Joe Christopher already held a proud distinction before playing an inning for the New York Mets. In 1959, Christopher became the first player from the U.S. Virgin Islands to ascend to the majors, debuting first for the Pittsburgh Pirates. He was used in all three outfield positions, mostly as a utility player for the Bucs. The 5’10” Christopher batted right and threw right and was best known for his speed.
In the minor leagues, Joe Christopher’s speed got him noticed. Always a stolen base threat, The Sporting News described Christopher as “a flashing Pepper Martin who steals head first and will take an extra sack at the drop of an enemy outfielder’s eyelash.” He led the Puerto Rican Winter league in stolen bases during the 1958-59 season and batted .318. His fleetness afoot caused Pirate broadcaster Bob Prince to later dub him as ‘Hurryin’ Joe’.
Christopher was called up to fill in a void created by an injury to Roberto Clemente. His first game was the famous Harvey Haddix near-perfect game in Milwaukee on May 26. Haddix pitched 12 perfect innings against the Brewers but lost the bid for immortality and the game in the 13th on a home run by Joe Adcock. Christopher, who was playing right field at the time, remembered talk that the taller Clemente may have been able to reach Adcock’s shot. He dismissed this, as other baseball purists have, by saying the ball was too deep in right center to have been caught.
The next year, the Pirates stunned the the sports world by upsetting the heavily favored New York Yankees in the 1960 World Series. Christopher did not have an at-bat in the seven-game set, but did appear as a pinch runner three times and scored twice (in games two and five). He refused to wear his championship ring as he stood in solidarity with his road roommate, Clemente who protested because, despite having another fine year in 1960, only finished eighth in MVP voting.
In 1961, the New York Mets selected Christopher in the fifth round of the expansion draft costing them $75, 000. But as was the case in Pittsburgh, he did not play full-time for the big club starting only 69 times. He was mostly a sub playing behind Frank Thomas, Richie Ashburn and Jim Hickman. He was part of a championship team with the Mayagüez Indios in 1962-63, and won the third of his four stolen-base titles in the Puerto Rican Winter Leagues.
Christopher failed to make the major league roster with the Mets in 1963 and played most of the year in Triple-A Buffalo. He was called up to the Mets in July but only hit .221 in 168 plate appearances. The 1963 season failed to portend what was to follow, a career year for the Mets outfielder.
In 1964, Christopher made the team out of spring training and had what was easily his best year as a professional. His stats were excellent, if unexpected, as the 28-year old went on to hit .300, with 16 home runs, 76 RBIs, 78 runs scored, 163 hits, 26 doubles, and eight triples in 154 games — all career-highs. He had a .826 OPS and overall slash line of .300/.360/.466.
Christopher’s career-day came against his old team, the Pirates, on August 19, 1964 when he collected four hits including two triples, a double and a home run in an 8-6 Mets victory. For his career, he had one five-hit game and eight four-hit games. On September 25, 1964, Christopher broke up the no-hit bid of Cincinnati Reds’ Jim Maloney when he struck a clean single in the second accounting for the Mets only hit of the game.
Unfortunately, Christopher did not sustain his brilliance past the 1964 season. He injured a finger in spring training in 1965, an injury from which he never fully recovered. The Mets were also high on a young outfielder named Ron Swoboda grooming the rookie that spring for things to come. For Christopher, 1965 would be his last year as a Met as after the season he was traded to the Boston Red Sox for Eddie Bressoud. He played sparingly for the Sox, who later traded him to Detroit where his career came to an end.
Joe Christopher’s final MLB stats were: .260 BA, 29 homers, 173 RBIs, in 638 games across eight seasons. He stole 29 bases and was caught stealing 19 times. Right field was his main position; he appeared 278 times there and 154 times in left. Christopher, now 84, is a World Series champion along with several more titles in his second home, Puerto Rico, plus two more as a playoff reinforcement in the Dominican Republic and Venezuela.
But Christopher will be best remembered for his all-star caliber year of 1964, where he hit 40 points above his career batting average and had career bests in nearly all offensive categories. He is not the first Met that comes to mind when discussing outfielders of the past, but for one shining moment, one year, he was a Mets star in every respect.
