Only 4 All-Star RBI?

[HahnSolo]

I decided to look up Mets all-star performances of the past today and was totally surprised to see that Met position players had driven in a grand total of four runs in All-Star Game history.
According to UMDB, only Mazzilli with 2 rbi in '79, HoJo with one in '89, and Piazza with one in '02 drove in All Star runs.
Am I the only one surprised by this?

[Willets Point]

Not surprising to me since the Mets have had few big RBI guys of all-star caliber (or at least voted into the game) and pitchers are more likely to represent the team in all-star games historically.

[stevejrogers]

Willets Point wrote: Not surprising to me since the Mets have had few big RBI guys of all-star caliber (or at least voted into the game) and pitchers are more likely to represent the team in all-star games historically.

Gotta agree, most of our AS have been pitchers.

Also our bigger offensive All Stars (Strawberry, Piazza, Carter) have gone to the game in eras where the AL has been super dominant

Mike Piazza does have an ASG MVP, in the last game the NL won, but didn't do squat as a Met All Star

[Guest Edgy DC]

There's a reality about World Series games and All Star games, in that a larger percentage of the runs are going to be scored by home runs, meaining that a larger percentage of the RBI are going to be attained by a select group of people. Combine that with the reality that the Mets have had a relative paucity of batters sent to the All Star game, with a smaller subset of that being RBI men, and no, I'm not really surprised.

Then there's the cameo nature of so many All Star appearances. A typical All Star appearance for an "offensive" Met was frequently John Stearns catching the ninth inning of the 1979 game, or an injured Joel Youngblood showing up, tipping his cap, and going home. Not a whole lot of RBI opportunities there.

[Gwreck]

Forget the RBIs, the Mets only have 2 extra base hits in ASG play. Mazilli's HR, and a double by Lance Johnson.

Johnson (3-4, 1 R, 1 2B) in '96, Harrelson in '70 (2-3, 2 R) and Mazilli's HR are the only offense ever worth writing home about.

[Guest Edgy DC]

Some good pitching performances anyhow --- Gooden, Matlack, and Bobby Jones spring to mind.

Jesse Orosco came on with runners on second and third in 1983 and struck out Gentle Ben Oglivie, preserving the National League's, um, 11-3 defecit.

[stevejrogers]

Edgy DC wrote: Some good pitching performances anyhow --- Gooden, Matlack, and Bobby Jones spring to mind. Jesse Orosco came on with runners on second and third in 1983 and struck out Gentle Ben Oglivie, preserving the National League's, um, 11-3 defecit.

Matlack shared the 1975 MVP with Bill Madlock, only Met to do so.

[G-Fafif]

If only Walter Alston hadn't been so shortsighted in 1975, Del Unser would have driven in a dozen runs himself.

According to my 12-year-old self anyway:

http://faithandfear.blogharbor.com/blog/_archives/2006/7/10/2097664.html

[Guest Johnny Dickshot]

To quote another well-regarded source of information of the era, that was Dyn-O-Mite.

[Frayed Knot]

]There's a reality about World Series games and All Star games, in that a larger percentage of the runs are going to be scored by home runs

Really?

[Guest Edgy DC]

Yeah, according to (again) Bill James, with a larger percentage of the innings being handled by highly-efffective pitchers, it's much harder to nickle-and-dime them --- get three consecutive guys hitting safely.

Without data, I'd additionally speculate (and that's all it is) that games full of accomplished players --- both pitchers and hitters --- will tend to produce a brand of ball played closer to the extremes at both ends.

James speaks with data, though.

[Guest Edgy DC]

[Elster88]

Well done.

[MFS62]

SteveJRogers wrote: Matlack shared the 1975 MVP with Bill Madlock, only Met to do so.

Didn't Mazilli win the MVP for the game in which he homered? IIRC it was the deciding run.

Later

[Guest Edgy DC]

Nope. Not only did that homer tie the game, he also got the eventual game-winning RBI on a bases-loaded walk the next inning. The MVP was Dave Parker, not so much on the strength of going 1-3 with a sacrifice fly, but on his two assists in right.

[MFS62]

As they might say in Boston, he got scrod. (Is that an example of a pluperfect subjunctive?)

Later

[Willets Point]

Ah scrod, aka whatever fish is found floating on top of Boston Harbor that morning.