Sponsored by Shea Stadium Remembered

Once long ago the Braves were like mere moths to the Mets. The NL West club flitted about in the back of the closet. They came to Shea a couple of times per year, sometimes annoying New York like an insect chewing holes in your favorite 1980s Cosby sweater, but most times you barely noticed they were there. Then came the day the moth flew in your face and you splatted the damned thing against the wall. That was July 11, 1986.

The Mets and Braves were playing at Shea, the second night of a four-game series preceding the All-Star break. The Mets won the night before and held a commanding 10-½ game lead in the NL East. The Braves were fourth in the NL West, a game under .500. Mets starter Sid Fernandez stranded Ken Griffey Sr. in scoring position in the top of the first. In the bottom of the inning Gary Carter came up with a base open and two on. David Palmer pitched to him. Carter took him deep, followed by the inevitable curtain call to appease the ecstatic 40,000 at Shea as millions more watched on the NBC prime-time special broadcast. David Palmer, former batterymate of the Kid in Montreal, kicked the ground as soon as Carter swung. He seethed on the mound as his former catcher pumped his fist to the crowd. Palmer drilled the following batter, Darryl Strawberry. Bad idea.

From One-Year Dynasty:

Strawberry threw his helmet and headed right for Palmer, the Brave suddenly not so brave as he threw his glove at the fast approaching slugger and then ducked away. Braves catcher Ozzie Virgil slowed Strawberry’s progress from behind, but Keith Hernandez was among those who did reach the pitcher. The fight ended soon, but the nightmare continued for Palmer. He was not ejected but suffered the indignity of facing Carter again in the second inning… and allowing a grand slam… and another curtain call.

“They act as though they won the seventh game of the World Series,” prescient Palmer said after the game. “I told Keith Hernandez when we were scuffling around: ‘I don’t mind if you hit 15 home runs, but don’t show me up.’ ”

Carter’s second home run—his 10th career grand slam—gave him 16 homers for the year. The seven RBI were a career high and gave him 65 to take the league lead from Mike Schmidt. Carter also caught Sid Fernandez’s first career complete-game shutout, which may have been the best overall start of the pitcher’s career—El Sid had three hits at the plate while allowing just two on the mound.

The Mets would sweep the four games from the Braves. The brawl was the first of three fights in 12 days—including off-duty police in Houston.

Mets All-Star selections during selected good seasons:

1973: 2 All-Stars, won NL pennant

1999: 1 All-Star, won NL Wild Card

2015: 1 All-Star, won NL pennant.

And then we have this disaster of a first half in 2019: a 40-50 record, 15th of 16 NL teams, worst record in the NL in their last 20 games, their last 30 games, on the road, and of course, the worst bullpen.

Yet they have three All-Stars. Pete Alonso, Jeff McNeill, and Jacob deGrom are all more than qualified. It’s the other 22 roster spots that have been problematic. But they have at least hit, and they have pitched the Mets into a position to lead the league in blown saves. Management is killing them. They had a chance to hire a guy from the Rays who makes a contender out of pocket change; instead the Mets hire a GM who keeps trading for the players he oversaw as an agent. There are numerous managers with experience (or at least a clue) sitting and waiting for the phone to ring. If the Mets had fired their manager in May, when it was obvious the team was on the verge of falling apart, they could have salvaged this season. Over the past 30 games games the Mets are playing at the same pace as the Marlins (12-18), who have been the laughingstock of the league. Except when the Mets come to town.

The 2019 Mets Baseball-Reference page says the Mets have a 0.5 percent chance of the postseason and 0.2 percent chance of winning the World Series. So you’re telling me there’s a chance?

Sigh. Let’s get to the grades. Shall we? To be included, players must accrue 50 at bats or 15 innings pitched as a Met. This prevents  from giving grades to Tampa Bay’s problem Travis d’Arnaud, Luis Guillorme, Aaron Altherr, Chris Flexen, Tyler Bashlor, Luis Avilan, Justin Wilson, Hector Santiago, Walter Lockett, Tim Peterson, Brooks Pounders, Corey Oswalt, Daniel Zamora, Chris Mazza, Jacob Rhame, Ryan O’Rourke, the immortal Paul Sewald, and Rajai Davis (why is Rajai not on team? In seven at bats he showed more life, power, and fun than most of the sorry Mets mess of 2019).

First-Half 2019 Report Card

Pete Alonso A One of the few things the GM did right was let him start the year in the bigs. Oh, he belongs.

Jeff McNeil A One of the many things the GM screwed up was not trusting him as 2B. Squirrel morphing into Murph?

Jacob deGrom A- Has been more inconsistent, but still an All-Star who signed with this mess. Mets fold in his starts.

Dominic Smith B+ Expected nothing and he’s hit .311 with power. Thankfully put him in OF so Alonso doesn’t sit.

J.D. Davis B Best deal GM has made. Now if he’d only trade Frazier so Davis can play. Not Brooks Robinson at 3B.

Wilson Ramos B- Tormentor of Mets in past can really hit for them. Catching the ball has been a little dicey.

Noah Syndergaard C+ He won’t pitch to Ramos, though his 1-0 shutout and HR game was to Ramos Noah knows.

Tomas Nido C+ Everyone wants to pitch to him. He’s finally hitting some. Black hole of catcher looks a bit brighter.

Jason Vargas C+ He has the same grade as Noah. That’s scary. Hopefully can get something in return for crafty lefty.

Zack Wheeler C+ Mets can’t afford to pay deGrom, Noah, and Wheeler. Hope they get something good for him.

Michael Conforto C Very streaky. Gets on base a lot and has learned to play all three OF positions. Is he the future?

Amed Rosario C He has been productive with bat, like death with glove. Cano influence on him has taken toll.

Todd Frazier C Still productive despite clunky swing. You’d think a contender could use him. Holding back J.D. Davis.

Steven Matz C- You would not get much for him in trade now. One day he may yet show what he has. Still unsure.

Adainy Hechevarria C- It’s been weeks since he started. He’s the kind of so-so 2B a lousy team should be playing.

Brandon Nimmo D+ Here comes the army of D’s… Brandon was having a horrific year when injury took him down.

Seth Lugo D+ And here’s the first reliever… Actually has best pen ERA (3.35), but overtaxed by multiple-inning outings.

Robert Gsellman D There is an alternative universe where a qualified manager uses Lugo and Gsellman to good effect.

Carlos Gomez D Almost been back a couple of times and finally returned. And left again. Can’t say we didn’t try.

Juan Lagares D Showed signs of life with bat and then back to same. Maybe a contender needs an outfield caddy.

Wilmer Font D- This guy stinks, starting or relieving. Gives up too many walks, HRs. Somehow ERA is under 5.00.

Drew Gagnon D- Actually has worst bullpen ERA (7.65), but 3-1 record on team that doesn’t win is worth a point.

Edwin Diaz F His 19 saves are a lot for a bad team, but he has killed Mets. Hope will rebound from overuse by M’s.

Jeurys Familia F He has been atrocious. Signing him for three years is only move worse than Cano-Diaz deal.

Keon Broxton F That GM traded prospects for Lagares Lite shows bad judgment. Hitting under .200 with O’s, too.

Robinson Cano F Playing with the urgency of a zombie. Kills lineup in third spot. Bad Robby Alomar imitation.

Manager/GM

Mickey Calloway F How is it possible he is still employed? In-game actions are terrible; post-game reactions are worse.

Brodie Van Wagenen F It seems crazy to fail a GM in his first half on the job. But Brodie broke the mold. And the team.

Sponsored by Shea Stadium Remembered

I took the month of June off, but so did the Mets. When it takes the current Mets more than a week to win once, the idea of winning twice in one day is too appetizing to turn away from. But in 1984 the Mets did that to inch a game out of first place after years as the laughingstock of New York. Joe Torre, who’d managed the Mets for many of those forgettable years, had his Braves in second place in the NL West. Darryl Strawberry knocked in a pair with a two-out, two-run single in the eighth against Atlanta and the Mets won the opener of the makeup twinbill, 2-1. Jesse Orosco picked up his 14th save for rookie Ron Darling.

In the nightcap, George Foster tied the game with his 300th career home run. The go-ahead run scored on a wild pitch in the seventh. Tim Leary went five innings in relief and Doug Sisk retired Chris Chambliss with the tying run on base for his 11th save. And people used to give Doug Sisk crap! Imagine having two relievers combine for 25 saves by the first of July?

Sponsored by Shea Stadium Remembered (a great Father’s Day Gift–wink, wink)

The ’86 Mets were already up by eight games with June just a third of the way through. The Mets were torturing opponents, especially divisional foes. The Phillies took an eighth-inning lead when Ron Roenicke homered and they brought in Steve Bedrosian, one of the game’s top closer and who would win the Cy Young a year later. He was not Cy Young material this night as Gary Carter tied the game with his second home run of the night. The Mets toyed with the Phillies until the 11th inning when they loaded the bases with one out against Randy Lerch. With the lefty Lerch on the hill, Davey Johnson opted for righty swinging Tim Teufel. The Phillies countered with righty Tom Hume to face Teufel, hitting .234 with just one home run since coming over from the Twins in a trade that winter. The Mets just needed a long fly—and Teufel did that and then some. His grand slam lifted Shea into ecstacy and pushed the 38-16 Mets Mets into the .700 stratosphere.

A lot has been happening lately. This Day at Shea has taken a week off, there’s been good reason.

I was preparing for my visit to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown to discuss Shea Stadium Remembered. A lot happened at Shea, so I spent some time gathering notes for the talk to kick off the Hall’s Author’s Series for 2019. And then I never looked at the notes.

I want to thank everyone who came to listen to the talk, and who came around and bought books. I signed so many books for the museum that I went into Catholic school punish assignment default mode. But with much happier results. I especially want to thank my official photographer, Dan Carubia; Utica’s Observer-Dispatch sportswriter Don Laible; and my son, Tyler, who got up early and had a full day with his dad on the road and in Cooperstown. Like my dad, he’s not the biggest baseball fan but takes it all in stride for me. They say it skips a generation.

Special thanks to Bruce Markusen, whom I’ve known since 1971. We spent eight years together at Iona Grammar School in New Rochelle, writing out punish assignments and talking about baseball. We reconnected 20-plus years ago with me working on baseball books and him narrating video and putting together programs at the Hall of Fame. He is quite a writer in his own right (he was always the better student), and Bruce won the 1999 Seymour Medal for his excellent book on the 1970s Oakland A’s. Back in the 1970s we were both hardcore baseball fans and manned the right side of the infield for the same softball team—Bruce was always tall, and was at first base with his Joe Rudi glove; I had my Don Money mitt at second.

And thanks for the PR leading up to the event. The aforementioned Don Liable from the Observer-Dispatch wrote a nice piece on the book.  And over the weekend I spoke with Mike Silva from the awesome Talkin’ Mets podcast from Metsmerized Online. I come in around the 19-minute mark, with an introduction by Lindsey Nelson about moving to Shea in 1964.

Very pleased to announce that I will be leading off the Hall of Fame Author Series in Cooperstown on Wednesday, June 5, at 1 p.m. to discuss Shea Stadium Remembered. I have presented there for my last three books, and spoke there in 2001 as well. It is always an honor. They have a packed lineup this year. It’s fitting that Brian Wright, author of Mets in 10s, whom I’ve done a couple of appearances with this year, will close out the series on August 14. See you in Cooperstown—myths aside, Cooperstown may not be the first place baseball was played, but it might be the best.

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I learned how to switch-hit in Wiffle Ball to the point where I could hit better batting left-handed, but it did not translate into hardball. I always admired people who could switch effortlessly from side to side. Who were the best Mets switch-hitters? Check out my recent post on Rising Apple.

Sponsored by Shea Stadium Remembered

After 17 innings at Shea, the Mets walk off against the Pirates for the second straight day. Even crazier is that Bill Mazeroski, who later made it to the Hall of Fame for his glove, gives the Mets the game when his throwing scores Tommie Agee from second base. Tom Seaver allows a two-run homer to Willie Stargell in the first inning, but he otherwise dominates the Pittsburgh Lumber Company for 11 innings, until Gil Hodges goes to the pen. The only other run he surrenders is on a hit by Pirates pitcher Al McBean. Agee, who would struggle mightily in ’68 after being beaned in spring training, has a two-run homer early in the game—his first at Shea. His 2-for-7 effort lifts his average all the way to .142.

Sponsored by Shea Stadium Remembered

Willie Mays made his triumphant return to New York in a home uniform on this date in 1972. Mets owner Joan Payson, former shareholder of the New York Giants and the lone dissenting vote for the baseball club’s move to San Francisco, had wanted Willie back in New York since the Mets came into being. Imagine Mays on those early Polo Grounds Mets teams? They may have done better than 40-120 in 1962, and it would have been quite an experiment to see how many wins one player was actually worth. The Mets had nothing remotely equal to trade to the Giants, and San Francisco wasn’t hard up enough to take money and a token player for one of the game’s greatest stars. By 1972 they were ready.

This was not the Mays of the mid-1960s, and certainly not the bright star of the Giants in the 1950s. This was end-of-the-line Willie. The 41-year-old baseball treasure sold a lot of seats at Shea in 1972—the Mets were first in the NL in attendance for the fourth straight year. The next time they would hold that distinction was 1988. But Willie got his New York swan song off with a bang—against his former club, no less.

Mays the Met’s first assignment was on Mother’s Day in front of 35,000 at Shea, including the Mets’ mom, Mrs. Payson. Mays, playing first base (Tommie Agee still manned center field), led off the game to a huge ovation and walked against former teammate Sam McDowell. The next two Mets also walked, and then Rusty Staub, acquired before the season began from Montreal, crushed a grand slam.

Mays struck out his second time up, but when he stepped up for the third time, the game was tied, 4-4. Mays long fly carried over the fence in left, much to the delight of Shea and Lindsey Nelson on WHN. It held up as the winning run for the first-place Mets. The Mets were in the midst of an 11-game winning streak under new manager Yogi Berra, who’d taken over after the tragic death of Gil Hodges. The injuries would mount and the Mets would wilt, but Willie Mays was back in town.