It’s rare that a comeback is largely forgotten, but the defensive wizardry displayed by Rey Ordóñez in his major league debut is still what’s most remembered from Opening Day 1996.
The Mets had sliced a 6-0 deficit in half by the time the Cardinals were at bat with two outs in the top of the seventh and Royce Clayton on first. Ray Lankford went down the left field line — a hit that potentially could extend St. Louis’ lead. Soon after Bernard Gilkey fielded the ball near the side wall, Clayton rounded third base. Gilkey’s throw to Ordóñez — the cutoff man — was low, but Rey got down and fielded the short hop. Then, from his knees on the outfield grass he fired it some 150 feet home to catcher Todd Hundley before Clayton reached the plate.
Ordóñez complemented his extraordinary defense minutes later with a single to right field that set up the Mets’ game-winning four-run rally, but Rey the rookie truly saved the day with his glove and arm.
He had already drawn comparison to Ozzie Smith, the greatest ever defender at shortstop. Now, with the veteran watching from the Cardinal dugout, Ordóñez showed why.
“When you throw somebody out from your knees on a relay,” Mets manager Dallas Green said, “you’re doing something special.”
It’s not just the best Opening Day comebacks in team history, it’s one of the best the Mets have ever made.
Played under dark clouds and with a light rain falling, a 6-0 deficit turned things even gloomier at Shea Stadium.
But 6–0 through three-and-a-half soon became 6–2 on the strength of a Hundley home run — the first of what would become a team-record 41. Gilkey, a wearer of Cardinal red as recently as last September, gave his new team a boost with a long ball that kicked off his most productive season in the majors.
St. Louis was poised for a seventh-inning response after Clayton executed a bunt single, only to be cut short by the 23-year-old shortstop from Cuba. The Cardinals threatened in the eighth without success and John Franco closed it out with a 1-2-3 ninth.
Ordóñez could be counted on to make the spectacular plays as well as the routine ones during his seven-year Mets career. He won three consecutive Gold Glove Awards beginning in 1997. And in 1999, he committed only four errors while leading all National League shortstops in defensive WAR. From June 13, 1999 until March 30, 2000, he was flawless — establishing a major-league-record 101-game errorless streak.
Rey Ordóñez offered up several highlights in the field, but the play made in his very first game may be the best.
