Good Night McKnight

[G-Fafif]

Jeff McKnight passed away Sunday at age 52, per Bill Price (who references MBTN's research).

http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/bitterbill/met-jeff-mcknight-dead-52-blog-entry-1.2135001?utm_content=bufferbfa5f&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=Wprice+Twitter

[Edgy MD]

Terrible. Way too young. His ex-big leaguer dad died himself at 57, around the time Jeff was bringing it for the 1994 Mets.

I did a goofy profile of McK back when for KCMets: http://www.kcmets.com/MetoftheWeek/JeffMcKnight2.html

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Geez what a disrespectful obituary. I was half-goofing when I wrote about him but that 16 years ago and I assumed he was alive and well.

It was a longtime goal of mine to one day interview Jeff but didn't know where he'd wound up and figured I would always have time.

[Edgy MD]

Yeah, that was some truly bitter Bitter Bill.

Wake up and realize it's the last word on the guy. Don't make the story be about you.

[G-Fafif]

Might have curbed the instinct to identify a just-deceased person's career as "lousy".

[Guest Mets Guy in Michigan]

That is, unquestionably, the worst and most insensitive obituary I've seen. I'm saving this to be used as an example for my journalism students.

Not sure if you saw the news, but Jeff McKnight, a Met who wore about 10 different numbers during a pretty lousy career with the Mets and Orioles, died Sunday at 52 due to leukemia, a disease he was battling for 10 years.

Even if this was a feature about a perfectly healthy 52-year-old Jeff McKnight, that would be rough. Guy played six years in the majors. That's a dream come true for a lot of people. A story like that is the kind of thing that gives reporters in general and sportswriters in specific a bad name.

And how many editors signed off on that?

That reads like a drunken caller on a sports talk radio show.

The Associated Press did a more professional job:

BEE BRANCH, Ark. (AP) Jeff McKnight, a versatile player who spent six seasons with the New York Mets and Baltimore Orioles, has died. He was 52. McKnight's family told the Mets that McKnight died Sunday after having leukemia for 10 years. His father, Jim, who briefly played for the Chicago Cubs in the early 1960s, was born in Bee Branch. Jeff McKnight made his big league debut in 1989 with the Mets and hit .233 overall with five home runs and 34 RBIs in 218 games. He singled in his final at-bat, for the Mets in August 1994 on the final day before a players' strike wiped out the rest of the season. McKnight was mostly an infielder, and played every position in the majors except center field and pitcher. McKnight hit his first big league home run off Jack Morris, an eighth-inning shot that helped rally the Orioles over Detroit at Memorial Stadium.

[Edgy MD]

With the state of journalism as it is, I'm going to guess the number of signoffs was somewhere between zero and one. And that one may have just been a copyeditor.

I wrote Price and asked him to pull it and do a re-write.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Bill's job is to come off like an unedited hack.

[Edgy MD]

No doubt, but it's as good a night as any to find religion.

[nymr83]

Jeff McKnight made his big league debut in 1989 with the Mets and hit .233 overall with five home runs and 34 RBIs in 218 games. He singled in his final at-bat, for the Mets in August 1994 on the final day before a players' strike wiped out the rest of the season.

I wonder how many players never saw the bigs again after the strike, and how that would compare to a typical season. did ownership blackball anyone? did marginal guys decide they needed to move on with their lives and get real-world jobs sooner then would typically happen?

[Edgy MD]

I assume that last bit is at least partially true. But Baseball-Reference lists 140 players and 82 pitchers as having played their last game in 1994, but significantly greater figures are found in 1993 (178 and 84) and 1995 (187 and 104).

[Theoldmole]

Anyone who makes it to the big leagues and contributes - as McKnight did, over a a few years -- cannot be described as lousy.

[metirish]

What a horrible obituary,what a hack.

thankfully took some heat for this, not that he gives a damn

[Frayed Knot]

Well the obit might have been unnecessarily nasty and disrespectful but at least 'Bitter Bill' doesn't admit to being a drunken heckler or anything.
Oh wait, he does that too.

[Theoldmole]

Bitter Bill's slight gets more offensive every time I think about it.

Here's what I wrote on "John wants to talk sports with you" on Facebook, and it covers my feeling:

RIP Jeff McKnight. You were a Big Leaguer.

[G-Fafif]

Didn't win a lot, but surely Jeff McKnight played.

[Guest d'Kong76]

Damn shame, ten years is a long battle.
Oh, and fuck you Bill!

[batmagadanleadoff]

I have a Jeff McKnight batting practice jersey in uni number 17, which Jeff hadda give up to Saberhagen.

[G-Fafif]

Revisiting JCL's groundbreaking work on the McKnight of Many Numbers, it is amazing how cavalier Charlie Samuels was in passing along 17 and 18 in particular so soon after their best days. 5, too, I suppose, though I guess Davey Johnson was deemed persona not grata ASAP. Whatever one's feelings on digit-retirement, how does the guy from Tidewater keep rating prime numbers?

[batmagadanleadoff]

G-Fafif wrote: Revisiting JCL's groundbreaking work on the McKnight of Many Numbers, it is amazing how cavalier Charlie Samuels was in passing along 17 and 18 in particular so soon after their best days. 5, too, I suppose, though I guess Davey Johnson was deemed persona not grata ASAP. Whatever one's feelings on digit-retirement, how does the guy from Tidewater keep rating prime numbers?

Charlie probably [rolls eyes in disbelief and mock sarcasm] forgot that those numbers belonged to Keith and Straw. [/rolls eyes in disbelief and mock sarcasm]

[fimg=433]http://mbtn.net/images/torve-second.jpg[/fimg]

[stevejrogers]

Been looking at the All-Time Numerical Roster, and it seems it has been a thing since way before Samuels was ever in charge of such things:

I.e. #36 used by the Wayne Twitchells and Danny Boitanos of the early 1980s Mets. #7 found its way onto John Christensen after Hubie Brooks took it over from Ed Kranepool. #45 bounced around in between Tug McGraw and John Franco and while one would expect Zach Wheeler to be its custodian for a while it has gone through Jason Isringhausen and Justin Hampson since Pedro Martinez took it from Franco, etc.

While #8 was never as much of a hot potato as #17 was, it still made the rounds before the unofficial retirement since Carter got inducted into Cooperstown. The only two numbers (well, technically three, but with the above photo of Kelvin Torve and subsequent Rickey Henderson usage, Mays' 24 has been used) that were given the "NOBODY WEARS THIS EVER AGAIN" treatment without the official retirement have been #41 (only Seaver wore it from his debut through its official retirement) and #31 (hasn't been reissued).

While its safe to assume using McKnight's distinction was meant to be yet another "dig" at the Wilpons' perceived lack of caring about Met history, the fact is, unless the former wearer was a no doubt future HOFer, the Mets have historically never really gave a flying fuck about numerical legacies.

[batmagadanleadoff]

SteveJRogers wrote: ... the fact is, unless the former wearer was a no doubt future HOFer, the Mets have historically never really gave a flying fuck about numerical legacies.

You nailed that one.

[batmagadanleadoff]

batmagadanleadoff wrote: SteveJRogers wrote: ... the fact is, unless the former wearer was a no doubt future HOFer, the Mets have historically never really gave a flying fuck about numerical legacies. You nailed that one.

Although, I see that 17 hasn't been issued since mid-2010, five years ago. That can't be a random coincidence, I'd suppose.

[batmagadanleadoff]

No peeking. Who was the last Met to wear #5 before Wright?

[Edgy MD]

Mark Johnson.

[Edgy MD]

GAH! Close. Peeked.

[batmagadanleadoff]

Edgy MD wrote: Mark Johnson.

There's one five between Mark n Dave. Still, that's impressive ... remembering Johnson as #5. What was he a Met for, like 15 minutes? Okay, I exaggerate., but MJ's stint couldn't have been more than a few months.

[batmagadanleadoff]

Lunchbucket should know this cold, I would expect. He probably logged off to go and put on his pants with the security tag.

[stevejrogers]

batmagadanleadoff wrote: batmagadanleadoff wrote: SteveJRogers wrote: ... the fact is, unless the former wearer was a no doubt future HOFer, the Mets have historically never really gave a flying fuck about numerical legacies. You nailed that one. Although, I see that 17 hasn't been issued since mid-2010, five years ago. That can't be a random coincidence, I'd suppose.

Hernandez has been working the broadcast booth as a regular though for a lot longer, even before SNY, so if anything it might be a case of "OKAY KEITH, WE GET IT! FINE! INTO UNOFFICIAL RETIREMENT IT GOES!" since he has said on the air how certain players didn't look right wearing #17. But yeah, that, #8, #31 and #24 are the only 1-50 numbers that haven't been been used since that point.

[G-Fafif]

Shinjo?