RIP John Stearns, 1951-2022

[G-Fafif]

A reliable source reports John Stearns died last night (September 15) at age 71. He'd been ill for a while, but pushed himself to Citi Field last month for one last moment in the baseball sun.



If you couldn't have a great team — and we sure as hell didn't — you counted yourself lucky to have the best, toughest player possible, one who would make the team better every second he was on the field. Him we had. We had John Stearns.

[MFS62]

RIP.

Later

[smg58]

I'd argue he was one of the most underrated Mets for being a really solid player on terrible teams. He was a good-hitting catcher for that era, not Carter or Bench but certainly good enough to play for a winner had the Mets surrounded him with anything.

[Edgy MD]

Was a thirdbaseman as a youth and amateur player, but when he finally put aside football, he became a catcher, seemingly because playing without contact and pain just seemed un-natural to him.



https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-N3vrsZhb3Uo/XvfC9vE3g-I/AAAAAAABJPM/Nxmz4J1LKl8ixkvSVUbJlkzqrl3qnHCKACLcBGAsYHQ/s400/stearns0.JPG> https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a5/John_Stearns_%2851009246746%29_%28cropped%29.jpg/220px-John_Stearns_%2851009246746%29_%28cropped%29.jpg>

[Marshmallowmilkshake]

My favorite post-Mets John Stearns story

Now that Davey Johnson is no longer manager of the Cincinnati Reds, the story of how he hid a coach from his owner can be told. Johnson wanted John Stearns on his staff to work with his catchers. Knowing that penurious Marge Schott wouldn't allow another coach on the payroll, he appointed Stearns to manage a rookie league team in the organization. Stearns traveled with the team all season. During games he wore a jacket without his name on the back. He asked local media not to quote him and became known among the writers as the "unknown coach."

[DocTee]

Random memories of Bad Dude.



I remember him being among the few bright spots on the dismal teams of the late 70s and early 80s.



Often described as "fast" and not just "for a catcher."



Loved the yearbook cover (78?) photo of him chasing down a baserunner and leaping for the tag.



Lost significant time to a finger injury sustained from a foul ball which had to kill his ego as a football player.



"The monster is out of the cage!"

[Marshmallowmilkshake]

Random memories of Bad Dude. I remember him being among the few bright spots on the dismal teams of the late 70s and early 80s. Often described as "fast" and not just "for a catcher." Loved the yearbook cover (78?) photo of him chasing down a baserunner and leaping for the tag. Lost significant time to a finger injury sustained from a foul ball which had to kill his ego as a football player. "The monster is out of the cage!"

https://pictures.abebooks.com/inventory/30876841045.jpg>

[DocTee]

Yes, that's the one. Thank you

[Edgy MD]

I'm not promoting the glories of brawlin', but I never forgot, when it came time to restrain John Stearns, just how many players it took from both the Mets and the Expos it took to restrain him, and he stayed on his feet.



[media=youtube]FSwJOzFDYqQ[/media]

[Marshmallowmilkshake]

=DocTee post_id=107501 time=1663335992 user_id=85]
Yes, that's the one. Thank you

[Benjamin Grimm]

I remember the time he tagged out Dave Parker at the plate, in a collision that rattled the entire stadium.



And also this:



https://www.tcdb.com/Images/Cards/Baseball/81/81-205Fr.jpg> https://www.tcdb.com/Images/Cards/Baseball/81/81-205Bk.jpg>

[Edgy MD]

I'm always surprised how scruffy the playing field looks in some of the old photos. I don't know if that's a late-season shot after the Jets played a few games, or if was just less of a priority in those days.

"The 1978 Mets: We didn't bother painting the façade of the field level seats or doing much maintenance to the playing surface, because we wanted to put all our money into your on-field product!"

[DocTee]

I wonder now—as I did at age 7–if the cubs runner was safe or out on that play. Ten cranebucks to anyone who can find the game/play.

[Benjamin Grimm]

Well... if that's uniform number 20, the runner is Mick Kelleher. (Number 10 for the Cubs in 1977 was a player who only appeared in a few games, none against the Mets.)



Kelleher appeared in five games at Shea in 1977, but in one of them Ron Hodges caught for the Mets, so that leaves these four:



https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/NYN/NYN197709181.shtmlhttps://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/NYN/NYN197709181.shtml



https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/NYN/NYN197709172.shtmlhttps://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/NYN/NYN197709172.shtml



https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/NYN/NYN197709171.shtmlhttps://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/NYN/NYN197709171.shtml



https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/NYN/NYN197707130.shtmlhttps://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/NYN/NYN197707130.shtml

[whippoorwill]

Oh that's so sad

Hate to see this happening

[kcmets]

He'd been ill for a while, but pushed himself to Citi Field last month for one last moment in the baseball sun. If you couldn't have a great team — and we sure as hell didn't — you counted yourself lucky to have the best, toughest player possible, one who would make the team better every second he was on the field. Him we had. We had John Stearns.

Nicely stated. The first thing I thought too was how frail he looked Old

Timer's Weekend but how happy he seemed to be there. RIP, Mr. Stoins.



https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/john-stearns/SABR Baseball Biography Project - John Stearns

[Edgy MD]

Benjamin Grimm wrote: I remember the time he tagged out Dave Parker at the plate, in a collision that rattled the entire stadium. And also this: https://www.tcdb.com/Images/Cards/Baseball/81/81-205Fr.jpg> https://www.tcdb.com/Images/Cards/Baseball/81/81-205Bk.jpg>

"New Loop Mark for Thefts"



May God ever bless baseball blurb jargon.

[G-Fafif]

I wrote a few more words http://www.faithandfearinflushing.com/2022/09/16/conviction-of-the-heart/here.

[Centerfield]

Hard to reconcile those pics of Stearns at OTD actually being him. Even when he was coaching he seemed like the toughest dude on the field.



Great guy. Glad he got to wear the uniform one last time.

[Willets Point]

Stearns career ended just as my intensive Mets fandom was beginning ca. 1984-1985 so I can't recall seeing him play. I think he'd been sent down to Tidewater and then retired?



Although my absolute earliest memory of going to a Mets game was the Steve Henderson Game in 1980, and the https://leaptoad.com/mets/gamedetail.php?gameno=2987&tabno=Dscorecard says that Stearns played (he was 0-for-4) so I did in fact see him play.

[Edgy MD]

I had not known (or had forgotten) about Stearns catching win #90 in 1984. Considering what a rough time he had in any year that had an 8 in its third digit, that's a pretty cool thing.

[Benjamin Grimm]

I remember being at a game in 1984 where he had an RBI double. The crowd loved it. It was nice that Lee Mazzilli was able to return to the Mets to enjoy a trip to the postseason, but it would have been even nicer if Stearns could have stuck around long enough to be Gary Carter's backup in 1985 and 1986.

[Edgy MD]

My favorite post-Mets John Stearns story Now that Davey Johnson is no longer manager of the Cincinnati Reds, the story of how he hid a coach from his owner can be told. Johnson wanted John Stearns on his staff to work with his catchers. Knowing that penurious Marge Schott wouldn't allow another coach on the payroll, he appointed Stearns to manage a rookie league team in the organization. Stearns traveled with the team all season. During games he wore a jacket without his name on the back. He asked local media not to quote him and became known among the writers as the "unknown coach."

Stearns certainly seemed to have the respect of the managerial class. Dallas Green was the Phils' director of player development when Stearns was coming up, transitioning from infield to catcher. But GM Paul Owens traded his pupil away just as he was reaching the majors and well before Green would have the juice that would come with his appointment to manager.



But Stearns retained Green's respect, and years later, when Dallas returned to managing, taking over for the 1989 Yankees, he started off Stearns' MLB coaching career, hiring him to run the Yankees bullpen.



Whitey Herzog lived and died by the speed game, and he publicly stated that Stearns and Neil Allen were the hardest battery to run and bunt against — coveting the two of them even though they were in last and he was in first. By the time Herzog had a deal for the Mets and a chance to break up the pair, Stearns was hurt, so the Mets gave up Allen instead in the great Hernandez heist.



Apart from the Yankees and his ghost tenure with the Reds and Davey Johnson, Stearns would join with Johnson coaching for the Orioles in the mid-nineties, would have two-ish tenures with Bobby Valentine's Mets (dismissed as a bench coach and then rehired as a third base coach the next season), and later joined Lloyd McClendon's Mariners. A hiatal hernia surgery during that tenure began a series of not-necessarily related-but-compounding health problems.



He also was a writer with The New York Times, penning https://www.nytimes.com/1984/09/16/sports/the-long-comeback-of-john-stearns.htmlthis piece in 1984 about his long struggle to come back from injury. Ironically, the injury that did him in was sustained in a non-contact situation playing third base. The Mets' offense had been slumping, and so poor were their options, they thought they could boost their output by giving good-contact/zero-power backup catcher Alex Treviño more regular playing time and switching Stearns to third. They could have put Treviño at third, where he had plenty of experience, but maybe Torre, whose career had been extended by moving out from behind the plate, saw more wisdom in moving Stearns. His position almost certainly wasn't related to the matter, but making warmup tosses from third, his elbow went twang.



I'm pretty positive that what he was suffering from is what we now know to be a torn UCL. I'd bet good money on it. But we've had two revolutions in imaging and surgery since then, and what we know now wasn't so obvious at the time. The article concludes with "my struggle continues," but he would play his last game two weeks later.

[MFS62]

Another reason for not liking Torre.

Thanks

Later

[DocTee]

[bLOCKQUOTE]Kelleher appeared in five games at Shea in 1977, but in one of them Ron Hodges caught for the Mets, so that leaves these four:

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxehttps://www.baseball-reference.com/boxe

... 9181.shtml

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxehttps://www.baseball-reference.com/boxe

... 9172.shtml

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxehttps://www.baseball-reference.com/boxe

... 9171.shtml

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxehttps://www.baseball-reference.com/boxe

... 7130.shtml[/bLOCKQUOTE]

If this is accurate, then the baserunner on the yearbook cover is safe, since Kelleher is recorded as scoring a run in some of the above, but never being forced out at home. One of the games, incidentally, was a makeup from a contest postponed by the NYC blackout! I think that that game, the first of a DH on 9.17 is the one depicted.



Too much time on my hands!

[G-Fafif]

The fist pump…

[Frayed Knot]

Edgy MD wrote: [Torre] could have put Treviño at third, where he had plenty of experience, but maybe Torre, whose career had been extended by moving out from behind the plate, saw more wisdom in moving Stearns. His position almost certainly wasn't related to the matter, but making warmup tosses from third, his elbow went twang.

Yeah, Torres was kind of skittish about injuries to back stops, even while he was playing.

It's why he was sometimes referred to as the Chicken Catcher Torre.



Thank you, I'll be here all week

[MFS62]

Frayed Knot wrote: Yeah, Torres was kind of skittish about injuries to back stops, even while he was playing. It's why he was sometimes referred to as the Chicken Catcher Torre. Thank you, I'll be here all week

OOOOHH!

That was painful.

Good one.



Later

[Edgy MD]

[FIMG=750]https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/09/stearns3.jpg?quality=75&strip=all[/FIMG]