Memories of Tom Glavine

[Elster88]

I woulda liked to have him and his 200 innings of league average pitching back.

[Guest Edgy DC]

Mrs. G. brought no shame to Wifey Watch.

[metirish]

His first season start against the Cubs and his last season start against the Marlins, I had expected so much in both.

The road to 300 and the fact that he was a decent guy.

[Frayed Knot]

I think that Glavine, like a lot of imported players who came over to mixed (at best) reactions, was not nearly as good as we hoped but overall wasn't as bad as many will portray.
The bad first and last impressions don't help either.

[metirish]

The fist pump, I think against the Yankees, anyone remember what I am talking about?

[Guest Kid Carsey]

That last start as a Met still makes me ill to think about.

Doesn't really feel like he was a Met for five whole years, where does the
time go? I'm glad my team ain't paying him 8 million guaranteed and hope
he gets a good pasting his first visit to Shea.

[nymr83]

Glavine blew the biggest game of the year, and he didn't even give the team a shot to win it. I know you all remember that now, but let anyone who stumbles onto "memories of tom glavine" in the archives ten years from now and reads nice rosie things about him remember that in the biggest game the mets played he couldnt get out of the 1st inning.

[Valadius]

The first player ever to reach one of the three elite clubs - 3,000 hits, 500 home runs, 300 wins - in a Mets uniform.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

His signing was like receiving a pair pf sdocks at Christmas. I mean, sure you could always use 'em but you didn't really ask for 'em. I mean, a veteran pitcher with a HoF career in another organizartion was about the last thing the 2003 Mets needed to be spending money on.

He of course went out and ruined opening day, then had, it seemed like, dozens of games where the offense or the bullpen couldn't support him. All of this was foreseeable.

The Mets for whatever reason, seemed acutely reverential around Glavine, again, almost unnecessarily so, culminating in that nice but creepy over the top Showcase giveaway honoring the 20some percent of Glavine's 300 wins that came as a Met. Hooray for Tom and his round numbers.

At least until that big studid celebration, Glavine seemed to have grown more comfortable as a Met and without a doubt was a strong contributor to their recent success. Then he went and peed so much of it all away again, humiliatingly losing the one game he wasn't under any circumstances allowed to lose, shrugging his shoulders, and taking off again for Atlanta.

I wouldn't doubt that 300 golf ball art project is sold at the Glavine's garage sale when they finally pull out of Rye.

[Farmer Ted]

A fantastic #3 pitcher thrust into a #1 role and couldn't do it. Back to Atlanta to hide behind Smoltz, Hudson, and maybe Dolphin Face.

[Guest Edgy DC]

He and Hampton occupy a similar psychic space by showing up, crapping out in their very first game, and never being fully trusted by Mets fans whether they did well or ill.

[Centerfield]

I'm thankful for two performances, Game 1 of the NLCS last year, and his gem on Ralph Kiner night, my son's first trip to Shea. He was fantastic.

But during his entire time in NY, you never got the feeling he was completely sold on being here. And there were many times he made it clear how much he missed Atlanta. If Tom Glavine were a girlfriend, he is the girlfriend you would find googling an ex-boyfriend online. The ex-boyfriend who is also your sworn enemy. And now that Tom has gone back to his ex-boyfriend, it confirms all of those suspicions.

Sucked in the beginning, sucked in the end, sucked a lot of times in-between making him a minor disappointment overall.

[Elster88]

LOL CF

[soupcan]

Getting his faced smashed in when his taxi crashed.

Oh, well. Sorry about that.

Buh-bye.

[G-Fafif]

Despite my massive distaste for him, I will remember that he got screwed out of not a few winning decisions by his bullpen, which must have been agonizing for him seeing as how his whole purpose in pitching was wrapped up in the individual glory of 300.

A two-time Met All-Star, though probably the most hollow two-time Met All-Star in team history.

That near no-hitter against the Rockies in '04 when I actually debated whether I wanted it to be him.

[G-Fafif]

Edgy DC wrote: He and Hampton occupy a similar psychic space by showing up, crapping out in their very first game, and never being fully trusted by Mets fans whether they did well or ill.

Pretty true, but Hampton was burdened by no particular anti-Met history as Glavine had developed as cold-eyed Brave. Plus Hampton clinched us a pennant, which should probably get him off the hook a little more than it does for the school system remark, which was so insipid that I'm surprised A-Rod didn't come up with it first (unless the Arlington Department of Education failed to impress Mr. Rodriguez).

At least Hampton's shaky debut came in Japan at five in the morning and no Mets fan had to shiver to witness it.

[Guest Iubitul]

Two words, thanks to Greg: Manchurian Brave

[stevejrogers]

Probably 2nd behind Carter (if you want to consider Carter more an Expo since that is what he's in the Hall as) in terms of productive future HOFers who aren't in as Mets.

Ryan was too ineffective to be considered better than what Glavine gave the Mets, and Eddie Murray, Rickey Henderson and Richie Ashburn just plain weren't around for that long despite soild numbers. Though there isn't much of a list with Snider, Mays, Spahn and Berra rounding it out.

[metirish]

If Glavine is second behind Carter then that would be far, far behind him I would think.

[Frayed Knot]

Not really.
Carter, like Glavine, spent five seasons w/the Mets, but only 3 of his were any good and in his final one he contributed virtually nothing.

So if you want to measure the comparitive Met-ness of their careers by the CPF rankings system (and really, why would one use anything else?) Glavine looks like he'll nudge ahead of Carter by several slots.

[Guest Edgy DC]

Steve meets Tommy the Carter-Eclipser:

http://cranepoolforum.net/phpbb2/viewtopic.php?t=7037&view=next&sid=ad18b19d2f96aecda5f1bb0d72e9c9d8

[Frayed Knot]

HoF players - or probable *future members - ranked by their contributions to NYM baseball as per their status in the CPF Rankings project:

Tom Seaver
* Tom Glavine (est finish depending on final 2007 results)
Gary Carter
* Pedro Martinez - will likely pass Ryan w/his 2007 points ... with potential to rise further in coming year(s)
Nolan Ryan
Eddie Murray
* (?) Joe Torre
* Rickey Henderson
Willie Mays
Richie Ashburn
Warren Spahn

Yogi Berra's 8 NYM ABs did not earn him a place on the list

[metirish]

Glavine speaks.

I wanted to keep family in Atlanta

[Elster88]

G-Fafif wrote: his whole purpose in pitching was wrapped up in the individual glory of 300.

Of course that's not even remotely true.

[Valadius]

I know I have a different perspective on Glavine because I wasn't paying attention to baseball until 1997, but seriously, give the guy a break. I hold no ill feelings towards him. He pitched well, for the most part, his last four seasons here minus the last week. He did pitch pretty well in the playoffs for us. Blaming him for what happened this season is foolish. It had far more to do with our joke of a bullpen.

[G-Fafif]

Elster88 wrote: ="G-Fafif"]his whole purpose in pitching was wrapped up in the individual glory of 300. Of course that's not even remotely true.

No, I think it is at least remotely true. Glavine himself wouldn't have argued the point last year at this time as he dithered among retirement, the Mets and the Brave offer he hoped he'd get. He kept pitching to get to 300, which doesn't make him unique among veterans nearing a milestone. He kept pitching so he could get wins for Glavine, not out of some fantastic altruistic desire to help the Mets. Of course the Mets benefited from his work when it was good, but let's not pretend that a pitcher who has reached 290 wins isn't very much wrapped up in the quest for 300.

[Benjamin Grimm]

The part that's not true is the "whole purpose" part.

[Guest Edgy DC]

I think he was motivated by that eight-figure salary.

[seawolf17]

Tom who? Wasn't he that guy who used to pitch for the Braves? I have no memories of him at all. Must have blocked them.

[A Boy Named Seo]

I thought his press conference would bug me, but it didn't. Only watched the first 15 minutes or so, but he didn't say anything cheesy at all, nothing overly gushy about his homecoming, or anything remotely negative about his time with the Mets. Strictly professional.

Interestingly enough, around 9:30 he says he told the Mets straight away at the end of the season that he was not going to pick up his option because 1) he didn't know if he wanted to retire and that 5 days wasn't enough time for him to decide, and 2) he felt he wasn't worth the $13 mils his contract would've called for. He went on to say he didn't feel like he was a "#1 guy anymore".