1993: The year the Mets broke

[batmagadanleadoff]

An Open Letter To Bobby Bonilla
Published: January 05, 1992

Dear Bobby: Congratulations on your new contract. It must feel great knowing that you and your family are secure for life. So Bobby, why are you so sour? Why do you persist in bashing the Pirates' management at every turn? Are you so concerned that selling yourself to the highest bidder doesn't square with your "great guy" image? Does maintaining that image require the presence of other, non-economic factors? Is that what's behind this modern-day tragedy you've created in which those simultaneously wicked and bumbling Pirates executives are solely to blame for your leaving Pittsburgh? Bobby, are you trying to kid us or yourself? Listen, forget the image thing and just enjoy your fortune; you're not such a great guy, anyway, and the money hasn't a thing to do with it. A great guy would have made a graceful exit. A great guy would have publicly thanked the Pirates for providing him the opportunity to grow into a $29 million player. A great guy would have thanked his teammates for giving him the thrill of participating in two National League championship playoffs. A truly great guy would have expressed his gratitude to the fans of Pittsburgh for their warm support. Look, Bobby, you've said this is a business; now you should start acting as though you mean it. The situation boils down to a very simple business proposition: You acted in what you perceived to be your best interests by signing with the Mets, and the Pirates acted in what they perceived to be their best interests by letting you go. Maybe the Pirates felt they couldn't afford to pay you $29 million. Or perhaps the Pirates felt that while they could afford the freight, you weren't worth more than their last offer. Interestingly, before you signed, many people opined that you should command a larger contract than you merited strictly for your on-the-field performance because of "intangibles"; i.e., because you're such a great guy. As I recall, the Pirates' last offer was for about $24 million, which would be about at the level where the "great-guy premium" part of your $29 million contract kicks in. That makes the Pirates' handling of your contract negotiations look pretty responsible. Bobby, there are no villains in this saga, and there are no heroes, either. There aren't even any great guys. JIM WHALEN Pittsburgh

http://www.nytimes.com/1992/01/05/sports/l-an-open-letter-to-bobby-bonilla-368292.html

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BASEBALL; Boos Bounce Off Bonilla's Back
By JOE SEXTON
Published: May 31, 1992

The booing was bad Wednesday night. The booing was worse Friday night. Bobby Bonilla heard it, understood it and promised it wouldn't be long before he would be able to forget it. "We'll hear cheers here," Bonilla said before yesterday's game against the Braves at Shea Stadium. "We all will." Bonilla, in extended and explicit remarks about fan reaction to his struggles at Shea and his response to it, said yesterday that he had no gripes with the booing. It wasn't foreign or offensive to him, which no doubt is a good thing considering Bonilla was later in the afternoon booed mercilessly for his play in the field and performance at the plate in a 6-1 loss to the Braves. Bonilla, who wore earplugs yesterday, insisted it was only to increase his concentration at the plate. "I know the makeup of the New York fan, I know the mentality," said Bonilla, who was reared in the South Bronx. "People want to see you do well. It's nothing more than I ask of and want from myself." 'Where Does That Come From?' "People come to games for an escape," Bonilla said. "It's supposed to be entertainment, and to see a club get shut out nearly four games in a row isn't fun." Bonilla's comments were measured and precise, but beneath them was a deep confusion and dismay over what he said had been the misrepresentation of his position with respect to fans earlier in the week. He said he had been told by a club official that at least one newspaper had reported that Bonilla had said he did not like fans. He said, as well, he had been told by the club official that local radio shows had been full of less than complimentary talk regarding his reaction to the booing at Shea. Bonilla, as a result, made a point of addressing reporters after Friday night's game, threatening that he would limit their access to him if any "twisting" of his remarks took place. "I don't like fans? Where does that come from?" asked Bonilla. "Why wouldn't I like fans? Why wouldn't I want kids to come to a game? "Hey, I'm a Latin player who comes from New York. I have lots of responsibilities. People are looking at me, up to me. And my message to them is that anything is possible. It seems, though, that people are trying to test me." The booing, of course, has come because of Bonilla's failures at the plate at Shea. Bonilla, hitless in four at-bats with a strikeout Friday night, went 0 for 4 again yesterday as his average at Shea sunk to .130. He has not homered and has driven in only four runs at Shea. Bonilla, signed to a five-year, $29 million deal, was consequently booed even before the club left for its road trip through California two weeks ago. He smiled and worked through those episodes, and yesterday he pledged to do similarly through his current trial by ire. "It won't change the way I go about playing the game," Bonilla said. "What do people think I'll come to the park and sulk? That's not my makeup. And what about when I hit a three-run bomb to win a game here. Do you think I'd tell the fans to stick it? Of course not."

http://www.nytimes.com/1992/05/31/sports/baseball-boos-bounce-off-bonilla-s-back.html

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Sports of The Times; Can Bonilla Get Along In New York?
By GEORGE VECSEY
Published: April 16, 1993

IT always makes me nervous when I hear people say "we are working on our relationship," because that sounds like trouble, big trouble. This is exactly where Bobby Bonilla stands with his hometown of New York. They are working on their relationship, and I'm not sure it can be saved. Bonilla just may not be cool enough to have a long career in New York. Nothing against him. This is a hard town these days, and only the strong survive. He might have been better off in Pittsburgh, with a couple of camera crews and a couple of reporters and a couple of microphones. I feel badly for Bobby Bonilla, because he is not a sourpuss from "out there," like Kevin McReynolds, who hated every minute at Shea Stadium. Bonilla was no Roberto Clemente in Pittsburgh, and he would have settled for being Bobby Bo from the Bronx, but now it might be better for him elsewhere. Bonilla went way over the line the other day, challenging Bob Klapisch of The New York Daily News to step forward and fight. It was pretty normal street talk, but it happened in the locker room of the Mets right after a game, so of course it became big news. Bonilla was angry because he had heard bad reports about "The Worst Team Money Could Buy," a book written by Klapisch and John Harper of The Daily News. He said he hasn't read the book, if that matters. His main complaint seems to be that the reporters abused their access to the team; the writers argue there is no major news in this book that was not reported last season. But the book is only the symptom of the real problem between Bonilla and New York: there is no place to hide anymore, not even where you dress. Make no mistake: New York is no innocent in this affair. Sports is big business these days. Sports is good for commercials and ratings and circulation and book sales. Everything is hot. If you can get a player to react, film at 11. If a player goes off at an author, a book company can whip up an advertisement in a day or two. Sometimes it resembles a bullfight, with the picadors and the matadors and the toreadors, but in this bullfight the central character is being paid $29 million for five years. So why doesn't Bonilla just take the money and relax? Could you? Could I? This is not merely some little intramural media squabble, because it affects how sports are perceived these days, how athletes live their lives. When Bonilla chose to play for the Mets last season, he was caught in some inconsistencies. He was thin-skinned. He was overweight. He had a mediocre year. This spring he reported with a slimmer body and allegedly a thicker skin, but within days there were unconfirmed reports that he was taking it easy in workouts, and the battle was back on. Now comes the book, the book he hasn't read. And Bonilla and every other player has to know that 24 hours a day on talk radio they are being called "chumps" and "losers," and not just by the callers, either. There has always been tension between athletes and the press, but it has gotten worse. Before the electronic swarm, a reporter could stand by an athlete's locker and have a conversation. Maybe things were explained off the record, just as they are in the real world. Maybe journalists broke a confidence or wrote the truth. Maybe athletes threatened reporters. It's tougher now. Watergate made the press more skeptical, which was good. The players have figured out they cannot be misquoted or even "interpreted" by a benign television camera. After George Steinbrenner raised the tensions around his ball club, "baseball writers" needed the outlook of a house dick. Meanwhile, anonymous people went on Oprah and Donahue and discussed things you didn't used to mention in public. Gary Hart dared the press to find scandal in his private life, which wasn't hard. One newspaper sent a gossip reporter on the road with the Mets. These guys are not exactly negotiating nuclear arms reductions, are they? So it's open antagonism between the press and the athletes now, and maybe it's more honest that way. Many athletes no longer sit in their lockers and chat about the sport they play, and I submit that something has been lost. There are some bright people in this town like Doc Rivers and Sam Bowie and John Vanbiesbrouck who can handle it. Jim Abbott's going to be fine, and so will Boomer Esiason. Maybe Bonilla could laugh it off if he hit .320, but I don't think that's going to happen. New York is not for everybody. Not even locals. It may not be right for Bobby Bo.

http://www.nytimes.com/1993/04/16/sports/sports-of-the-times-can-bonilla-get-along-in-new-york.html

[metirish]

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: Gotta love how Harper damns the Mets offense in 1992 by pointing out how few triples they hit as though that explained anything.

Wow, Harper was always an asshole eh?

[Zvon]

I did not enjoy the Mets during these years.

[G-Fafif]

Davey Johnson's Mets didn't win the World Series until this guy arrived. And it all went downhill when he sustained his first major injury while playing for the worst team money could buy. The game, reported below, would be his last as a Met.

The Mets activated August-injured Willie Randolph so he could play one final game on Closing Day 1992. They extended Mags no such courtesy, as noted in Worst Team:

[H]is tenure with the club would clearly come to an end by September. That's when Magadan reported that his wrist had healed, but he was sitting at home alone in Tampa because the Mets never bothered to call. In fact, when a reporter informed Al Harazin of Magadan's recovery, the GM, eating lunch in the dining room at Wrigley, looked up from his plate and said simply, "Is that right?" Magadan knew then that there'd be no returning to the Mets in 1993. He doubted they'd even offer him a contract or pursue him as a free agent. And he was right: When Magadan signed a two-year deal in December with the Florida Marlins worth $1.4 million, he walked away from the Mets without ever having received a phone call. It was an inglorious end to a career that never was. As Magadan put it, "I never did have the success with the Mets I imagined I would. I always thought I'd have a longer, better career in New York than that."

I was certain he'd come back and get a big hit off the Met bench by 2000, but he never did.

[ashie62]

SteveJRogers wrote: Well, aspiring to that level of mediocrity pretty much has led to a lot of the Mets rather quagmire-esque seasons of false hopes and cock teases.

I would agree a cock tease is a form of hell..

[Guest d'Kong76]

themetfairy wrote: My older son was born the morning that pitchers and catchers reported that year. That's my one positive association with the season.

My Mom died in the summer of '93, the Mets killed her.