Met Fact and Opinion Relaunched

[Guest Edgy DC]

This was an old thread, of Dickshot design. The idea was to open by listing a fact, great or small, about the Mets. The next poster would respond with an opinion on that fact, and follow immediately with a fact of her or his own, which may well be completely unrelated to the previous fact. For example:

Poster 1:

Fact: Joe Frazier only managed the Mets for 207 games.
_____________________________

Poster 2:
Opinion: That was about 200 too many.

Fact: Mike Piazza has publicly inisisted he's straight.
_____________________________

etc.

So I'll re-open.

Fact: Ken Boswell set a then-record going 84 consecutive games without an error in 1971.

[metirish]

Opinion

That's impressive because Boswell only played in 116 games in 1971,109 at 2B.



Fact

On September 7, 1984, New York Mets right-hander Dwight Gooden sets a National League record for most strikeouts by a rookie. Gooden�s 228th strikeout surpasses the record set by Grover Cleveland Alexander in 1911...

[Frayed Knot]

Opinion:

Gooden also may have surpassed Alexander in substance abuse - which was a pretty tough task from what I know about G.C.A.



Fact:

Met #1 overall draft pick Steve Chilcott was one of only two #1 draft picks never to make the major leagues..

[Valadius]

Opinion

Considering that the first really good #1 pick didn't arrive until 1977, with Harold Baines, the majority of the first picks in that era were hits or misses anyway.

Fact

Shingo Takatsu is Japan's all-time saves leader.

[Guest sharpie]

Misguided Met org played "established veterans" instead of giving studs like Chilcott a chance.

Jim Hickman was the original Met with the longest tenure on the team.

[Guest Edgy DC]

Beaten to the punch there, Cal.

[Guest sharpie]

OK..

Says a lot about Japanese ball.

back to my Jim Hickman factoid.

[Guest Edgy DC]

Opinion: Maybe somebody else would have wanted him had he been more fortunate in his baseball card appearance.



Fact: Harvey Haddix joined the Mets coaching staff in 1966. His super-fantastic collossal game (some opinion in there, but I don't know what to call it) of May 26, 1959 was first marred when he walked future 1962 Met Felix Mantilla.

[Guest Johnny Dickshot]

Opinion: As bad as it turned out, the Mantilla-for--Green/Stallard/Moran trade was completely justified.

Fact: The 1970 Mets were 2.5 games out on September 18 when they acquired former CY winner Dean Chance from the seriously, I just used a racist word when I really meant "Guardians" in a waiver deal.

[Guest Johnny Dickshot]

I thought this was a perfectly cromulent fact.

[Guest Edgy DC]

Opinion: Stretch-run deals, when they work, seem to work more frequently by "showing the team that management is committed to winning" than by actually adding a player that's more productive than the one(s) he has been traded for or is replacing.

Fact: In 1984, the Mets geared up for the stretch run by acquiring Ray Knight, inserting him at third, and moving Hubie Brooks to short to replace Jose Oquendo/Rafael Santana/Ron Gardenhire. Knight would throw up a .691 OPS down the stretch, and Brooks .624. Gerald Young and Manny Lee went to Houston in that deal.

[smg58]

Opinion: The Mets front office was clearly thinking two years ahead with that deal.

Fact: Cliff Floyd's .355 OBP puts him comfortably in second place on the team, among anybody with more than 100 AB.

[Guest Johnny Dickshot]

Opinion: I'd feel better if 355 was second-worst.

Fact: In order to exit last place, we have to sweep the Nationals this week. 2 of 3 won't cut it.

[Guest Giant Squidlike Creature]

Opinion: If only the Mets had signed Squid that sweep would have taken place and Squid would be going to Disney World today.

Fact: With the Astros taking the pennant this year, the only 1960's expansion teams that have not won a pennant are those that played home games in Washington, DC.

[Guest mlbaseballtalk]

Giant Squidlike Creature wrote: Opinion: If only the Mets had signed Squid that sweep would have taken place and Squid would be going to Disney World today. Fact: With the Astros taking the pennant this year, the only 1960's expansion teams that have not won a pennant are those that played home games in Washington, DC.

Opinion: Says alot about the management of the Rangers and Expos through the years

Fact: Since the last time the Cubs won the World Series, not only have their cross town rival White Sox gone on an 88 year long drought between championships (including throwing one) the NFL, NHL and NBA were all formed and a Chicago franchise in all three have won multiple championships

[Guest Johnny Dickshot]

Opinion: The Cubs won't win it all next year either.

Fact: Dae Sung Koo leaves behind a 107 ERA+ and a 283 OPS+

[Guest Edgy DC]

Opinion: I think he also suffered from the language barrier. Takatsu too.

Fact: In 1975, Dave Kingman did this to Houston:

G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	IBB	SO	HBP	SH	SF	XI	ROE	GDP	SB	CS	AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS
8	30	8	13	0	1	6	17	1	0	3	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	.433	.469	1.100	1.569

[MFS62]

Opinion: It took the Mets that long to pay Houston back for John Paciorek.

His entire major league career was one game in 1963 against the Mets. But look what he did:
http://www.baseballreference.com/p/paciojo01.shtml

Fact: During 1962, the Mets used seven catchers.

LAter

[Guest mlbaseballtalk]

Opinion: What do I think of his performance? $#()%$#()$&! -Tom Lasorda

Fact: Dave Kingman once sent a female reporter a dead rat

[Theoldmole]

Opinion: He was hoping rigor mortis had set in -- it would be the only stiff thing he could send.


Fact: Wes Westrum had no "take" sign. "Take" was the default; his players needed a sign to hit.

[MFS62]

Opinion: Westrum needed more than a sign to hit. His career average was .217.

Fact: Hobie Landrith was the firsr player taken by the Mets in their initial expansion draft.

Later

[Guest Johnny Dickshot]

Opinion: Of the expansion draftees available at the time the Mets may have been best off selecting Bob Aspromonte, who would not only perform near league average in '62, but was a 24-year-old from from Brooklyn with a decent glove. Instead we tried starting the year with Don Zimmer at third.

Fact: The Mets finally did get Bob Aspromonte and installed him as the starting 3Bman... in 1971.

[Guest mlbaseballtalk]

Opinion: The Mets of the Payson years loved to get Mets with ties to both the Dodgers and Giants

Fact: The very first official (MLB or Mets) release of a complete NY Mets baseball game on DVD is Game 5 of the 2000 WS as part of the MFY Fall Classics 1996-2001 Box Set

[Guest Giant Squidlike Creature]

Bump
These relaunches aren't going well.

[Guest Edgy DC]

He strikes again!

[RealityChuck]

mlbaseballtalk wrote: Opinion: The Mets of the Payson years loved to get Mets with ties to both the Dodgers and Giants Fact: The very first official (MLB or Mets) release of a complete NY Mets baseball game on DVD is Game 5 of the 2000 WS as part of the MFY Fall Classics 1996-2001 Box Set

Opinions: That's not much of a choice from a Mets point of view.

Fact: The last New York Giant and the last Brooklyn Dodger playing in the majors both finished up their playing careers with the Mets. (Willie Mays and Bob Aspromonte, respectively).

[soupcan]

Opinion: That's simply poetic, and the way it should be.

Fact: In the first three World Series the Mets played, The Mets leadoff hitter in each Game 3 ('69 - Agee, '73 - Garret, '86 - Dykstra) hit a homerun in the first inning.

[Guest Johnny Dickshot]

Opinion: The greatest leadoff hitter for 1 season in Met history was Rickey in 1999.

Fact: Pepsi is the "official soft drink" of Shea Stadium.

[Guest Yancy Street Gang]

Opinion: You should be allowed to bring non-alcoholic beverages into the ballpark as long as they're not in glass bottles.

Fact: Timo Perez screwed up a great historical quirk in 2000.

[Guest Edgy DC]

Largely Held Opinion Almost Qualifying as Fact: That was hardly the greatest of Timo's scew-ups that series.

Fact: Eric Valent, Matt Perisho, and Greg McMichael all married women named "Jennifer."