Tom Ñieto, 1960—2026

[Edgy MD]

Tom Ñieto, the former Met coach who won a World Series as a player with the Twins while catching Frank Viola during his Cy Young prime, has recently passed at the too-young age of 65, reportedly due to a sudden heart attack.

Ñieto joined the Mets as catching instructor on Willie Randolph's staff for the 2005 team, doubling as Guy Conti's second bullpen catcher, when the Mets got double-barrel action going.  In 2007, his portfolio expanded, with him becoming the team's first-base coach, only to go down alongside Willie in the great West Coast whacking of 2008.  While it was known that Willie and pitching coach Rick Peterson were on thin ice, it wasn't clear what the Mets had against Tom.  But Willie brought Ñieto with him over from the Yankees, so maybe it was guilt by association.

Ñieto received some note by being a rare guy to wear a tilde over an initial capital N in his name.  Never having seen it on Tom's back during his playing career, and with the Yankees (his previous coaching assignment) forswearing names on the back of jerseys, the Mets deserve some meaningful credit in this great leap forward in diacritical accuracy.

Ñieto also played for the Cards and the Expos, and well, the presence of Expos among us is finite and declining, so may God keep the Expos.