Memories of Eddie Kunz

[Guest Edgy DC]

Ummm...

He went back to the minors (for good, so far, as it turns out) when the Mets acquired Luis Ayala. Ouch. And I had to look that one up, too.

[TransMonk]

One time "closer of the future", IIRC.

[metirish]

Can't even picture him.....

[Guest sharpie]

Went to lunch with a guy I know professionally around the time Kunz came up. Found out over lunch that he's a Mets fan. Talked about our hopes and dreams for Kunz, that they should turn the closer job over to him NOW. Went to a game that weekend, Mets got clobbered by Marlins, and Kunz was one of the clobberees. That's all I got.

[Guest Edgy DC]

Big chin. Like Dudley Doo-Right-big. I would have him on the mound for any games involving the Mets All-Chin Team, with Mackey Sasser behind the plate and Jeromy Burnitz in right.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Transformation from hope-of-the-future to bust-of-the-past scored 99 on the stadium gun.

So forgotten so quickly his original uni number (44) was reassigned only weeks after his last appearance. Couldn't even get a September callup.

[G-Fafif]

sharpie wrote: Went to lunch with a guy I know professionally around the time Kunz came up. Found out over lunch that he's a Mets fan. Talked about our hopes and dreams for Kunz, that they should turn the closer job over to him NOW. Went to a game that weekend, Mets got clobbered by Marlins, and Kunz was one of the clobberees. That's all I got.

Undependable Eddie had had it already
By the summer of Two Thousand Eight
From closer-to-be to obscurity
He wasn't that great

He couldn't go back to the Bisons
The best we could do
Was get Allan Dykstra
No relation to Lenny
Which isn't a terrible fate

Oh...that's all I heard 'bout undependable Eddie
Can't tell you more, Sharpie told you already
And here we are waving undependable Eddie goodbye

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

If only Steve J. Rogers were alive to appreciate that.

[MFS62]

OK, I'll admit it.
When I read his last name I thought we'd have to be really careful how to pronounce it.

Later

[Gwreck]

I think I saw this guy pitch in that debacle of a series in Houston in 2008 when we got swept, Wagner got hurt and I sat next to the most annoying Astros fan who, after realizing I was from NY (maybe the David Wright jersey tipped you off?) wanted to spend the whole game asking me questions about 9/11.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Yup he debuted in Houston and like all bad things related to the Omar Era, his story was closely related a bullpen crisis. Reminds me once again of what a waste of money Wagner turned out to be.

[HahnSolo]

Edgy DC wrote: Big chin. Like Dudley Doo-Right-big. I would have him on the mound for any games involving the Mets All-Chin Team, with Mackey Sasser behind the plate and Jeromy Burnitz in right.

Keith Miller at 2B.

So, my memory of Eddie Kunz is that Keith Miller had a fantastic chin.

[Guest themetfairy]

He's a good sport -

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

Gwreck wrote: I think I saw this guy pitch in that debacle of a series in Houston in 2008 when we got swept, Wagner got hurt and I sat next to the most annoying Astros fan who, after realizing I was from NY (maybe the David Wright jersey tipped you off?) wanted to spend the whole game asking me questions about 9/11.

Who does this?

[Gwreck]

If something like that had happened just once, I would write it off as a random thing. But NO -- I had the same exact problem with a guy on the train in Phoenix this past summer when I was there to see the Mets again.

Contributing to the situation is that my other half is more willing to engage in friendly conversation with strangers at the ballgame but that still doesn't explain why people want to bring that lovely topic up for conversation.