RIP Chuck Taylor

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

https://www.dnj.com/story/sports/college/mtsu/baseball/2018/06/05/chuck-taylor-mtsu-baseball-dies-st-louis-cardinals-new-york-mets-milwaukee-brewers-montreal-expos/672514002/

I'm glad the Mets honor him every year: http://www.mbtn.net/?p=1674

I do recall seeing him pitch on TV, one of my earliest memories of fandom

[Edgy MD]

That Ron Hodges link is broke.

Chuck was born in Shelbyville, where they let you marry your cousin.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Edgy MD wrote: That Ron Hodges link is broke. Chuck was born in Shelbyville, where they let you marry your cousin.

http://www.mbtn.net/?p=1388

[Guest d'Kong76]

I wore out at least a dozen pair of his signature sneakers back in the day :-)

[G-Fafif]

Not a good month for Mets figures from Tennessee. Chuck, though, never complained about the pressure that came with playing in New York (or, if he did, it didn't make headlines).

My three memories of Mr. Taylor are:

1) His inclusion in the October 1971 megatrade that sent Art Shamsky to St. Louis. The biggest trade by volume that I'd experienced as a Mets fan to that point, a hint at the dissatisfaction surrounding consecutive 83-79 finishes (the 1971 club was 16 games over at the end of June and two under by the middle of August...sound familiar-ish?). Shamsky, Rich Folkers (who was one of the first relievers I had it in for) and two minor leaguers for Taylor, Jim Beauchamp and a minor leaguer. The minor leaguer we got turned out to be very valuable 1973 reliever Harry Parker, and Beauchamp was pretty decent off the bench himself for two seasons. Shamsky would wind up contributing to the 1972 champion A's, and Folkers would become part of broadcast lore courtesy of Jerry Coleman in San Diego ("there's Folkers, throwing up in the bullpen"), but the player with the tallest future was Jim Bibby, who'd go on to a long and prosperous career pitching for teams that weren't the Cardinals. Somewhere in all that, was Taylor, not making a huge impact for the Mets.

2) I remember him disappearing from the Mets' roster at midseason 1972 after being basically the last man on the pitching staff. I was surprised, when I looked him up just now, that he pitched in 20 games for us. He seemed more here and gone than that. More Chuck Cunningham than Chuck Taylor. Got two saves, too, before being sent down to Tidewater, and then shipped to Milwaukee. I specifically recall crossing his name off the active roster, either a printed version or the one I'd made as part of a school project (because that's what I was studying in third grade).

3) His 1972 Topps card, an under the brim of the cap special, lest we infer he wasn't really a Met when the picture was taken. Between the lack of identity in the photo and the fairly generic name he carried (I wasn't familiar with the sneakers at the time), he seemed sort of made up, which may be why I decided he barely pitched for the Mets.

But he pitched a little more than barely and did so in what became one of the most famous numbers in baseball. Atta boy, Chuck. RIP.

[Benjamin Grimm]

Whenever I hear his name (and I didn't know it had anything to do with footwear) I think of that 1972 card.

[G-Fafif]

Topps planted the seed of Ken Sanders's eventual acquisition by the Mets in the upper right hand corner on the back of Taylor's card. Very clever.