In a recent Shoebox Memories article on Art Shamsky, commentor Jason Black asked us to review the card above – #49 from the 1983 Topps set – and to identify the Mets first basemen.
Most of the other commentors, particularly MetsHof, felt that the Mets first baseman that day was either Lee Mazzilli or Dave Kingman. Let’s take our Sherlock Holmes deerstalker hat off of the peg on the wall and together seek to answer the mystery of the Mets first baseman.
Lets begin by noting that Willie McGee was a rookie in 1982, so we don’t have to worry about the picture on the card being from a prior season. A review of uniform numbers worn by the Mets in 1982, supplied by Baseball Reference, reveals that the only players with the Mets in 1982 who had a uniform number ending in the number six were Wally Backman (6), Dave Kingman (26) and Ed Lynch (36).
As Wally Backman played second, third, and short in 1982 – and Ed Lynch was a pitcher – by process of elimination Holmes, the Mets player shown on the card is Dave Kingman. Kingman did play first in 143 games for the 1982 Mets, who went 65-97 under manager George Bamberger.
What about Lee Mazzilli? After six seasons of playing for the Amazins, Maz had been traded just before the 1982 season opener to the Rangers for Walt Terrell and Ron Darling. Terrell went 19-23 with a 3.53 ERA for the Mets over three seasons before being traded to the Tigers for Howard Johnson in 1985. Ron Darling would go 99-70 with a 3.50 ERA for the Mets over nine seasons and is known to a new generation of Mets fans for his work in the broadcast booth.
Holmes, let’s see if we can expand the scope of this mystery case posed by commentor Jason Black, and determine what day the game was played, who the unseen pitcher was who was throwing over to first on the pickoff play shown, and whether the Mets won the game in question.
Note McGee is wearing the Cardinals’ visiting team uniform, Kingman is wearing the Mets’ home team uniform, and the game in question is from a day game.
Also, note the nice blue skies in the distance. So we’ll start by checking Baseball Reference’s 1982 schedule and results page for games meeting that criteria. The first time the Mets hosted the Cardinals in 1982 was on June 11th and 12th, but both games were night games.
The next time the Mets hosted the Redbirds was on August 9th and 10th, but both were night games, so those games can be eliminated as possibilities, Watson.
The next and final times the Cardinals played at Shea in 1982 were from September 17-19, when back-to-back doubleheaders were played on the 17th and 18th, and the final game was on September 19th.
Remember the blue skies? On September 17th, the first game – which lasted 10 innings – had a rain delay. The second game did not start until 8:20 PM, hence both games can be eliminated as possibilities. The first game of September 18th, which was a scheduled twinight doubleheader, also had a rain delay. Both of these games can be eliminated as possibilities. The last possibility is September 19th.
A check of the September 19, 1982 box score does show that Willie McGee played centerfield for the Cardinals that day and Kingman manned first for the Mets. That also would have been my kid brother’s eighth birthday, which means we were probably at the game in question as part of the 9,868 paid fans in attendance.
Willie McGee reached on an error by shortstop Ron Gardenhire in the second inning and stole second, but was stranded there as pitcher Pat Zachry retired Mike Ramsey on a pop up to short. It is almost certain that when McGee was on first, the pickoff pictured on the card in question occurred – which means the unseen pitcher is Pat Zachry.
In the fourth inning, McGee singled, loading the bases with one out – but that is unlikely to be when the pickoff was attempted. Why would a pickoff be attempted with the bases loaded? Also, note McGee’s clean uniform, which would likely have been sullied by the earlier steal attempt.
A few notes on the players pictured on the card: Willie McGee was a four-time All Star for the Cardinals in the 1980s, and the National League MVP in 1985 when he led the league in hits (216), triples (18), and batting average (.353) while winning the second of his three Gold Gloves.
He also won the 1990 National League batting crown with his .335 average, even though he was traded at the deadline to the Oakland A’s. He had enough at-bats to qualify for the crown.
Dave Kingman had a National League-leading 37 home runs to go with 99 RBI in 1982 for the Mets. However, Kingman batted .204 in 1982, the first home run leader to have a lower batting average than the Cy Young Award winner – as Steve Carlton hit .218 for the Phillies in addition to winning 23 games.
The Mets lost that day 3-1 in a game that lasted 2 hours and 24 minutes.
As we put our deerstalker hat back on the peg in the wall, we hope you liked solving the mystery of the unknown Mets first baseman with us. Do you have another card that you would like to be analyzed? Please include it in the comments below.
