The Fascination with Kevin Elster

[Guest ScarletKnight41]

Yancy Street Gang said -

]I don't understand the fascination with Kevin Elster, but that's for another thread, I guess.

Something about Yancy's statement appealed to me in my precaffienated state. So here's the thread - discuss!

[Elster88]

From the PotG thread regarding my fascination with Mr. Elster:

Elster88 wrote: [My] fascination is not from his appearance. The fascination is from 88 games, which was huge to me growing up as a shortstop, even though he couldn't hit a lick. The urban legend of Elster stealing other players' ladies was hilarious to me back then too, and is why I joke about his looks. Wrapping that all together is how he became my favorite player back then.

I don't think anyone else is particularly fascinated with him.

[Guest ScarletKnight41]

Probably not. But we can expand this into the strange fascination with players thread if anyone wants to jump in.

[Guest Edgy DC]

Elster was pissed that, even after his errorless games streak, he didn't get an endorsement deal from his glove company --- Rawlings, I think --- so he darkened in the logo.

[Elster88]

Chicks dig the long ball.

Edit: I'm Gary Carter. Cute and cuddly if I've ever seen it.

[Guest cooby]

Gary Carter had the misfortune of playing for the Mets while Keith was there, so no women noticed him.

[Guest Edgy DC]

Everybody's mother and most everybody's grandmother loved Gary. He endorsed soap!

[Elster88]

Ronnie Darling was a favorite of the ladies in my household.

[Benjamin Grimm]

My sister liked Danny Heep and Mike Fitzgerald.

[HahnSolo]

I always got the impression, and maybe it's a little harsh, that Kevin Elster was more interested in winning the clubhouse Hearts games and scoring with the ladies than he ever was at improving himself at the plate.

[Elster88]

Coulda been. I didn't pay as much attention to that stuff when he was around. I always thought he just wasn't much of a hitter. He had the one good year with Texas.

[Guest ScarletKnight41]

Elster88 wrote: Ronnie Darling was a favorite of the ladies in my household.

Ah, Ron Darling.

Looks. Brains. A World Series Ring. An All Star Ring.

The complete package.

[Guest cooby]

Eh.


Sid Fernandez, now he was cute. And cuddly. Mysterious. Exotic.

[Guest ScarletKnight41]

cooby - I forgot to show you my photo of Sid from Spring Training 1985. He was positively slim.

[Guest cooby]

That's right!

Is that the year he had to go back to AAA for a few weeks after spring training?

[Guest ScarletKnight41]

I don't remember. I was living in Boston in 1985, so I'm fuzzy on a lot of the early season details.

[Guest Edgy DC]

More Elster talk. Less Darling talk.

[Guest cooby]

Sid

[Guest Edgy DC]

The Fascination with Sid Fernandez

[Benjamin Grimm]

My sister hated Sid Fernandez. But she liked Rick Aguilera.

[Guest Edgy DC]

Did she frequently go for the bemulleted?

[Benjamin Grimm]

Did Heep and Fitzgerald and Aguilera have mullets? I have to say I don't remember their hair styles at all. When I picture them they're wearing blue baseball caps.

[Guest Edgy DC]

Eighties Mets who wore their hair long in the back, even for a brief time, included Aggie, Darling, Dwight Gooden (the jeri-mullet), Roger McDowell (worse with the Phillies (below), and that's aobut all I've got for now.

[Guest Edgy DC]

In fairness, because baseball caps contain a player's front hair, it's not always easy to see what's a mullet and what's gen-u-inely long hair.

[Guest Edgy DC]

But I'm certain the 1994 Phils were as mulleted as any pennant winner ever.

Ever.

[Frayed Knot]

While I never had a "fascination" with Elster (I missed where this topic started) I did think the shoulder injury that derailed his nascent career was a very overlooked factor in the tailspin and decline of the early '90s Mets. Without a solid - even if light-hitting - shortstop they were forced to patch in a series of aging Tony Fernandez/Dick Schofield-types which saddled the lineup with an offensive black hole worse even than an Elster with merely modest progress could have provided.

[Guest ScarletKnight41]

With respect to Rick Aguilera - when he came up, Bob Murphy kept referring to him as "The Brilliant Young Righthander." So throughout the rest of his career, Aguilera was always The Brilliant Young Righthander to D-Dad and me.

[Benjamin Grimm]

Good ol' Bob Murphy.

[Willets Point]

Elster88 wrote: Ronnie Darling was a favorite of the ladies in my household.

In my junior high school the boys were split between Mets and Yankees, but all the girls were Mets fans and Ron Darling was a major factor.

[soupcan]

I go back to days of Lee Mazzilli and Bucky Dent fighting for the hearts of the junior high/high school chicks.