Jeff Reardon, Bad Fit

[MFS62]

Just caught the tail end of something on the radio. They said an ex-Met pitcher was arrested for an armed robbery in a jewelry store. I thought they said it was Jeff Reardon.
Any confirmation on this?

Later

[Guest Edgy DC]

Shocker.

[Guest Yancy Street Gang]

It's nice that they overlooked his time with the Mets:

] Jeff Reardon, former Twins pitcher, arrested in Florida Former Minnesota Twins pitcher Jeff Reardon was arrested in Florida Monday on suspicion of committing armed robbery. According to a news release from the Palm Beach Gardens Police Department, the 50-year-old former All Star entered a Hamilton Jewelers store in shopping mall and handed a clerk a note demanding money. The clerk, believing Reardon had a gun, filled a bag with an undisclosed amount of cash. Reardon fled the store with the cash and was followed by the store manager. Police arrived and arrested Reardon without incident outside a P.F. Chang's restaurant. The money was recovered at the same time. Reardon, who has lived in Florida since the 1980's, earned over $11 million in his nine-year baseball career. He played for the Montreal Expos, the Minnesota Twins (and was instrumental in the team's 1988 World Series win), the Boston Red Sox, the Cincinnati Reds and the New York Yankees. He was dubbed "The Terminator" and remains one of the most effective pitchers in baseball history. He is charged with armed robbery, but the police statement does not provide any details on weapons recovered at the time of the arrest.

I think he's trying to become the most popular UMDB daily lookup. Notoriety and death are the best ways to do that.

[Guest ScarletKnight41]

That is just sad.

[Guest Yancy Street Gang]

Should we spin these last few posts into a Jeff Reardon thread? I have a feeling this one may go several pages.

[Guest Edgy DC]

Done.

Suddenly, those eleven games for the 1994 Yankees at the end of his career are mroe meaningful.

Somebody's going to win the daily hit race at the UMDB for a day or two, and it ain't Al Luplow.

[MFS62]

Thanks for the mod work, Edgy.

EDIT: It was kind of weird seeing a thread with me as the author that I knew I hadn't started.

Later

[Guest Yancy Street Gang]

At the rate he's going, he may win the entire month. (Sorry, John Olerud.) Reardon has already had 15% of his lifetime UMDB hit total in the last six hours.

[patchyfogg]

Maybe he was "set up."

[Guest Edgy DC]

We'll have to see if Juan Berenguer appears on the security tape.

[Guest Yancy Street Gang]

Reardon is having a HUGE day on the UMDB.

Today's hits (and it's not even noon yet) have increased his lifetime total by 40 per cent.

He's now had the third largest day in UMDB history, behind only Kevin Mitchell (July 30, 2004) and Tug McGraw (January 6, 2004.)

Mitchell's big day came about as a result of his alleged cat-beheading incident being mentioned on ESPN.com's Page 2. Tug, of course, had his big day after we learned that he had died.

Reardon still has a long way to go today to get to Kevin Mitchell, but he's on pace to do it.


Meanwhile, Reardon should be collecting a decent amount of money from his MLB pension, and he can probably earn extra by signing autographs. What would cause him to resort to armed robbery? Even if he was heavy in debt, there's always personal bankruptcy. My best guess is that he owes a lot of money to some scary people, people who don't accept bankruptcy as an excuse.

I hope, for his sake, that's not the case, but it's the most plausible explanation I can come up with.

[Guest Edgy DC]

Bereft of creativity, I can only think of a drug habit.

Pension checks don't necessarily arrive when you need them. While a wise drug dealer should recognize when a client has a steady income, and wait him out rather than putting the screws to him, should isn't worth a lot on such days.

That money may also be garnished before he even sees it for previous obligations. (Child support?)

Jeff Reardon was on the Hall of Fame ballot just one year, garnering 24 votes in 2000, 4.81% of the electorate, just under the 5% needed to return to the ballot in 2001.

[Guest Yancy Street Gang]

And if he doesn't owe the money to drug dealers, the other possibilities that come to mind are bookmakers and loansharks. Any or all of them could drive somebody to be desperate enough to rob a jewelry store.

And in case anyone's interested in the UMDB Jeff Reardon tote board, he's now passed the total number of hits that Tug McGraw got on January 6, 2004. Only Kevin Mitchell's cat-beheading-induced total from July of that year outranks what Reardon's accumulated today. And that record is in serious jeopardy.

We're learning a lesson about the relative attention-grabbing value of beheading a cat, dying of cancer, and knocking over a jewelry store.

[seawolf17]

Sounds like a "would you rather?" question...

[Guest Edgy DC]

Reardon may be "helped" by this news coming over the 'tween-holiday week --- less news out there to spash it across, fewer newspaper consumers in the smaller commuter rush, and fewer peeps goofing off reading sports news at work. It would also get more juice during the baseball season, I imagine.

I think we should collect some bail money for him.

[Guest Yancy Street Gang]

Edgy DC wrote: I think we should collect some bail money for him.

I need to know a little bit more about why he did this before I decide whether or not I feel sympathetically towards him.

Anyway, if any former Mets are reading this, and are looking to have a big day on the UMDB, please put down the kitty cat and find yourself a ski mask. With almost 11 hours remaining in the day, Jeff Reardon has broken Kevin Mitchell's record one-day record, thereby proving that jewerly store holdups garner more notoriety than cat executions.

Good news for cats everywhere.

[MFS62]

This takes "working out of the pen" to a whole new level and meaning.

At least he didn't take steroids.

Later

[Guest Edgy DC]

The lawyer's statement is that Reardon doesn't deny the details, except that he wasn't armed. (Is it armed robbery anyhow if you claim you're armed?)

He says Reardon is very sorry, and explains that he was in poor mental condition as a result of anti-depressants he had been taking since losing his son to a drug overdose last year, an effect perhaps amplified by medication prescribed following a heart angioplasty last week.

Sounds like Jeff needs friends.

[Guest Yancy Street Gang]

If the lawyer's statement is true, then Jeff does indeed merit my sympathy. A lost son and a heart angioplasty is very different from needing money to pay off a mob bookie.

[Zvon]

This is sad stuff.
The poor idiot.

Hey, that aint right!
How many times do I have to go to the UMDB and hit up Tugger to get him sole holder of that record........
Im off tomorrow. Ill start at dawn.

[Guest Yancy Street Gang]

I'd rather you found some better use of your time. I don't want to burden the UMDB server with trivial page loads.

[Zvon]

Yancy Street Gang wrote: I'd rather you found some better use of your time. I don't want to burden the UMDB server with trivial page loads.

mmmmmm....
did I say I was serious,...lemme chk.......

NOT!
I was j/k Yancy

[Guest Yancy Street Gang]

Let's just say that what you suggested has been done before.

[Guest KC]

What kind of bored morons would do something like that? Oh wait ....

In addition to the depression thing posted earlier, they were speculating that
he may have a pain killer addiction as well. Too many people in the news out-
living their children - it's very sad.

[Guest sayvanderlay]

If you're going to put it in a "sad" perspective; I've always thought the Gooden and Strawberry sagas are sad, but there comes a time when you say "enough is enough".

This is just "sad" in a weird way. I mean, I'm wondering what the heck could've been going on in his life? The article said he lost a son to drugs, so I can't imagine what that would be like.

Will be interesting to see how well the "depressed" alibi works.

[Guest Edgy DC]

SHANE ANDREW REARDON December 29, 1983 - February 21, 2004 Shane passed away suddenly at age 20. Shane was born and raised in Palm Beach Gardens. He was a student at Full Sail, where he was pursuing a degree in Recording Arts. Shane was a former student at Palm Beach Gardens High School and graduated from The Academy at Swift River. He was an avid roller hockey player in PBG and played for the PBG All Star team. Shane was loved by his family and friends, and will be remembered for his warm personality, beautiful smile, and tendency to care more about others than himself. Music and writing were his passion; love for his family and friends were his life. Shane was the beloved child of Jeff and Phebe Reardon, the beloved brother of Jay and Kristi Reardon, all of Palm Beach Gardens. Shane is also survived by his grandmother, Marion and her husband Larry Cavanaugh of Dalton, MA; his step-grandfather Charles Till of West Palm Beach; and many aunts, uncles, and cousins. Services will be 1 PM Friday, February 27, 2004 and have been moved to WILLIAM N. HOWARD FUNERAL HOME, 754 North U.S. Hwy. One, North Palm Beach; (561) 848-9641. A viewing will precede the service beginning at 11 AM. In lieu of flowers, please make a donation to THE SHANE REARDON MEMORIAL FOUNDATION, 7100-39 Fairway Dr., PMB400, Palm Beach Gardens, FL 33418. Thomas L. Price Funeral Home 553 Northlake Boulevard North Palm Beach, FL 33408 (561) 842-1555. Published in The Palm Beach Post from 2/25/2004 - 2/26/2004.

Dan Shaunessy writing today.

[Guest Yancy Street Gang]

No parent should have to outlive any of their children.

[Zvon]

Agreed Yancy.
I lost an older brother over ten years ago, and that was bad enough.
But to see what my folks went thu during that time......
That was the worst.

So the NYPost puts Reardon on the front page in a Met uniform.
Sometimes I wish I had a cat so I could line the litter box with that newspaper.
Seriously^

But ya have to admit, moving Reardon so early in his career was another one of those awful Met trades, in retrospect.
(I forgot about that one).

[Guest Edgy DC]

Sorry to hear about your brother, Z.

Is Reardon in first place for the month, yet?

OE: Wow.

(Sound of me giving money to the Shane Reardon Memorial Foundation.)

[Valadius]

He blew past Olerud on the 27th.