OF CLICHÉ ALERT!

Tonight, Jonathon Niese hopes to build on his fine rookie season. Of course, last year the Marlins were a thorn in his side, as he went 1-4 with a 6.49 ERA in five starts against them.

Although I'm cautiously optimistic that Niese will be able to end his Marlin meltdown in Miami, I will be ordering an extra plate of sliders just in case. Considering all those fat, juicy pitches opposing hitters keep hitting for grand slams, I should have something fat and juicy myself.

If Mookie Comes Aboard, Castillo Must No Longer Be #1

There have been numerous changes in the Mets' coaching positions this offseason. Manager Jerry Manuel, hitting coach Howard Johnson, bullpen coach Randy Niemann and first base coach Razor Shines will no longer be serving the team in those capacities. The managerial position has been taken over by Terry Collins, while the other positions have yet to be filled.

Various publications, including the Daily News, have reported that Mookie Wilson is a strong candidate for the first base coaching position, a job he held from 1997-2002.

Wilson was a fine first base coach during his first tour of duty there and would be a welcome addition to the 2011 Mets' coaching staff. However, there is one thing that I must make perfectly clear, and I'm writing this specifically for Luis Castillo. If Mookie Wilson does come aboard next season, his uniform number better be number 1.

Mookie Wilson is one of the most beloved figures in Mets history. His omnipresent smile and aggressive, yet intelligent, baserunning catapulted him to an iconic status at Shea Stadium, culminating in his epic at-bat in Game 6 of the 1986 World Series.

When Mets fans think of #41, they think of Tom Seaver. When they think of #17, they think of Keith Hernandez (although some might think of Graeme Lloyd, but those people are probably also fans of Kylie Minogue and Men at Work). Similarly, when Mets fans think of #1, they immediately think of Mookie Wilson.

Luis Castillo is now wearing Mookie's old number. Castillo (along with Oliver Perez) has drawn the ire of current Mets fans over the past few years. His perpetual limp and one-handed approach to the game are the antithesis of everything Mookie Wilson represented to the Mets. It would be a great disservice to the fans and a slap in the face of Mets history if Castillo didn't give up his number to William Hayward Wilson should Mookie become the first base coach.

If Castillo doesn't take the number off his back, he would not be the first player to cause Mookie to change his number. In 1996, Lance Johnson wore the number 1 when he signed with the Mets, causing Mookie Wilson to don number 51 as the Mets' first base coach. Fortunately, Johnson honored the number well, as his 1996 season was one for the ages.

That season was known for two trios, one good and one not so good. It featured the phenomenal hitting exploits of Bernard Gilkey, the record-setting home run production of Todd Hundley and the the fleet feet of Lance Johnson. Unfortunately, the 1996 season was also supposed to be the first full season of Generation K (Paul Wilson, Jason Isringhausen and Bill Pulsipher). The staff of the future left their talent and health in the past, as injuries and poor performances turned the young pitchers into Generation K-less.

The Mets' 71-91 record in 1996 was far short of Amazin', but the same could not be said for Lance Johnson's performance. The centerfielder became the first player in franchise history to amass 200 hits in a season. His 227 safeties obliterated the previous franchise record of 191 set by Felix Millan in 1975.

He also demolished Mookie Wilson's single season triples mark, as his 21 three-baggers easily surpassed the 10 triples hit by Mookie in 1984. In addition, Johnson stole 50 bases, making him the first Met not named Mookie Wilson to reach the half-century mark in steals and hit .333, which was the second highest single season batting average in team history at the time (Cleon Jones hit .340 in 1969).

Lance Johnson's memorable 1996 season made it easier to digest that Mookie was wearing a number other than 1 on the field. Johnson also showed class on the day Mookie Wilson was inducted into the Mets Hall of Fame. On September 1, 1996, Johnson switched numbers with Mookie Wilson, with Johnson wearing number 51 and Mookie wearing his traditional number 1.

Now Luis Castillo has the number 1 on his back. It is the number Castillo has worn since 1997 (He wore number 34 briefly in 1996). However, the Marlins did not have a prominent number 1 prior to Castillo's time in Florida (1996-2005) and the Twins also did not have a history with that number before Castillo wore it for them in 2006 and 2007. The Mets, on the other hand, do.

The most magical moment in Mets history is linked to the man wearing uniform number 1. If that same man becomes the new first base coach, he will be required to be in uniform again. There is no way that he should step onto the field wearing anything other than the number 1. Luis Castillo isn't worthy of wearing Mookie Wilson's jock strap, let alone his number.

Castillo hasn't done much to earn the four-year contract Omar Minaya gift-wrapped for him prior to the 2008 season. Giving up his uniform number to Mookie Wilson still won't justify his contract, but at least he'd be able to do something positive that might earn him his first cheer from the Mets faithful.

For the past few years, fans at Citi Field have screamed "BOOOOOOOO" whenever they saw the number 1 on the field. If all goes well, when number 1 pops out of the dugout next year, they'll be able to shout "MOOOOOOOO" instead.