On September 15, the Mets organization lost one of the toughest, most hard-nosed players it had ever seen, catcher John Stearns. As Joe D. wrote on MMO, for fans for of a certain age, a part of our childhood passed away that day as well.

As Joe pointed out, after the trade of Tom Seaver on June 15, 1977, Mets fans did not have much to hold. To make matters worse, the Yankees were beginning a run of consecutive World Series titles in 1977 and 1978. Like Joe, I used to argue with my Yankee-supporting friends that Stearns was better than Yankees’ catcher Thurman Munson (Stearns was not). After all, the Mets had a catcher who could steal bases!

As the Mets drifted into the abyss of the late 1970s and early 1980s, fans had Stearns, Willie Montanez (for flash purposes), and Lee Mazzilli (for a brief period, Lenny Randle too). Wins were few and far between, but “The Bad Dude” would do whatever he could to give the Mets a victory. One game from the 1978 season stands out to me (and many fans) that epitomizes the grit Stearns had on the field.

The date was June 30, and the 33-45 Mets were in Pittsburgh to take on the Pirates. The Mets were trailing 3-2 going into the ninth inning. The Mets plated four runs in the ninth, highlighted by an Ed Kranepool single on which Stearns scored, and run-scoring hits by Randle, Joel Youngblood, and Steve Henderson.

Dale Murray took the hill in the bottom of the ninth inning, trying to protect a 6-3 lead. Of course, it would not come easily. After one out, both future Met Frank Taveras and Omar Moreno singled. Dave Parker, the Bucs’ gifted right fielder who resembled a middle linebacker, tripled in both runners. Parker stood as the tying run at third base with one out. What happened next epitomized the toughness of John Stearns.

Future Mets coach, the late Bill Robinson, hit a fly ball to medium-depth right field. Youngblood, who had an outstanding throwing arm, camped under the ball, caught it, and unloaded a strike to home plate as Parker barreled down the line to try to tie the game. This was a 230-pound man, who ran very well, coming full speed at Stearns who had to make the play to preserve the win. Stearns did just that, as Parker slammed into him. In an interview on WCBS radio in 2019, Stearns reflected on the play.

“It wasn’t a deep fly ball, and I went oh my God, here we go. I knew Parker was going to tag, he was the tying run. The game was on the line. Here comes Youngblood’s throw, he one-hopped me. It was over about four feet up the first base side. I caught the ball, and without looking, I mean the game was on the line, I dove over onto the plate on both knees. I put the glove out in front of me to make the tag. So I’m straddling the plate on both knees, and I look up and Parker was about four feet from me running full speed.

I had enough time to stick the glove up. He just obliterated me. Knocked me out of the entire circular dirt area around the batter’s area. I ended up 15 feet away from home plate after he hit me. I had the ball. I held the ball up for the umpire. The umpire went ‘you’re outta there!’ The game was over and we had won. Parker was laying on the ground, holding his cheek and moaning. I got lucky. He hit his cheek on the crown of my head. He knocked the crap out of me. He came up with a broken jaw, and we came up with the win.”

That was John Stearns. Parker missed time and then wore the “c” flap after the incident. Stearns just kept battling.

RIP, John. As a Mets coach, you once said of Mike Piazza in the playoffs “the monster is out of the cage!” We’ll miss your leadership, your toughness, and your talent. Most of all, we’ll miss what you gave to a generation of Mets fans who had little else at the time.

This one hurts.