What I seek to provide here is my recollection of certain small chapters in Mets’ history that stand out from the pack, not necessarily for their place in a championship campaign or a particularly important game, but for their unique qualities which occasionally move them into the realm of the strange or even at times, the poetic.

RUSTY AND THE RUNDOWN

The first of these instances involves one of my favorite Mets of bygone days, Rusty Staub. During his first go-round with the Mets, Rusty provided more in the way of consistent offense and heady play than fans had come to expect from a Mets team that relied primarily on the arms of Tom Seaver, Jerry Koosman, Jon Matlack , Tug McGraw and whatever offense could be scrounged from the day’s lineup. In 1973, two years into their second decade of existence, the Mets had still not had a player produce a 100 RBI season. The team would make its second trip to the World Series that year, but would wind up second to last in the NL in runs scored with a paltry 608. As a result, defense was a key component to go along with that vaunted pitching staff. In June of that year, the Mets were playing a series at Shea against the Dodgers. The Saturday game of that set (on June 9th) was Old Timers’ Day and a good crowd was on hand. The offensive heroes for the day were Staub, with two doubles and 3 RBI, and Willie Mays who homered for the other run in what would be a 4-2 complete game win for Jon Matlack.

It wasn’t Rusty’s offense that made this game memorable for me, but his defense- specifically, his role in a play that took place in the top of the seventh inning.  By virtue of a pinch-hit double by future Met Tom Paciorek and a bunt single by Davey Lopes, the Dodgers had runners at the corners with no one out and Bill Buckner (of all people) coming to the plate. The Mets were clinging to a 3-2 lead at this point that looked to be in jeopardy. Buckner was an up-and-coming young batsman of 24 at this time, but was coming off a season where he had hit .319 and shown a penchant for making contact. With Lopes dancing off first, Matlack made a successful pickoff throw and a rundown ensued.

Rundowns always make me nervous if it’s my team trying to execute one. We’ve all heard how, if properly done, only one or two throws should be needed to nail the runner. Invariably, as the number of throws involved in the play increases, so does the percentage that one will ultimately wind up in the stands, the dugout, or the outfield while the runner advances.  On this particular play the infielders involved, Bud Harrelson, Felix Millan, and John Milner, were no slouches with the glove  but Lopes was fleet and managed to elude a tag. A number of throws were made, back and forth, with Paciorek looking for a chance to score from third. Ultimately, with the middle infielders out of position, Lopes dashed for second, seemingly uncovered until…Rusty Staub, having run in from his position in Right Field, took the throw at second, slapped a tag on Lopes diving for the base, then fired a strike to the plate to catch Paciorek trying to sneak in with the tying run. Double play! Buckner flied out to center and the inning ended with no damage done.

As a mere 16 year-old at the time, my depth of baseball knowledge was not substantial, but I had been bitten by the bug at a young age and had read more about the game’s history than many of my peers. Nowhere had I come across an account of a similar play, which, while not the weirdest thing to happen on a baseball field, was without a doubt the most heads-up piece of fielding I had ever witnessed.

Rusty went on to play heroically in the LCS (3 HR’s and a great catch where he badly injured his shoulder), and World Series that year (hitting .423 with a 5 RBI game while playing hurt). In 1975, he became the first Met to reach the century mark in RBI while setting a club record with 105. Management rewarded this by trading him to Detroit for a washed-up Mickey Lolich and fans were left to pin their hopes on Mike Vail. Spoiler alert: it didn’t work out too well.

Regardless, Rusty’s place in the annals of Metdom is assured, but is just that much more deserved, in my opinion, because of that nifty double play.

WILLIE MONTANEZ: The Hot Dog

On December 8, 1977, the Mets were one of four teams involved in one of the most complex deals in the history of baseball. This was it :

• The Mets sent John Milner to the Pittsburgh Pirates.
• The Atlanta Braves sent Willie Montanez to the New York Mets.
• The Texas Rangers sent Adrian Devine, Tommy Boggs, and Eddie Miller to the Atlanta Braves.
• The Texas Rangers sent a player to be named later and Tom Grieve to the New York Mets.
• The Texas Rangers sent Bert Blyleven to the Pittsburgh Pirates.
• The Pittsburgh Pirates sent Al Oliver and Nelson Norman to the Texas Rangers.
• The New York Mets sent Jon Matlack to the Texas Rangers.
• The Texas Rangers sent Ken Henderson (March 15, 1978) to the New York Mets to complete the trade.

I wish I could tell you who conceived this deal and how it fell into place, but frankly, I have no idea. For the Mets’ part, they replaced John Milner with Willie Montanez and sent Matlack away for Tom Grieve and Ken Henderson.

Montanez was considered a better all-around player and certainly flashier than Milner, but I think that Met fans were disappointed with Willie’s production and expected a major upgrade from Milner. Actually, the one full year Willie spent with the Mets wasn’t bad statistically (.256, 32 2B, 17 HR, 96 RBI), but he seemed to fail a lot in big spots and hit his best in one-sided games. Ironically, the following season, the Mets sent Montanez to Texas, another of the parties in the original deal, in exchange for Ed Lynch and Mike Jorgensen and a couple of years later, the Pirates traded Milner even-up to Montreal for Montanez.

As for the other part of the trade for the Mets, it turned out to be a lot less than either side expected. Matlack had one solid year for the Rangers, but that was about it. Neither Grieve nor Henderson was anything other than a part-time player, though the Mets were expecting more, I’m sure.

The big names in the deal were Blyleven and Oliver, so maybe the deal started out as a one-for-one and other general managers just joined the party. I suppose after giving up Blyleven, the Rangers needed another pitcher and that’s how Matlack got involved, but it looks to me like the Mets were a pawn in this trade, and they were probably fortunate it didn’t turn out any worse than it did for them.

Also, I loved his choice of words… “Ike Davis waiting in the wings”. Last off season we had Nick Evans waiting in the wings, and the off season before that we had Mike Carp waiting in the wings. Sounds like the Mets have a flock of seagulls instead of a stash of prospects playing in Binghamton.

Funnier still, is the Mets’ constant assertions that we have some great first baseman waiting in the wings. The truth is that the Mets have only had three home grown first baseman start back to back opening days in their entire 47 year history; Ed Kranepool, John “The Hammer” Milner and Dave Magadan. And much like incumbent first baseman Daniel Murphy, neither were known as power hitters, despite Milner’s cool nickname.

The Mets have never had a first baseman come up through their system and hit 25 homeruns for the Orange and Blue. The venerable Eddie Kranepool maxed out at 16, Milner once hit 23 and never came close again, and Magadan never hit more than 6 homers in his career.

The Mets have had some great first basemen pass through Flushing and make their marks on the organization like the incomparable Keith Hernandez and the quiet, but productive John Olerud.

Kranepool is the only first baseman the Mets have ever developed that logged any substantial playing time for them. And I am using the word “develop” very loosely. You see Kranepool was signed as a minor league free agent half way through the 1962 season, and got a cup of coffee later that year at the ripe old age of 17. In 1963 he beat out Marvelous Marv Throneberry for the everyday first base job and the rest as they say, is history. He spent less than three months developing before dethroning Throneberry. One thing is certain though, Kranepool went on to become one of the most beloved players ever to wear the Mets uniform.

That brings us back to Daniel Murphy who has won the hearts of many Mets fans with his apparent grission. Murphy went from leftfielder of the future, to leftfielder of the past, and is now acquainting himself with a tenuous hold on first baseman of the present.

I already alluded to former first round pick Ike Davis, who parlayed one good season in A/AA and 20 games in Arizona into untouchable status in the minds of many.

To me Davis is just another prospect in a long line of Mets prospects that have held the title of “First baseman of the Future”. In the past two decades, the Mets have had quite an extensive collection of first basemen of the future. Unfortunately, the future never came for any of them. None of them. Zilch, nada, zippo.

However, after a half a season of moderate production at Class-AA, many Mets fans are now donning their “I Like Ike” buttons. Every year we continue to embrace whatever first baseman of the future the Mets put out in front of us because that’s what fans do. The same people who consider Davis untouchable now, felt the same way about Nick Evans a year ago, and Mike Carp before him. Nothing changes.

Now here is the moral of the story; A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.

Wouldn’t it be great if Ike Davis became the Padres’ first baseman of the future, and Adrian Gonzalez became our first baseman of the present?

Wouldn’t it be really cool to look up at the beautiful Citi Field scoreboard in September and see: 1B Gonzalez, A. .313 BA – 37 HR – 117 RBI?

In the last three seasons he has averaged 35 homeruns, 35 doubles, 90 walks and 105 RBI. He continues to improve each year and the sky’s the limit. Witness his last three years in these key metrics,  OBP .347, .361, .407 and OPS .841, .879, .958. He has just won his second consecutive Gold Glove at first base.

Imagine Keith Hernandez, Carlos Delgado and John Olerud all rolled into one.

It may take a boatload to get him, but at 27 years old, Adrian Gonzalez would be well worth it.

The former number one pick in the country, would immediately become the Mets number one core player surpassing even Wright and Reyes.

The San Diego Padres would be nuts to trade him, but it would be well worth the time it takes to pick up the phone and at least try. Don’t think for a minute, that other teams aren’t already lining up their offers for Gonzalez, because they are.

Former Padres GM Kevin Towers said the return they would get for Gonzalez will never be higher than it is right now.

For a franchise that can ill afford to dole out the tens of millions of dollars he will one day command in arbitration, it may be best for them to do it now if they are going to do it at all.

Why do you think the Adrian Gonzalez rumors continue to persist?

Because everybody knows they can’t keep him including the Padres.

Where there’s smoke, there’s fire.

Consider that the current leaders, Carlos Beltran and Gary Sheffield, have 8 home runs each so far.  Beltran has three at home, five on the road.  Sheff is split four and four.  Meanwhile, David Wright, who has just 4 homers, has three at home and only one away from Citi Field.  So how do you explain it?  And what does it project out to?  Well, Sheffield has played 58 games but can’t play every day because of creaky knees, and Beltran is on the DL.  Either way, their current pace projects to 18 homers for the season.  Wright’s pace is a paltry 9.  NINE.  We kind of cut the guy slack because he’s been leading the league in batting, but still — I expect nine homers from David Eckstein, not David Wright. 

Fascinating, isn’t it?  Well here is more to ponder.  The last time a Mets player hit less than 20 home runs was Bobby Bonilla in 1992, with 19.  Before that it was Lee Mazzilli’s 16 homers in 1980.  The team’s lowest-ever output was a three-way tie of 12 homers in 1977—between Steve Henderson, John Milner, and John Stearns.  It’s fathomable that if Sheffield and Beltran miss extensive time the rest of the way, the ’77 record could be broken, but it’s highly doubtful.  Even Carlos Delgado, who has 4 homers, could return from the DL in August and reach 20 by the end of September. 

So okay, it’s not necessarily Citi Field, though we’ve seen many potential home runs stay in the park there.  This is a more interesting issue, and maybe one that no one is discussing—the possibility that some of our Mets were using performance enhancers the last few seasons and didn’t get caught.  I’m not accusing, I’m just saying, the numbers just border on staggering, especially when Albert Pujols has 26 homers, 18 more than Sheffield or Beltran.

I’m curious to see what you all think of this.  I don’t believe any Met will reach 20 this season, do you?