(Photo: Courtesy of Jacob Kanarek)
John Stearns coming up to Old-Timers Day less than three weeks before he succumbed to cancer showed you all you needed to know about Stearns, even if you never saw him play. He was the reward you got for watching those lousy Mets teams in the late 1970s. Even if the Mets were a laughingstock, you did not laugh in the Bad Dude’s face. Ask Dave Parker and his broken jaw after trying to steal a rare win from the ’78 Mets. Colorado two-sport star and All-Star of the Dark Days at Shea. “The Monster is out of his cage”… and is in heaven. Thanks for everything, John.
[Note: I originally published this on Facebook the day John Stearns died. It is the biggest response (550+ likes; 70+ responses) I have ever gotten from anything I have posted. I loved Stearns for being the guy that teams salivated over and were afraid of in the lineup and reluctant to run on. He was also the one guy who could have made the late 1970s Yankees and had a key role (especially given how bad Thurman Munson’s knees looked in 1979). I am publishing it here because it belongs to me, not Facebook… and to Mets fans who saw Stearns play… or wish they did. Even at Grant’s Tomb.]