Strawberry Field Forever

Going to Citi Field and seeing the pictures of those old Met players from the championship teams inspired me to put together a listing of the greatest Mets, by position.  But before you get ready to go off on me, know that I am not considering several of the all-time greats who spent twilight years in a Met uniform, people like Warren Spahn; Duke Snider; Willie Mays; Rickey Henderson; and Gary Sheffield, who just hit his 500th homer for the Mets last week.  Anyway, we'll get started where the game always starts - on the mound.

 

Right-Handed Starter - When you look at Tom Seaver's stats, a first ballot Hall of Famer, star of the '69 championship, it would seem that there's no other choice...except for the fact that there have been few periods anywhere like the electric first few Dwight Gooden years at Shea.  In '85 Doc put up the greatest year by a pitcher you've ever seen - unless you remember Bob Gibson's 1968 - and he was the ace on the '86 championship team.  So I'll have to name both Seaver and Gooden.

 

Left-Handed Starter - Jerry Koosman was outstanding, as was Jon Matlack, whose career was probably shortened due to injuries.  Sid Fernandez had some of the nastiest stuff when he was on, but I think this one has to go to the current ace, Johan Santana.

 

Closer - Mets have had their share of good ones, like Roger McDowell, John Franco, Billy Wagner and Tug McGraw, whose "You Gotta Believe" was the rallying cry for the team's '73 comeback.  And certainly new closer Francisco "K-Rod" Rodriguez may turn out to be the best of all...but since he just arrived, I'm going with Jesse Orosco, famous forever for the final strikeout in '86. 

Honorable Mention:  Roger Craig, Jack Fisher, Al Jackson.  You had to be pretty good to get the ball enough to lose as many games as they did on those horrible early Met teams.

 

Catcher - Mike Piazza was the face of the franchise for several years, and will enter the Hall as a Met, so he's the choice.  But the 1985 Gary Carter trade was akin to the Dave DeBusschere Knicks trade in the '60's, bringing one of the final pieces in the puzzle leading to the '86 title.  Carter gets the top Honorable Mention, while defensive wiz Jerry Grote gets the other.

 

First Base - Keith Hernandez was outstanding with the glove, money in the bank when he came up in the clutch, and a key member of the '86 team.

Honorable Mention:  Ed Kranepool, Donn Clendenon, John "The Hammer" Milner, John Olerud, Carlos Delgado.

 

Second Base - The toughest choice...because the best player the Mets have had at second has been José Reyes during the first year that Kaz Matsui came from Japan and insisted on playing short...but I'm going with Edgardo Alfonzo, with the honorable mention to Felix Millan.  "Runner-Up" honorable mention to the '86 combo of Wally Backman/Tim  Teufel, as well as Ron Hunt.

 

Shortstop and Third Base - José Reyes & David Wright are the obvious choices, with the expectation that their body of work over the next ten years will place them in comparison with the greats at their positions.

Honorable Mention:  Shortstops - Bud Harrelson and Rey Ordoñez were outstanding with the glove, but Ordoñez rates special commendation for having a video produced just of his defensive play.  "Runner-Up" honorable to José Oquendo, who had a short Met career but possibly the best glove man of all.

Third Base - Howard Johnson, Hubie Brooks, Ray Knight, Robin Ventura, Lenny Randle.

 

Left Field - Despite the shoddy way he was ushered out of Shea, my choice is Cleon Jones, along with Kevin McReynolds.

 

Center Field - Carlos Beltran is the best all-around player the Mets have had there...but honorable mentions must go to World Series heroes Tommie Agee, Lenny "Nails" Dykstra, and Mookie Wilson, the original triples/stolen base man before José Reyes.

 

Right Field - You may have loved him, or not - but you never went for a snack when Darryl Strawberry, the most feared slugger and best position player to emerge from the Met organization, was about to come up to bat.  Strawberry Field Forever.  

Honorable Mention:  "Le Grand Orange," Rusty Staub.

 

There you have it. If you think I'm off, let me know!

 

 

Jackie Robinson, Hero

As my Facebook family knows, I was at the New York Mets' home opener - and new stadium opener - on Monday night. Citi Field (as it is now known until or unless people become more upset about a bailout-receiving company ponying up twenty mil per year to have their name up front) has all of the great features of the new major and minor league stadiums, and in adding the Jackie Robinson Rotunda, the stadium not only looks like Ebbetts Field, but memorializes the man that helped bring immeasurable change to our nation, not just the Dodgers or the major leagues.

With that said, and in light of Major League Baseball's industry-wide tribute to Robinson last Wednesday, I thought it appropriate to blog an excerpt from my first book, Sportin' Life: Essays On Sport And Life. Written in 2001, this piece is entitled Jackie Robinson, Hero.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Despite the fact that Rodney King, James Byrd, Amadou Diallo, and Florida 2000 periodically remind us that racism is still alive and well, I believe that someday an African-American or a woman - perhaps she'll be one in the same - will be elected president of the United States.

Of course, J.A. Rogers would certainly say that if you've read his book, "The Five Negro Presidents," you'd know that an African-American has already been elected...but going back to the future as this new president gives her inaugural address, she'll thank the electorate; the forefathers; her party; her family, and her campaign manager. However, she'll probably not thank one individual who played a large part in her getting to that podium.

This man went before his party and the world with a speech that left hardly a dry eye in sight, and left many people wondering if he shouldn't be the party's standard bearer after all. No, Jesse will probably not get his due, though it was he who erased the perception in the minds of many people that an African-American could not and/or should not seek the nation's highest office, making it possible for someone else to follow victoriously at a later date.

In fact, that's often the way of the world; those directly or indirectly responsible often get slighted in terms of receiving the recognition they deserve. Hardly anyone fits this description better than Jackie Robinson.

Jackie Robinson played a major role, on a number of levels, in changing the way baseball is played in the major leagues. From a strategic standpoint, Jackie brought the Negro Leagues' game - emphasizing speed - to the major leagues where at that time, largely due to the influence of Babe Ruth, power hitting was the main offensive element. I still remember my mother - a non-fan whose retirement from interest in baseball coincided with Robinson's retirement - telling me about the joy of seeing Jackie Robinson "dance on the basepaths," stealing bases and distracting pitchers in a manner making him the stylistic godfather of daring baserunners like Rickey Henderson, Tim Raines, Kenny Lofton, and Marquis Grissom.

When one sees stars like Ken Griffey, Jr.. Barry Bonds, Tony Gwynn, Frank Thomas, and Mo Vaughn, to name a few, it's amazing to realize that so many in the America of just over fifty years ago wanted Jackie Robinson and Branch Rickey's "Great Experiment" to fail. Only an extraordinary man would have been able to succeed in the manner that he did. Unfortunately, many young fans of the aforementioned players do not know of the exploits of Jackie Robinson, perhaps in part because to dwell on the totality of what he did - and not just praise his Hall of Fame playing career - is to dwell on the unfortunate and shameful circumstances in this country that surrounded his career.

That goes somewhat against the grain of popular thought, which implies that there's no further need to discuss the apartheid-like treatment visited upon African-Americans because those times were in the distant past, and it's now time to "move on." Of course, such thought fails to address the fact that the effect of that which happened in the past continues to greatly influence society today. Hopefully we will begin to recognize that as a nation, and not continue to sweep what occurred under the rug of history.

On the psychological level, Jackie Robinson was in large part responsible - in that era of blatant and rampant discrimination and segregation - for changing the nation's mindset regarding the concept of Blacks playing in the major leagues. Robinson's teammates, opponents, and people nationwide watched him play, and came to the realization that African-Americans were, in fact, good enough, smart enough, and gentlemanly enough to play major league baseball. But perhaps more importantly, his performance in America's then-unquestioned national pastime led people to think that if he could play on the Dodgers, it might not be too bad if this other Black person worked on their job, or was given an opportunity previously denied them by virtue of their race.

Clearly much of the societal change that came out of the 1960's was due to the protests of the still-oppressed African-American community that was nonetheless being sent in large numbers to fight - and, in many cases, die - for the "freedom" of the South Vietnamese while African nations on the continent and in the diaspora were gaining independence. Still, a great deal of the groundwork for acceptance of this change was laid by Jackie Robinson, making him a godfather of not only the Hendersons and Loftons, but also of Gov. Douglas Wilder and Gen. Colin Powell; of Bill Cosby and Oprah Winfrey; of Mae Jemison and Ronald McNair; and of Rev. Jesse Jackson and Congressman Jesse Jackson, Jr.

I'm sure Jackie Robionson earned far more as a member of the Brooklyn Dodgers than the average African-American in the 1940's and 1950's, but certainly America could never have paid him enough for that which he did. When we look back on his life, and all that occurred as a result, perhaps the best tribute and posthumous payment we can make to this man who stole home would be to make our society truly the "home of the brave."