While many fans remember Turk Wendell as a relief pitcher with some amusing quirks and routines that he’d perform on and off the mound, he was also one of the more durable and reliable relievers for many seasons.

Over a six-year stretch from 1996 through the 2001 season, Wendell appeared in 428 regular season games, which were the seventh-most appearances among relievers for an average of 71 games per season, posting a 3.50 ERA in that span.

Wendell was no stranger to any relief situation during his career, appearing as a closer, set-up man, and long reliever. While he enjoyed pitching in the back-end of the pen, his mentality was that he’d appear in any role to aid in the betterment and success of the team.

When the Mets acquired the right-handed reliever from the Chicago Cubs in a six-player deal in August of 1997, Wendell was apprehensive at first of the prospects of pitching in New York. He had grown up in Massachusetts and was a big Boston Red Sox fan, which meant hating the New York Yankees.

Though, Wendell acknowledges that the trade was the best thing that happened in his career, as he came to Queens at a time when the Mets were on the rise and made back-to-back postseasons for the first time in franchise history in 1999-2000.

In September 1998, as the Mets were vying for a wild card spot, Wendell did his part by appearing in nine consecutive games from September 14 to September 23. He posted a 0.69 ERA in that stretch, with 14 strikeouts to just 3 walks over 13 innings pitched.

Wendell is one of only five Mets relievers to post multiple seasons of 75+ appearances, which he did in back-to-back seasons in 1999-2000. He was especially good pitching at Shea Stadium, as he combined for a 2.23 home ERA in 78 games in 1999-2000.

During his tenure with the Mets, Wendell, 55, appeared in 285 regular season games (13th-most in Mets history), posting a 3.34 ERA with a 5.1 bWAR from the time of his trade to New York in 1997 until he was dealt to the Philadelphia Phillies in July of 2001.

I had the pleasure of speaking with Wendell in mid-July, where he discussed how he got the nickname “Turk”, his various routines, and reflected on his time with the Mets.

MMO: Who were some of your favorite players growing up?

Wendell: I grew up a Red Sox fan, so the whole Carl Yastrzemski era with Jim Rice, Fred Lynn, Dwight Evans, and Carlton Fisk. Yastrzemski was my favorite player.

MMO: When and why did you get the nickname “Turk”?

Wendell: My grandpa. The story has it that when I was three years old I was outside playing in a big snow pile, and he was inside his house. I jumped off and went sliding down on my face. I got up and my face was all bloodied and he looked at me like, oh, crap!

He jumped up and got his jacket on to come out and help me, but by the time he got to the door I was already back on that snow pile doing the same thing again. [Laughs.] This is something a buddy of his that was named Turk would do, so he started calling me it. No one really knows my real name (Steven John Wendell).

MMO: What are your memories from the 1988 Draft in which you were selected by the Atlanta Braves in the fifth round?

Wendell: Leading up to it, I really thought I was going to be drafted by the Expos and not by the Braves. The Expos were always calling me and coming around during college games and talking to me.

They’d call me at night at my apartment and tell me my coach was pitching me too much and to tell him I couldn’t pitch. They thought I was going to blow out my arm. I was there to play baseball and you have to do what your coach tells you to do. Just like when I was with the Mets; when they told me to pitch, I pitched. Doesn’t matter when or where.

MMO: At what point did you make the transition from starter to reliever, and what were your initial reactions to the move?

Wendell: I was kind of bummed because I was a starter all the time. I ran out of options and they (Chicago Cubs) didn’t want to risk sending me to the minor leagues and getting taken by another team.

For a while, I was their insurance policy. I only got six big league spot starts except for when I first got called up and I had three starts in a row. I ran out of options and they stuck me in the bullpen as a long reliever.

I snuck in there as a set-up guy and then the next year we had a closer named Doug Jones – who, unfortunately, recently passed away – and he didn’t do very well. They put me out there as a closer and it worked.

The next thing you know I’m basically a set-up guy/closer in 1996. Then in 1997, the Cubs signed Mel Rojas to a big contract for three years to be the closer, so I was going to be a starter again. I started all of ’97 in spring training and it looked like I was going to be the fourth or fifth guy in the rotation.

Jim Riggleman (Cubs manager) came to me the last day and said, “I just love having you in the bullpen. If something happens to the first guy in the rotation …” well, that was just lip service. Not to his doing but to upper management, I guess. I was a reliever ever since.

MMO: Was it a tough transition for you going from starter to reliever?

Wendell: The big thing was the routine because you must be ready, by and large, every day. As a starter, the mentality is every five days.

When I was a starter I trained mentally and physically to pitch ten-eleven innings if that’s what it took. I can’t speak for everybody obviously, but I think a lot of the players today try to go six or seven innings; not many of them go nine innings anymore. I think a lot of that has to do with pitch counts and other stuff too, like a smaller strike zone which makes your pitch count go up.

For the most part, it was the day-to-day routine of getting myself ready but I still maintained that starter mentality. I would run five to eight miles every day before the game started throughout the cities.

Steve Phillips came up to me one day when we were in Toronto, and I thought I was in trouble, and said, “I need to speak to you for a minute.” I just got done running and was getting ready to walk into the clubhouse. He said, “Don’t you think you’re doing too much?” I went, ‘What?’ I know my body and I know what I need to do to be ready that day. I always had lots of energy and that kind of tires me out a little bit, so I don’t act like a total lunatic when I’m on the mound.

Usually, you have to kick guys in the ass to work hard, and here he is telling me not to work as hard. [Laughs.]

MMO: What were your initial reactions to being dealt to the Mets in August 1997?

Wendell: Growing up a Red Sox fan, I didn’t like the Yankees and I’m not a big city guy. Chicago is a big city, but it’s spread out, so you don’t feel like you’re in a big city.

I always said that I never wanted to play for the Yankees or Mets just because New York City is the biggest city in the world, or that’s the reputation that it has. It’s pretty intimidating. And truthfully, I always wanted to play with one team once I got to the big leagues. You don’t see that much anymore but that’s just something that was a goal I had.

I said I never wanted to play for the Mets or Yankees because of the big city, but as most people know you never say anything out loud because the baseball gods are always listening.

Thankfully they were because that was the best thing to happen to me in my career.

MMO: What was the biggest adjustment for you when you came to New York?

Wendell: Just my role again. I went from being a set-up guy/closer and then I went back to being a long man. They had set-up guys and closers; John Franco was the closer, [Greg] McMichael was the set-up guy and making good money. I just had to wait for my chance and opportunity.

MMO: How was Bobby Valentine as a manager?

Wendell: I loved him. Great guy, a very high baseball IQ. He gets to know the players and how to manage the players, not just on the field, but off it. I think that’s a big piece to the puzzle when managing.

I would ask managers throughout my playing days, ‘What do I have to do to be a better player?’ If I’m a better player, then we’re a better team.

I remember asking Riggleman during batting practice one day in the outfield, ‘Riggs, what’s the toughest part about being a manager?’ He said, “Making twenty-five guys happy every day.” For the most part, it’s not really twenty-five guys, there’s usually a couple of relievers who know that they’re not going to pitch, there are four starters that are not going out, so you have about 18-20 guys to make happy.

Bobby V. was good about that because we were all adults and he allowed us to police ourselves. I think that’s important especially when you have an older and more veteran team that when the younger guys come in and do something wrong, the older guys step in and tell him, “Hey, man, this isn’t how we do stuff.”

It’s funny, I just watched a couple of clips of player altercations in the dugouts during games the other day on YouTube, and there’s the Jonathan Papelbon/Bryce Harper one because Harper didn’t run out a ball. Then there’s Evan Longoria/B.J. Upton in Tampa and he just jogged to the ball in center and the guy ended up with a triple. You need guys like that on your team.

I never had that kind of incident happen on a team that I played on, but it’s good to have players like that to call out guys and not have to have a managerial thing.

The good thing about being on the Mets when I was, the majority of the players were all veteran players and didn’t care who the hero of the day was as long as we won the game. As long as we won the game that’s all we cared about. No one was trying to steal the spotlight.

MMO: I’d be remiss not to ask you about some of your routines that you’re notable for. How did jumping over the foul line start?

Wendell: In high school. I went out and I think I gave up a run or two in one inning. I did fairly well in high school, but I ended up giving up a couple of runs and I couldn’t figure out what I did differently. I remembered stepping on the foul line when I went out to the mound, so I made sure never to do that again.

MMO: What about waving to the center fielder? Is it true that the first center fielder you did that to was former Mets GM Jim Duquette in high school?

Wendell: You are correct. Apparently, I had thrown a pitch or two and he wasn’t ready yet. After the inning was over, he came over and said, “Dude, you’ve got to wait until I’m ready. I wasn’t even looking when you threw.”

After that, I started out kind of being like a smart ass, but after that, I was like, ‘All right, Duq, are you ready?’ [Laughs.]

MMO: What about chewing black licorice?

Wendell: In college. Guys played this game where they’d chew tobacco and spit on your shoes. I didn’t chew tobacco and never tried it or any of that kind of stuff. I wanted to be a good role model for kids.

During Easter time I would always eat just black jellybeans because I liked black licorice and I thought, hell, that looks cool like a chew, and I can still spit it like a chew. I started chewing pepperoni and then it turned to black licorice.

MMO: How about brushing your teeth in the dugout?

Wendell: In rookie ball. I had a bad taste in my mouth and I asked the bat boy to run up to the clubhouse to get my toothbrush so I could brush my teeth. I’m a firm believer that you get into a comfort zone, and the better you feel the better you’re going to play.

I went in and brushed my teeth, and I went out and struck out the side. Now, I don’t know if it was one of these immaculate innings that they all brag about these days. But I struck out the side and thought, I’m on to something here. And that’s how all these routines come about; it’s just through success and failure.

MMO: Would you call them superstitions or were they routines for you?

Wendell: No, they were routines. Some on the outside thought I was weird or this freaky guy or that I was looking for attention. The guys that I played with were like, “That’s just him. That’s just what he does to get into a comfort zone.”

On the first day of spring training in ’95, Riggleman took me aside and told me he didn’t want me to do any of that stuff anymore. He wanted people to see my arm and talk about my arm instead of all that other stuff. I never did any of that stuff from ’95 to the end of my career.

MMO: That must’ve been difficult for someone like you that had these set routines to now be told not to do them anymore.

Wendell: Yeah, I had to figure out a different routine to get into a comfort zone.

MMO: From 1996-2001, you appeared in 428 regular-season games which were seventh-most among relievers. That’s an average of over 71 games per season! Can you talk about being a guy that was able to take the ball every time your manager called down, and how you were able to keep yourself healthy?

Wendell: Guys would always say that I had a rubber arm, and I’m six-foot-two two-hundred pounds. If I was six-four, two-twenty, they would’ve said this guy is as strong as an ox, right?

To me, someone with a rubber arm is a little lefty that throws 85 miles per hour. I just attribute it to my training, my rest, my diet, and my dedication to the game and being prepared every day.

MMO: I’ve talked with several of your teammates from those 1999-2000 Mets teams, and they always talked about how close-knit those clubs were. Was that your takeaway as well?

Wendell: Oh, yeah. There were little cliques but when we got to the ballpark no one cared who the hero of the day was as long as we won the game. There are a lot of teams where some guys always want to be the hero. Not to really call out the Yankees, but it just seems like when you get a lot of those superstar players on the team, those types of egos clash.

People always talk about chemistry; you can’t buy chemistry. Unfortunately, when I played for the Cubs, we were the lovable losers, and guys really only had one thing to play for and that was themselves. We always joked around that when you’re winning games all the time you can do whatever you want; you can probably go take a crap on the mound and everyone would laugh.

When you’re losing and losing a lot of games and losing badly, everyone starts pointing the finger and no one wants to take accountability instead of saying, you know what, I just sucked today or sucked this year and I’m going to try and work harder and be better.

I think that’s the one thing that, I wouldn’t say liked, but I was respected by fans in New York because I never made excuses. When I sucked, I said I sucked but I was going to work hard and be better tomorrow. I didn’t say I made the wrong pitch because [Mike] Piazza called the wrong pitch or point the blame somewhere else. I’d say, “I threw the pitch, it wasn’t where I wanted it and the guy hit it out.” Or I said, “It’s where I wanted it and I’d throw it there again and he just got me today, but I’ll get him tomorrow.”

MMO: As a reliever, you need that short-term mentality.

Wendell: Absolutely. It’s funny, Al Leiter used to call me a weirdo. Believe it or not, Al called me that, and he’s weirder. [Laughs.]

He came up to me on a plane and it was three or four hours after the ballgame, and Al was on the plane playing some cards; they were playing a game called Tonk.

He said, “Weirdo, how do you do it?” I said, ‘Do what, Al?’ He goes, “You just lost the game, and you just blow it off like no big deal.” I’m competitive as hell, but I said, ‘Al, I did the best I could and that’s all that I can do. I’m going to be better tomorrow, and I’ll get the game and do my job tomorrow and make sure that doesn’t happen again.’ He went, “Gosh, I’m a wreck for four days if I pitch bad.” I said, ‘Well, Al, do you want me to think about this game tomorrow night when I have to come in the game and save your ass?’ [Laughs.]

You have to forget about it, you just have to forget about it and move on. Relievers have to have short-term memories.

When I was coaching kids, I would always say you try to make the best pitch possible, and when the pitch is over it’s over. You can’t do anything about it and you’ve never going to change it, so forget about it and look forward to your next pitch. My mentality was even when the game’s over, I’m only going to be as good as my next game.

I think that helped me to be a really good player but in hindsight, I never really appreciated some of the things that I did. It wasn’t like I was some unbelievable reliever, but I had my moments where I was pretty damn good. I would never gloat in that because I saw too many times where guys would go out and hit two home runs or something and were riding high on the hog for two or three weeks. And he still hadn’t hit another home run!

When coaching high school kids and talking to some college kids, I would always tell them, ‘There’s one thing you’re always going to remember: you’re never as good as you think you are. But you’re never as bad as you think you are either. Don’t forget all the hard work and everything that you’ve done that’s gotten you to this point in your playing days.’

MMO: Have you done a lot of coaching post retirement?

Wendell: I coached my son (Wyatt Wendell, who recently signed with the Arizona Diamondbacks as an undrafted free agent). I coached him from the time he was five or six all the way up to college.

MMO: What else have you been up to since you left the game?

Wendell: I’m happily divorced, which kind of sucked at first because one of the reasons I retired was to do the family thing. But I am very happy that I am divorced. [Laughs.] It wasn’t a good situation, it sucked for my kids, but I think they’re better adults now for it and it was a very good learning experience for them.

I had a ranch out in Colorado, and I sold that and now I have a little farm in Iowa. I recently just started working a little part-time job with a buddy’s company called Midwest Wheel. I pick truck parts for it, just basically walk six to eight miles a day and fill orders for people who ordered parts. I just walk around and get the part they need and bring it to the customers. It’s such a stupid, easy job and they have a lot of turnovers believe it or not, and it gives me something to do.

I kind of work when I want to work and however much or little I want to. It gives me a little extra spending cash and I’m just kind of living the dream. I try to see my kids as often as I can. I need to get back East and see my mom a little more often, but for the most part, living the dream.

MMO: Do you have any desire to get back into baseball in any capacity?

Wendell: Yeah, I would love to be a scout, or I’d really like to be a special advisor just to kind of help and coach some relievers. A lot of the relievers, they have the ability obviously, but it’s what’s between their ears and their work ethic and routines.

I always said that one thing if you’re a fly on the wall in a major league clubhouse is every guy has a routine. It’s all different, but they have a routine. There have been guys in the big leagues that have been there three or four years or longer and you can’t fly by the seat of your pants every day with no routine just doing whatever you want to do.

It’s funny, I was watching a Red Sox game a few years back when Joe Kelly – a guy who throws in the upper nineties consistently – was there, but his stats aren’t as good as they should be in my eyes. They did an in-game interview with him one time and they talked to him and asked him what his routine was. He said he didn’t have one, he just does whatever every day. And I thought, there it is, right there. That’s why this guy is not as consistent as he should be. The dude should be a closer somewhere, a lights-out closer, and he’s not.

Some guys just don’t want that, I guess you’d say pressure. To me, I always said pressure is what you put on yourself. If you don’t want to play when the game is on the line, shit, you shouldn’t be out there because that’s what it’s all about.

People laugh at me but I always said that closer is the easiest job in the bullpen. To me, it truly is because the game dictates whether you’re going to pitch or not. You know you’re not pitching until at least the eighth inning. Nowadays, guys get pissed if they have to come in the game in the eighth. Most closers are ninth inning and whatever mess that happens you’ve created.

A lot of times you’ll notice that closers aren’t as sharp when they come in and have a three-run lead. They know they have room for error. With a one-run lead, they’re usually a lot sharper because they know they have to be on their game right now.

The other thing about that is you don’t get overworked; you don’t get the dry humps where you get up and don’t get in the game. As a reliever, you might have two or three of those in a game and do that two or three days and you might have to have two or three days off because it takes a lot out of your arm.

MMO: I remember Valentine had you up and down quite a few times in Game 1 of the 2000 World Series.

Wendell: Yes. I have no idea how I got out of the first inning when I came into the jam. I didn’t have much left after that, but I sure as heck wasn’t going to take myself out of the game.

Game 1 of the World Series you’re so fired up and the adrenaline is pumping and you’re excited. But when they call down and say you’ve got the third hitter if this guy gets on base, well, first guy gets a single and now you’ve got to get ready because the third hitter, and then he gets the next guy out and he gets out of the inning. Then they call back down and say start getting loose when he goes back out to the mound again. Those things happen a lot! You can’t just kind of half-ass get ready.

I laugh a lot about it now and people laugh when I tell them the story, but I would always ask Piazza when I came into a ballgame and the coach would leave and it was just the two of us standing there, ‘All right, Mike, how are we going after this guy?’ Sometimes he’d hit me in the chest with his mitt and go, “Dude, just go after him with your good shit.” Like I’m going to half-ass this one and see what happens. [Laughs.] Or he would say, “Let me think about it on the walk back.”

It was always one of the two and I’d always laugh.

MMO: How did you like throwing to Mike?

Wendell: I liked throwing to him a lot. In hindsight, he probably called way too many sliders for me but that was my pitch. I remember one game in Montreal where I think I threw 35 pitches and 32 of them were sliders. I went up to him and said, ‘Mike, we have to throw something different.’ He goes, “Dude, they’re not hitting it!” I went, ‘That’s not the point. It’s the second game of the season, my elbow is going to fall off! It’s not August where I’m in mid-season form.’ [Laughs.]

MMO: When you reflect on your career, what are you most proud of?

Wendell: Living my dream every single day. Accomplishing something that very few have ever been able to do, and I didn’t know that until later after I retired was how few people have ever played Major League Baseball. They just let in a bunch of Negro League players last year and recognized them as Major League Baseball players, but before that, less than 20,000 people played Major League Baseball. To me, that’s just unbelievable that I was one of them and I really wasn’t that good.

What made me work hard every single day was I didn’t want to let myself down, my family, the team, and I sure as hell didn’t want to let the fans down.

MMO: Thanks for your time, Turk. It was great to look back on your career with you.

Wendell: My pleasure. Take care.