Being Kevin McReynolds

[Willets Point]

Vic Sage is going to hate me for the next 50 posts.

So why don't I have any memories of McReynolds. He wasn't that bad and I wasn't among those who disliked him. Mind you, I wasn't a big fan either and I liked Mitchell better. The thing about McReynolds is that he was just there.

He did have a great 1988 though and helped the Mets to the NLCS (which they lost, still one of my most painful Mets memories because they should won it all dammit!).

[Guest Edgy DC]

Kevin McReynolds is a rare man who came out on top of a plate collision with Mike Scoscia.

[Benjamin Grimm]

No graphic for Big Mac?

http://www.asahi-net.or.jp/~fk4a-myst/aus/1993/au9301-1.JPG

[seawolf17]

My favorite baseball player of all time. Did everything really well, but was never outstanding. I never understood the hatred some had for him; sure, he didn't like New York, but he went out there and gave you .275-25-90 every season over a four-year span for some very good teams. You can't hate that guy.

P.S. I'm working on my Kevin McReynolds baseball card collection; feel free to check my needs list (it's on my profile) and see if you have any laying around.

[Guest Edgy DC]

The McReynolds avatar is on order.

[soupcan]

Went to a Dodger game in L.A. in late summer '89 I believe.

KMac blasted a grand salami just for me.

[MFS62]

I have one memory of him. I had bought day-of-game tickets and was sitting down the left field line, about one or two rows back. They were playing the Phillies that day and Gooden was on the mound. A Wally Backman type punch-and-judy hitter (I guess that's redundant) came to bat. Kevin was playing him straight away and deep. I yelled, "Kevin. This guy won't hit ti there. Play in and closer to the line!".
He looked around, trying to figure out who was yelling to him, then moved in and toward the line.
Sure enough, the batter was late on a fastball and blooped the ball down the line. Kevin only had to move in one or two steps and made an easy catch. I doubt he would have been able to get to the ball from where he was originally standing.
After the catch, he looked around again. I stood up, waved, and yelled "It was me".
He smiled, and tipped his cap.

Later

[Theoldmole]

He was just supposed to be better than he was. He was brought in to turn the Mets around, the way Hernandez and Carter actually did.

[Willets Point]

Turn the Mets around from being World Series Champions?

I guess in a sense he did the job since they never played in the World Series again while he was on the team.

[Guest Johnny Dickshot]

Just clobbered Mike Scioscia at home plate in Game 1 of the 88 NLCS.

[Willets Point]

Mike F-in Scioscia!!!

[Guest Edgy DC]

Well, some would say that (a) the Mets didn't need turning around during the 1986-1987 offseason, and ( turn them around is what he did.

I would call that an overstatement, but that trade signaled a directional change for Frank Cashen, losing faith in the farm he built and trying to solve every problem with consolidation trades. Every perceived problem really --- leftfiled probably wasn't a problem at all, even without the benefit of a hindsignt look at Kevin Mitchell's 1989.

None of that should be read to reflect on McReynolds his bad self.

Anybody got a shot of that Scoscia collision?

[HahnSolo]

Didn't McReynolds say something stupid before Game 7 of the NLCS, to paraphrase: "if we win it's good because I go to the World Series, and if I lose it's good because I go back to Arkansas to hunt."
Not the right attitude for a New York player.

[Guest Edgy DC]

Way too much was made of that and it was Exhibit A of much of the animus that peeps have for McReynolds.

If the Mets win, that quote is a celebrated colorful side story. It was in a response to a "Don't you feel the pressure?!" type question and he was, in his own way, trying to say, "No, because I have a zen-like detachment, and pressure comes from attachment. Attachment is not the jedi way."

I think that collision is my exhibit A that the Mets loss was not due to any lack of desire on McReynolds' part.

[MFS62]

Maybe he was thinking of running for Vice President.

Later

[Benjamin Grimm]

I toyed with the idea of building a song about that attitude during the recent Song Parody Challenge.

[patchyfogg]

Clinton and McReynolds, along with Aikman and Mantle, were part of my every famous person from Arkansas (Oklahoma, in the A&M Boys case) looks the same.

McReynolds is one of my least favorite players of all time (though I'm told he would have been a good roto player). Much was made of "Never has a defending World Champion acquired someone with the numbers that he has." To me, his Mets career was "pffft." His wife calling the 'FAN was kinda funny, in a Brenda Warner kind of way, though.

[Elster88]

Edgy DC wrote: Way too much was made of that and it was Exhibit A of much of the animus that peeps have for McReynolds. If the Mets win, that quote is a celebrated colorful side story. It was in a response to a "Don't you feel the pressure?!" type question and he was, in his own way, trying to say, "No, because I have a zen-like detachment, and pressure comes from attachment. Attachment is not the jedi way." I think that collision is my exhibit A that the Mets loss was not due to any lack of desire on McReynolds' part.

Beautifully put Mister DC. People say he had no desire and yet here he is running catcher's over like a WS championship is his only dream in the world.

The twisting of that quote is another example of sportswriters using an innocuous statement to create buzz, a buzz that lasts 18 fucking years and counting, as morons for all ages will be quoting it. Of course, some sports writers like Mr. Healey would have you believe this never happens.

[RealityChuck]

I mostly remember McReynolds for him showing very little personality. He'd go out, do it job (and generally do it well), and then go home.

My favorite McReynolds moment was in some game (nationally televised) when they showed McReynolds in the dugout. One of the annoucers said something like, "Great player, but you're never going to see him smile." The cameraman must have relayed the comment to McReynolds, because he broke out in this big, goofy grin.

[Frayed Knot]

McReynolds was in that unenviable position of being better than he was given credit for while never being as good as he he "was supposed to" be. Joe McIlvane was the guy who wanted him saying that he was the best amateur player he ever saw (he wasn't around when they were scouting Strawberry). He envisioned him as a 40+/125/.325 guy w/speed & defense.

That shortfall plus his personality (or lack thereof) explains his lack of popularity here. I'd see him win games by running over a catcher, by crashing into a wall, by throwing someone out on the bases, ... and then walk off the field looking like someone had run over his dog and inevitably he'd be accused of not caring.
One of my subtle favorites was a tied 9th inning game at Shea: bases loaded/1 out, KMac on 1st. Batter (forget who) hits a grounder to 2nd and it looks like a DP and extra-innings ... except that McReynolds knocks the SS about 9 yards into short leftfield and he never gets off the throw as the winning run scores.

The other problem is that he got off to a rotten start in his first month here, particularly with runners on, thereby almost immediately acquiring the virtually impossible to shake (cuz it's self-fulfilling as Mr. A. Rod could tell you) "no clutch" label.

[Vic Sage]

]You can't hate that guy.

if you can't, then you're just not trying very hard.

[Guest Edgy DC]

Retrosheet shows him ripping through April but slumping in May. Again in August.

[Frayed Knot]

Like I said it was mostly in runners-on situations early on, and it got him tabbed as the type who could hit ... but "never when it counted" yyybbb

[Guest Edgy DC]

Mac was a Diamond King.

""Kevin McReynolds stops at third and he scores." -- Ralph Kiner

[Willets Point]

I'm tired of being McReynolds.

[Willets Point]

One more post ought to do it.

[Elster88]

MFS62 wrote: I have one memory of him. I had bought day-of-game tickets and was sitting down the left field line, about one or two rows back. They were playing the Phillies that day and Gooden was on the mound. A Wally Backman type punch-and-judy hitter (I guess that's redundant) came to bat. Kevin was playing him straight away and deep. I yelled, "Kevin. This guy won't hit ti there. Play in and closer to the line!". He looked around, trying to figure out who was yelling to him, then moved in and toward the line. Sure enough, the batter was late on a fastball and blooped the ball down the line. Kevin only had to move in one or two steps and made an easy catch. I doubt he would have been able to get to the ball from where he was originally standing. After the catch, he looked around again. I stood up, waved, and yelled "It was me". He smiled, and tipped his cap. Later

That's a great story. SC = zero

[Vic Sage]

]One more post ought to do it

congrats, wp.
i can talk to you again.

[Willets Point]

He he.

Ya better watch out, you're approaching McReynolds level yourself.

[Centerfield]

MFS62,

That is a fantastic story.