RIP Rusty Staub, 1944-2018

[metirish]

I am sure it will be a great send off from his friends , I can see Fran Healy etc telling great stories about Rusty...

[batmagadanleadoff]

Rusty didn't take with him to the grave, the story of why he didn't appear in the Topps '72 and '73 sets.

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=25775&p=699914&hilit=+Rusty#p699914

[seawolf17]

Keith on Rusty. Heartbreaking.

235K views · 5.1K reactions | Keith Hernandez discusses the loss of...

WWW.FACEBOOK.COM

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Keith Hernandez discusses the loss of his friend and former teammate Rusty Staub

[Edgy MD]

Keef sat with the media this morning to remember Rusty. I posted it to the Crane Pool FB page.

Tough but worthy watch. (wolf beat me)

[batmagadanleadoff]

batmagadanleadoff wrote: Rusty didn't take with him to the grave, the story of why he didn't appear in the Topps '72 and '73 sets. viewtopic.php?f=1&t=25775&p=699914&hilit=+Rusty#p699914

Here's the link to the CPF thread on "that" Staub card.

http://archives.thecranepool.net/13100/f1_t13176.shtml

On the final day of the Mets 50th anniversary symposium held at Hofstra University, there was a dinner for attendees. A few Mets spoke before the crowd and participated in a Q&A session, including Rusty Staub and Ed Charles. (And don't nobody tell me that Kranepool and Harrelson were the other speakers at that dinner.) I didn't ask any questions. While driving home afterwards, I kicked myself (mentally) for not asking Rusty about his two year absence from the Topps sets. Up until I recently discovered the answer, it was a big mystery and I'd spent a good deal of time over the years searching, unsuccessfully, for the explanation.

[Guest cooby]

I can’t find the crane pool forum Facebook page

[Edgy MD]

CPF Facebook Page:

Facebook

WWW.FACEBOOK.COM

[Guest cooby]

Just says unavailable Edgy

[Edgy MD]

Can't figure out what's wrong.

[Edgy MD]

Fixed.

Sheesh. How did that become unpublished, man?

[Guest 41Forever]

Tigers give proper tribute to Rusty today.

[Fman99]

Zvon wrote: Ugh. This sucks. RIP Rusty. [fimg=500]https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/k5LDiAfSHHAo5kIHkCfB0eDhg2XMTG64QhJlTI5ctsdkT23kuMjwhL2e63uWZ7FTBx820-UF5dWqwa_6JdmcvJ7MUGnYh0HTvoGE2ofxRCCpR6aHR6GSvot2XjRnqasop2T4QZyNT9KPSiyIRgsp2EYn5l7xkXoMuMAFmc0Xu3K4J91sYzVB6J4pLZbKy2tQMFZfi4j1s7GbWl7Ob2tHGNSXbn-ZzEVVshqil3rVLIknUxF-5rqLYgfET-4zneVwlpZce9gtgjHqhLW82Xh2JrA4k3FhV0UbTEsAzwCXkb0S-rG0i5bRDccpwIfOc8PlHynz3O25skLFwyx0kVcTH6dIksbFaqjhI0PED2a-5GhqqMpoxeQmx97T9H6earmXyTIKqRE-xdJBeankZUokQYsmb423v3J_mEyjvC-XRw6ryyKtQ9nzs00DeFGyE1zswrAU6LJ3pTSRk8D2LqnlwtGZFn76wqwL4LdOwDYmGDbYifkGopQ0eJxV3N46KA2EWgS9bAgkInLuKACdviOv-3Gek_B9gcU1Vc5gDTRXdh9XuTtNqFBylA_iV9jon3SbAVn7GSfnqe9kohUvLeq8XEm4F900LbHObrER9h37=w692-h488-no[/fimg]

These animated cards are fan fucking tastic.

[G-Fafif]

G-Fafif wrote: Benjamin Grimm wrote: Would it be tacky or respectful to have him lie in state in the Citi Field rotunda? If it's a respectful thing, he certainly deserves it, but I'm afraid it probably falls more on the side of tacky. Fitting in the scheme of baseball history, but given that he died in Florida (I don't know where his final resting place will be), the logistics might be tricky.

Rusty arranged to be buried in France, per his brother.

[Benjamin Grimm]

Maybe he'll have a layover at LaGuardia...

[Zvon]

Fman99 wrote: These animated cards are fan fucking tastic.

Thank you sir. A bit of a time consuming pain to make but I always love the outcome.
I should have had Rusty's helmet pop up over the upper border as he ran (on "round-tripper"), like how you can see the ball come down on the "great catch" GifCard™.

Even this great opening day win couldn't cheer me up. Well,.....lil' bit.

[Zvon]

Great salute by JoeP!

[tweet:lropxdkk]https://twitter.com/Joey_Paints/status/979348059028107264[/tweet:lropxdkk]

[Frayed Knot]

For those of you who only saw Rusty as the somewhat roundish/father-figure/guru/pinch-hitting specialist during his second go-around with the Mets, you missed a real good all-around ballplayer.
No, he never was fast (although stole 47 bases in his career) but he was a real good outfielder with a terrific arm (although it never quite came all the way back from that '73 playoff injury) and of course the bat spoke for itself.
He was the first OF I remember seeing with the sliding (as opposed to diving) catch which he based on the idea that hitting the ground first and then making the catch made it less likely that the ball would be jarred loose than the other way around. He was also the first I remember as doing the forward tumble after a throw as a result of getting all his momentum behind it. I'm sure he didn't invent either of these techniques but he was the guy I remember pulling them off.


I guess I was aware of him as a player during his days in Houston, but my first vivid memory was from his second game as an Expo. Gary referenced the '69 opener today where the Mets lost an 11-10 game to the expansion 'Spos (all four expansion teams won their first game that year). Dad and I were supposed to be at that game but somehow we BOTH got sick and so went the next day instead. Sitting in the RF I had a good view of Rusty catching a ball coming in as his hat fell off. In doing so I found out why he was nicknamed Rusty because I had ever seen hair quite that color. Keep in mind that black-and-white TV sets still dominated in that era and even the color sets that did exist weren't all that good, giving a kind of pastel-hued tinge to everything, so it took seeing him live to discover that that shade was one actually found in nature. His hair color softened in his later years but it was a unique shade in his early days.

What sticks in my head from his later years was how he was almost automatic streak down the stretch in 1984.
- (Sept 18) after not having played in eight days, he leads off the 9th inning of a 5-5 tie vs Philly (PH'ing of course) with a single. Three batters later his run (he was PR'd for) plus another one score on Strawberry's 3R HR
- his next AB doesn't come until six days later, again in a 5-5 tie game vs Philly, this time in the home 8th. He doubled in two runs and the Mets went on to win.
- the very next night the Mets trail the Phils 4-2 but get two in the 9th to tie it. So NOW Staub comes as a PH for Raffy Santana w/the winning run on 2nd: 2R walk-off HR
He had just three ABs between Sept 11 and Sept 25, took three swings and the results were a single, a double, and a HR in last AB tie games, and all either won the game or set-up a win.
It's too short to call such a run 'a streak' but the automatic and seemingly pre-ordained successful outcome in those appearances was one of the most freakish things I had seen from a hitter. And he was 40 y/o at the time.

[Edgy MD]

Rusty finished with 2,716 hits, 499 doubles and 292 homers. It's not hard to see how a little more DHing could have helped him clear the milestones that would have made a Hall-of-Famer of him. But he stayed with the Mets as a bench player. Good on him.

What I never got was how he ended up on the Mets bench. He re-joined them in 1981 as their first baseman. Despite putting up an .800 OPS (tops on the team, once Youngblood got hurt) through the first half of the season, he was relegated to the bench once the second season started. Yeah, he probably was below average as a firstbaseman, but he was replaced by Dave Kingman, so that wasn't really an issue. Effectively, it was the acquisition of a going-nowhere Ellis Valentine that knocked him out of the lineup.

Coming off the bench, rounding into September, he hit and hit and hit as the Mets hung around the fringes of second half contention — no thanks to Valentine and Lee Mazzilli, the corner outfielders pushing Dave Kingman to first and Staub to the pinch-hitter's role — but, checking the game logs, he re-entered the lineup September 25, and over the last nine games, he went 11-27 (.407 / .484 / .814 // 1.298) over the last nine games. And that was it. He was never a starter again. As a Mets manager, Torre always seemed to pick the glove guy over the hitter, but Rusty's final OPS+ that year was 147. (147!) It was a tragedy to see him sit while he was capable of that kind of productivity with such monumental milestones within reach.

Initially, anyhow. Obviously, it was a special pleasure to see him flourish as a pinch-hitter/elder-statesman as the Mets slowly found their footing in the early 80s Bamberger/Howard era, continuing into the contention of the early Johnson years.

Keith cleared up part of the mystery this morning, saying between tears that Rusty could have gone back to the American League and DH'd for a bit more, but he was too committed to New York City, as a restauranteur and philanthropist, which is as wonderful as it is enlightening. How he ended up on the bench despite swinging a sweet bat, I guess, is as simple as the reality that, if a team gets a five-tool player like Ellis Valentine in (what should have been) his prime, they've of course got to play him, and as the oldest guy among players eligible to be replaced, Rusty was the odd guy out.

I guess part of the mystery is how the Expos successfully sold Frank Cashen the lemon that Ellis Valentine actually was. Oh, you want to give me this still-young All-Star, Gold Glove right fielder, and all you want is my second-best reliever? Sounds good. I'd call him a sucker for not seeing that Ellis was actually a coked-out shell of his All-Star form, but, buying similarly low on Keith Hernandez would work great two years later, so I guess he gets a pass.

[Guest cooby]

For those of you who only saw Rusty as the somewhat roundish/father-figure/guru/pinch-hitting specialist during his second go-around with the Mets, you missed a real good all-around ballplayer. No, he never was fast (although stole 47 bases in his career) but he was a real good outfielder with a terrific arm (although it never quite came all the way back from that '73 playoff injury) and of course the bat spoke for itself. He was the first OF I remember seeing with the sliding (as opposed to diving) catch which he based on the idea that hitting the ground first and then making the catch made it less likely that the ball would be jarred loose than the other way around. He was also the first I remember as doing the forward tumble after a throw as a result of getting all his momentum behind it. I'm sure he didn't invent either of these techniques but he was the guy I remember pulling them off. I guess I was aware of him as a player during his days in Houston, but my first vivid memory was from his second game as an Expo. Gary referenced the '69 opener today where the Mets lost an 11-10 game to the expansion 'Spos (all four expansion teams won their first game that year). Dad and I were supposed to be at that game but somehow we BOTH got sick and so went the next day instead. Sitting in the RF I had a good view of Rusty catching a ball coming in as his hat fell off. In doing so I found out why he was nicknamed Rusty because I had ever seen hair quite that color. Keep in mind that black-and-white TV sets still dominated in that era and even the color sets that did exist weren't all that good, giving a kind of pastel-hued tinge to everything, so it took seeing him live to discover that that shade was one actually found in nature. His hair color softened in his later years but it was a unique shade in his early days. What sticks in my head from his later years was how he was almost automatic streak down the stretch in 1984. - (Sept 18) after not having played in eight days, he leads off the 9th inning of a 5-5 tie vs Philly (PH'ing of course) with a single. Three batters later his run (he was PR'd for) plus another one score on Strawberry's 3R HR - his next AB doesn't come until six days later, again in a 5-5 tie game vs Philly, this time in the home 8th. He doubled in two runs and the Mets went on to win. - the very next night the Mets trail the Phils 4-2 but get two in the 9th to tie it. So NOW Staub comes as a PH for Raffy Santana w/the winning run on 2nd: 2R walk-off HR He had just three ABs between Sept 11 and Sept 25, took three swings and the results were a single, a double, and a HR in last AB tie games, and all either won the game or set-up a win. It's too short to call such a run 'a streak' but the automatic and seemingly pre-ordained successful outcome in those appearances was one of the most freakish things I had seen from a hitter. And he was 40 y/o at the time.

Thanks FK for this

It’s kinda when Ed Charles died and I didn’t remember him or this week on my beloved serius/XM oldies devoting time to baseball classics featuring guys I’d heard of but didn’t know, I wondered how many fans at citifield today remembered Rusty. And I respect that

I am in true mourning.

[Benjamin Grimm]

[Edgy MD]

My other big Rusty Staub question, besides "Why was he pushed to the bench in the first place?" is "Why didn't Yogi Berra just put him at first and Milner in the outfield when he hurt his shoulder?"

It obviously wasn't the ideal alignment, but both had meaningful (and recent enough) experience at the other's position. A first baseman certainly handles more balls than a rightfielder, but is a guy who can't throw overhand that much bigger a handicap at first than in right?

[Zvon]

Frayed Knot wrote: He was also the first I remember as doing the forward tumble after a throw as a result of getting all his momentum behind it.

I used to get such a kick out of that! (

[fimg=900]https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/He-x5at2bUIv5j-y2d7FrylIx88WsWu58GOMeyxT1Zg0NYkd2sjLIqlw3Dw2xd3DFsJVhVl1HAyYGXAZO5xJn9Q5v9C59aWcTy_25jvhpEvNIP84s7uQh0x-oT009dRgV5IRNe0p5ERsN_N_DHQlL4QA2lZO1d1G-OQAIfhkPZrmycQoDOF7NVOPp_Y8RBPEVQ8EBU3Gub4bOtOiCZemNGxk4wcVL3ELV6iLJQYjx2euu689YStRcRllt6w6rB-vEy-PDVcQoL3DhtqVSknPrzaCbRR2TexeL-bQ6_RJ0EFyOyRlYiAep7GxsrFOz97UTVnxtgp-ouCgKkoPXVYnA5hJ9Rq0C8oziTp_Lkmu3BjA_bZwfR4a0zlrUsf-1iopk8AZTYw5u_Urne4fKAJkXZ4yjMGswlS-MzrGOd25XzVPw3iinU6DYZbk1KNVnrUG2-uuFkpuzGsNvFyng56w5duCPXiAcvTR9rWIoAQtY1C04T1wQUZGrdjDvBKjbyWODgkOovs6tjuLUJlAdjDggBR7T6P_1AvEjotVpOafNvhL7wQqtTr23zPi8S7KckHQHMjwCzvWRxat-t9rZxqYWUrdlaSxFgmCL5z_7388=w1152-h228-no[/fimg]

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[fimg=900]https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/PzecxbEjXnrdWZpej0w6TQCB_kBhH-90B_douauLnsHFk48z5D-TMw5L2gvzwnG8rYvYc0pvJYokoWCAP8htHrZoC1vsUJvPMVWsv2f02MK_cibsXnILvNTLQyNfQ5xuI9IuS2JPVqqBplDxdu-KZbvMqAazGx5zcVQRnT8srOw89YnFsbaf6GV3NTPkSlP-GX5gC2UNr5JXDfbgiKaNEZnXZGDmIRbJuJOlmkb1KQZcqTqxYAPtKCRx7TTDd12LsdrM7rK0Bb6YfS01TvdylgbnG5-8h8-68FS0qrfMuSiuP_4DT6tVCtkWYTFke3C1c9_93WAzzjQ3PH3CFuT-9EKZBbmvzKi-4gFvK_x2HJGtkfkeit9Z3-hK5-N7Kb-xu18s49VKA18RO5tmPCcEn172u3JO-xMpmATB3_jg84QSD2fUohAQZglSIfUa0tuefrvyBPIor61KL1vyIJMRH-4scjiU--n3XEzc36sotz0J9jMlWcVI3FaT7iVFFPYp9qv5OGpFJRQK2FoQXGWkBmS96oEqWXA6rCZklmnoLk_rYCDODPJR9xGA3UgkzKGl8b4ux0jdKkzbX-HBbXsi9b_HPGr6D5rW5OTa28M=w1440-h327-no[/fimg]

[fimg=400]https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/a66gMxV0CPKEyIZduUnUVDTkaEjYSERw_nS1c-yrKjttRsJ-Xz_uAqN8v9bEWs-j3e4E3pWMarKho1e2F3Tb1tXScowFBK-DkP1uTG-qqqGL56S6YExFxfY2iu_ABTPjP6E0GtLMQhapzQVkAy3JWNPoHNSfAQCLsC6eIwN8MpUHMLGXzCxB_ZdKy024jSeTt4s2H4hgCRjc0iFKvnqo5APNFcC1mXfodrDwu91RPITSNM6oanrpZaYz4IbzQ-lDbGlx2N8w523vVoootmcPPPj9z_29iArEMMhaUplLCsaxB0NI8MOG17ti_q0bv6_B4glprhiHgVgZGCZIydVTss4emiipqF4lCBcK2uv5F1t2WgD9Wjl1R4L8ovQj6L_LSSdeTkW_1-7h9J3rzhKWyBi3f7Anr-1RdrvEfFtDyZUdYRZS5biS23P0eahbjQHNcPu2oLEOs2XlnkfyripWLp7v6gDx6sb0TolhVHdYOknyM6xg9UnpgF2Y2xMg5E5jSLWWagXaACMdXNLp-UmV1K6c8ag1ESlgWIAjD5AuKMwCkxJ4xH4nHryPWrtvPaRovsMtpxgqEzFzKbavKWr59uKck2Qk32CSS_x1P-c=w560-h774-no[/fimg]

He had an overabundance of heart as well.
Rusty after Pete Rose hit the walkoff in the 1973 NLCS.



This is how I'll remember Rusty.
Always into the game and willing to root his own team mates on.

[fimg=400]https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/j23ezTRQFXf5OO-6RK1tvFo04oXWJioAgIv1yGtRM16iHO89jDhOpp2Bl1hJKf9A_1Da2qYgIbeY8IKB_xFBbzMp8SvGB0zXkQMcAHA3XttohXnvr_sVpuCn_74ZPHEoXHXEuFa6P67_yGO6llCfjuz94ATtUjqaTyhFkPU2jwTqKnZGqDbcakmOl9Q1YAMIsNHvl4wA81CXx5ZMMo2A5zGyz_rkq_4ApjR-OYNqvGy4U2nxKlj_ToGSTg3R9ioxIpnOaJp_1X6hcCLOVOnvca5S8YpM_RuGNUOu0h0BxygoWrLy6XqfglcYT7nkRJRFuqs5gxs4Dnkov5D5dg0l_6Q9I-O4zy8X1s4PnEJH0afHZNG2xMMDjeZOyW3utcuXrRtYqtkws7jZUzdh9k7rVdE_EP725L3Phjyo7ReKdvfb3PsniK2gnD-C-KrrvlxtERoSE58cTrkxZwpsJC4yOwkzVAact67ZiWV0E1XIuchsWQiFOQl4Iwn7HiEWAWfWX-4kJMlQ73EuR_tPXIfyB94SXapU_G8TdpFFPs5FKJZWp5fqtlCAboEMfXdQhjp0qC9B5Fp2zouD6HlzTRghTUL7ho9iB57KdbJQURKP=w716-h859-no[/fimg]

[Frayed Knot]

Those tumbling/sliding sequences are spot on Z, that's exactly what I was talking about.
And, again, I doubt he was the first to do either but he was the first on my radar for both and I spent decades using each move in countless softball games.




I should probably also add that, like a lot of NY'ers, I got to meet and/or see Rusty on several occasions since he was so visible around town.
His restaurants weren't just a place with his name slapped on them. I went to the uptown one numerous times and the one in midtown once or twice and saw him working the floor, or at least walking around, more times than not.

Also met him up close once or twice and my main impression was just how damn big he was; big tall, big wide, big deep - and most of that was while he was still playing and not nearly as big-overweight as he later became.
In one instance I was at a function my father took me to and while standing around in small circles, as groups tend to do during cocktail hour, I realized that he and my father were in separate little circles but
standing back-to-back only a foot or so apart. So I motioned to dad to turn around and when he did he found his average-sized self staring eyes-to-shoulder blades with what looked like a gray flannel covered
section of the Berlin Wall that had somehow been transported to a NYC hotel space.

[Lefty Specialist]

Saw him outside Citi shortly after it opened. Was struck by how enormous he was, which probably shortened his life quite a bit.

[Guest cooby]

Opening Day many years ago. I think it was the last year of Shea. I was the guest of metfairy and her family in a warm comfort controlled (section? Inner sanctum?) area.

KC can concur or dispute. He was there too. We were sitting in our indoor cozy nook with our friends when someone looked back into the interior area and saw Rusty chatting quietly with metfairy’s daughter who had no interest in the game (I kid you not) and was reading a book.

Whoever it was said ‘Rusty!!’ And we just moved, en masse, out to the inner sanctum. A bunch of 40-somethings
Like a herd of buffalo. Rusty and his (bodyguard?) were prolly used to it

If your Facebook friends with me check out the ensuing photo op!

[Frayed Knot]

Benjamin Hoffman at the NY Times makes the case that, while still short of the HoF, Rusty was a lot better than often given credit for.
And while you don't want to give too much weight to single stats in isolation, the phrase "reached base 1,000 times more than DiMaggio" (and, yes, he means Joe) kind of leaps out at you.

[Edgy MD]

Josh Wilker's obsession with mortality catches up to him, reflecting on Rusty and losing his own father.

[seawolf17]

Frayed Knot wrote: "reached base 1,000 times more than DiMaggio" (and, yes, he means Joe) kind of leaps out at you.

Rusty had an incredible career, and no, he's not a HOFer, and yet:

13th in games played
35th in AB
44th in times on base
(And in all of those cases, everyone who's eligible and not steroid-connected ahead of him is in. I know those are "longevity stats" and not "Hall stats," but still, he's 152nd in HR also.)

PLUS all the off the field stuff. A legend.

[G-Fafif]

Mets will wear a patch for Rusty: black circle, his autographed first name (Rusty, not Daniel) in orange.

Would look better against a field of deep Mets blue, but the thought is a good one. Kinda wish the Glider were getting his due as well, but I suppose there are perceived levels to franchise royalty.

[Zvon]

G-Fafif wrote: Mets will wear a patch for Rusty: black circle, his autographed first name (Rusty, not Daniel) in orange. Would look better against a field of deep Mets blue, but the thought is a good one. Kinda wish the Glider were getting his due as well, but I suppose there are perceived levels to franchise royalty.

And they will wear it all season. I like it.

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