batmagadanleadoff
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Everything posted by batmagadanleadoff
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Staub didn't heal until next season. He played the rest of the series with excruciating shoulder pain that prevented him from raising his right arm much higher than his shoulder. He couldn't throw at all and was a defensive liability. He had to throw the baseball sidearm, frisbee style, the way you'd throw a rock to skim water. Limited as such, Staub couldn't throw the ball more than 100, 150 feet. Don Hahn would race towards Staub whenever the ball was hit to right. I know of at least one play when Staub tossed the batted ball to an arriving Hahn after fielding it so that Hahn could relay the ball back to the infield. But Staub was the Mets most potent hitter, and too valuable to keep out of the lineup. Even with his compromised shoulder, Staub hit a ton in the WS, even homering once.
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Edgy DC wrote: I just looked it up. Given 175 guesses, I'd have gotten it. Wow. I looked up the answers sometime after you got Jamie Moyer, leaving four answers on the table. I still couldn't solve the end of this quiz.
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Mike Hampton Octavio Dotel Jason Isringhausen
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Ty Wigginton Gary Matthews, Jr.
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Pedro Feliciano
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Jay Payton
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Nobody on this thread wrote that Mays stuck around for too long, or that he should've retired some time before he actually did.
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Yeah, there's no doubt it was a bad year, but it was his last season his only remotely bad one. What would they have the guy do? He was very good in 1972 and when injuries and ineffectiveness undercut 1973, he announced his retirement, accepted a part-time role, and gave what he could to a team who needed anything they could get to fight for a championship. At the end there, he was still probably their best defensive option. I agree with you. I also don't hold it against Mays that he played in '73 (or any faded legend finishing out his career under similar circumstances). So long as there's a team offering the player playing time, the player has the right to accept the offer. OE: I'd say that Hahn was the better defensive option.
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Mays was done in '73. He was an awful player, pratfall or no pratfall. You could see that he was done just by observing, even if you didn't know what his stats were. No shame in that. Everyone's done after awhile. But there's no need to make the '73 Mays out to be more than he was either. .211 is still .211, whether it's Mays' .211 or Lute Barnes' .211. Are we talking about Mays as a Met or Mays as a legend? Because if we're talking the legend of Mays, he's still a legend, and will always be a legend. I see nothing wrong with the media replaying Mays' WS fall as evidence that by '73, Mays was done. It's easier and more effective than to show Mays flailing feebly 55 times over the course of his last season at pitches he would've crushed a few years earlier. Besides, that video doesn't exist anymore anyway ... lost or destroyed. Or stolen and in the possession of private collectors.
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It's Rose. Pete Rose's solo homerun accounts for all the scoring the Reds would need to defeat the Mets at the Polo Grounds 1-0. Jim Maloney's complete game shutout in the nightcap prevented the Metsies from sweeping the doubleheader. ("If you put your arms around my neck, I'll rub your pocket. Tee hee."). -
Spinoff trivia: Who was the last remaining active major leaguer to have played in the Polo grounds?
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The four remaining '70's Polo Mets are: 1) Ron Herbel (1970). Herbel, I thought, was the toughest answer. He barely qualified -- pitching 12 innings for the 1970 Mets and debuting as a major leaguer with the SF Giants on 9/10/63 against the Mets at the Polo Grounds, where he pitched one inning of relief. Herbel's total IP for 1963 were 1 1/3. 2) Cal Koonce (1970) 3) Ron Taylor (1971) and 4) Jesus Alou (1975) Jesus made his major league debut with the SF Giants on 9/10/63 against the Mets at the Polo Grounds -- the same game in which Ron Herbel also made his major league debut. Alou and Herbel -- photographed for their Topps Rookie Card at the Polo Grounds:
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I'll post the remaining four 70's Polo Mets this evening.
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Ashie62 wrote: Here's a hint: one of these players was the last remaining Brooklyn Dodger. The Mets were the last MLB team he ever played for. Clem Labine See Grimm's post, above.
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[u:3cdg01tb]'70's Polo Mets (Last Met season in parentheses)[/u:3cdg01tb] Ray Sadecki (1977) -- JCL Joe Torre (1977) -- dgw Cleon Jones (1975) -- JCL Bob Miller (1974) -- JCL Willie Mays (1973) -- dgw Bob Aspromonte (1971) -- Grimm Donn Clendenon (1971) -- dgw Don Cardwell (1970) -- dgw [u:3cdg01tb]Nope-o Polo[/u:3cdg01tb] Bob Friend -- JCL (Friend was exclusively a '60's Met) Al Weis -- JCL Dean Chance -- JCL (The only Nl ball that Weis & Chance ever played was with the Mets. The two innings that Chance pitched for the Mets in 1970 were the only NL innings that Chance ever pitched in his 10 year MLB career). Jim Beauchamp -- JCL (Beauchamp appeared in four games in 1963 - none at the Polo Grounds).
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Four of the five remaining '70's Polo Mets were pitchers.
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[u:2xpa7wwx]'70's Polo Mets (Last Met season in parentheses)[/u:2xpa7wwx] Ray Sadecki (1977) -- JCL Joe Torre (1977) -- dgw Cleon Jones (1975) -- JCL Bob Miller (1974) -- JCL Willie Mays (1973) -- dgw Bob Aspromonte (1971) -- Grimm Donn Clendenon (1971) -- dgw [u:2xpa7wwx]Nope-o Polo[/u:2xpa7wwx] Bob Friend -- JCL (Friend was exclusively a '60's Met) Al Weis -- JCL Dean Chance -- JCL (The only Nl ball that Weis & Chance ever played was with the Mets. The two innings that Chance pitched for the Mets in 1970 were the only NL innings that Chance ever pitched in his 10 year MLB career). Jim Beauchamp -- JCL (Beauchamp appeared in four games in 1963 - none at the Polo Grounds).
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[u:8ocw87j4]'70's Polo Mets (Last Met season in parentheses)[/u:8ocw87j4] Ray Sadecki (1977) -- JCL Joe Torre (1977) -- dgw Cleon Jones (1975) -- JCL Bob Miller (1974) -- JCL Willie Mays (1973) -- dgw Bob Aspromonte (1971) -- Grimm Donn Clendenon (1971) -- dgw [u:8ocw87j4]Nope-o Polo[/u:8ocw87j4] Bob Friend -- JCL (Friend was exclusively a '60's Met) Al Weis -- JCL Dean Chance -- JCL (The only Nl ball that Weis & Chance ever played was with the Mets. The two innings that Chance pitched for the Mets in 1970 were the only NL innings that Chance ever pitched in his 10 year MLB career).
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One thing to consider is that speed is the first tool to go. When I say "speed", I'm not talking about bat speed, or reflex speed in getting to a grounder -- I'm talking foot speed ... running speed. As it is, Reyes is already a half a step to a full step slower than he was under Willie Small Balls. Could another leg injury strip him of more foot speed? Will he slow down regardless of any new injuries? What's Reyes' value should he lose his blazing foot speed? TBD
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Here's a hint: one of these players was the last remaining Brooklyn Dodger. The Mets were the last MLB team he ever played for.
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[u:e8pbyuqk]'70's Polo Mets (Last Met season in parentheses)[/u:e8pbyuqk] Ray Sadecki (1977) -- JCL Joe Torre (1977) -- dgw Cleon Jones (1975) -- JCL Bob Miller (1974) -- JCL Willie Mays (1973) -- dgw Donn Clendenon (1971) -- dgw [u:e8pbyuqk]Nope-o Polo[/u:e8pbyuqk] Bob Friend -- JCL (Friend was exclusively a '60's Met) Al Weis -- JCL Dean Chance -- JCL (The only Nl ball that Weis & Chance ever played was with the Mets. The two innings that Chance pitched for the Mets in 1970 were the only NL innings that Chance ever pitched in his 10 year MLB career).
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[u:w9yp4ix9]'70's Polo Mets (Last Met season in parentheses)[/u:w9yp4ix9] Ray Sadecki (1977) -- JCL Joe Torre (1977) -- dgw Cleon Jones (1975) -- JCL Bob Miller (1974) -- JCL Willie Mays (1973) -- dgw Donn Clendenon (1971) -- dgw [u:w9yp4ix9]Nope-o Polo[/u:w9yp4ix9] Bob Friend -- JCL (Friend was exclusively a '60's Met) One guess per post. Rusty Staub is the only 1980's Met to have played in the Polo Grounds. Jose Cardenal (1980) was active in 1963 but did not appear in a game played at the Polo Grounds.
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[u:1h9epc53]'70's Polo Mets (Last Met season in parentheses)[/u:1h9epc53] Willie Mays (1973) -- dgw Donn Clendenon (1971) -- dgw One guess per post. Rusty Staub is the only 1980's Met to have played in the Polo Grounds. Jose Cardenal (1980) was active in 1963 but did not appear in a game played at the Polo Grounds.
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G-Fafif wrote: Benjamin Grimm wrote: Terry will be the first Mets manager never to manage a game for the Mets at Shea Stadium. (I had to verify, but Mike Cubbage and Salty Parker did manage home games during their short stints. Cubbage just barely made the cut; only the first of his seven games was played at Shea.) At least Terry Collins did manage against the Mets at Shea when he was with Houston. Some day we'll have a Mets manager who never set foot in Shea Stadium. Bracing. And inevitable. In the 160th and 161st games of last season, seven of the nine starters never played for the Mets at Shea Stadium. Time marches on, the bastard. Through 1985, (but not including 1980), the Mets have always had at least one player who played in the Polo Grounds -- a record prolonged primarily by Ed Kranepool and Rusty Staub. There are 14 Mets who played in the Polo grounds and also played for the Mets in the 1970's. Kranepool and Staub are two of them. Name the other 12.
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Following the Heyman links leads to a Joe Posnanski article and this chart, listing the highest cumulative WARs in MLB over the last 10 seasons: The legend of Carlos Beltran continues to grow..... Also , Albert Pujols average season is MVP caliber (as if no one knew this). Barry Bonds' typical season (last 10 years) is an all-time one for the ages season.
