Bob Friend Award Winners (Split)

[Theoldmole]

From the Teammates thread: Allen (Watson) is also an honored recipient of the Bob Friend Award, given to the rare player who spends exactly one season in New York, but splits it between the Yankees and Mets.

Who are the other Bob Friend Award winners? I’m guessing Bob Friend would be one.

[Edgy MD]

Indeed he was.

Two others that come to mind include a 2001 outfielder and a 1993 starting pitcher.

[Edgy MD]

I take it back. Watson doesn't qualify for the Friend award. Sorry, Allen. Please send that plaque back at your earliest convenience.

[seawolf17]

Edgy MD wrote: 1993 starting pitcher

Bret Saberhagen and Doc Gooden is the only 1993 starting pitchers I can think of, and I'm pretty sure it isn't Doc, so I'll guess Sabes.

[Edgy MD]

Not Sabes. Never a Yankee, and he was a multi-year Met.

[Centerfield]

Matt Lawton.

[Edgy MD]

Matt Lawton was on both teams, but several years apart.

To review, were looking for guys who were:

[*:h2mgy4w8]Both a Yankee and a Met,[/*:m:h2mgy4w8]
[*:h2mgy4w8]in the same season,[/*:m:h2mgy4w8]
[*:h2mgy4w8]but never played for either team in any other season.[/*:m:h2mgy4w8][/list:o:h2mgy4w8]

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Darren Bragg

[Centerfield]

Ooh! I think that's it! Forgot about Darren.

[Edgy MD]

Bragg is our outfielder. Picked up by the Yankees when the Mets waived him, and immediately confessed his lifelong Yankee fandom.

Darren allegedly wore 56 to honor Lawrence Taylor, and was the recipient of this wise advice from Mets by the Numbers: "It's easier to DFA a guy wearing 56 than a guy wearing 11. Think of your career, man!

Man, Ms. Met loved her some Darren Bragg, and was spitting mad to see him cross town.

[G-Fafif]

Darren Bragg was that rare Met whose existence as a Met became known to me when I took my seat, looked up at the scoreboard, saw his number and asked, "Who's that?"

The 1993 Met/MFY was Frank Tanana, sent to the dark place as they groped in mid-September to catch the Blue Jays. The MFYs failed, Tanana retired and we got Kenny Greer for one magical inning.

[Benjamin Grimm]

Wow, Darren Bragg must be extraordinarily sneaky if he was able to slip under your radar!

[Edgy MD]

Tanana is correct. And Greer's uninterrupted streak of Metly perfection continues on in it's 24th year.

I wonder if the Mets got any Greer compensation when he signed with the Giants.

The only other Friend Award winner I'm aware of is a 2009 infielder.

[Benjamin Grimm]

Prediction: Giancarlo Stanton joins this list in 2018!

You heard it here first!

[G-Fafif]

Benjamin Grimm wrote: Wow, Darren Bragg must be extraordinarily sneaky if he was able to slip under your radar!

I'm still thinking he might have been a plant. And am not convinced he wasn't Glenn Braggs.

The other Mets who appeared to me at the ballpark from out of the blue/orange were Tom Wilson and Keith Miller, the latter on a road trip to Montreal, so I hadn't been on top of transactions. I saw 25 playing 2B and deduced it was him from my Inside Pitch readership but didn't know he'd been called up. OTOH, "6 C" on the scoreboard in June of 2004 -- during the Indians' only Interleague visit to Shea -- still feels like an unsolved mystery. I had literally never heard of him before his name was announced.

[Edgy MD]

I think it's great to show up at the ballpark and see a guy in the starting lineup that had been added that day in a transaction you missed. Even moreso when it's not a guy that was on the 40 — perhaps a journeyman minor leaguer that got the happiest tap on his shoulder, or perhaps a surprising waiver claim.

Obviously, this is far less likely in our media-saturated age, and sure, such a character in the lineup probably means lower odds of winning, but going to a Met game and meeting a new Met? That's value added.

My big moments of being present for an unexpected launch were Craig Paquette and Shawn Hare. Both might have been double-switch specialists of little account, but as a guy who is descended from a line of Quebeçois carpenters named Paquette, I was thrilled.

Come on, 2009 infielder. Who's our last Friend Award Winner?

[G-Fafif]

2009 Friend: Angel Berroa, he of the Angel Berroa Rotunda.

[Edgy MD]

Berroa is our last BFA honoree!

I think "Friend Award" has a really genial sound, considering the politically charged drama of crossing town mid-season. I think it should be a thing, and the Mets and Yanks should host Friend, Bragg, Berroa and Tanana at the next Subway Series, perhaps honoring one per game.

[seawolf17]

Edgy MD wrote: Not Sabes. Never a Yankee, and he was a multi-year Met.

Sorry. Thought we were still looking for Ordonez/Oquendo splits.

[seawolf17]

G-Fafif wrote: we got Kenny Greer for one magical inning

Not only was I at that game, but Greer also caught the only ceremonial first pitch I've ever thrown, when I was working for the Red Wings' radio station in 1997 in Rochester.