Dipping Into The Archives Vol. 15

1986

After falling just short in 1985, the Mets went into the 1986 season in Davey Johnson’s famous words ready to dominate. They began the season with a 2-3 record, and for some bizarre reason that put a lot of people in a panic. The team soon went on a run and never looked back, kicking ass and taking names on their way to a 108 win regular season and winning 2 of the most dramatic playoff series of all time to win the second World Series in franchise history. Stunning that all these years later we’re still waiting for the third.

Even before the season began it was a notable year as the club celebrated the franchise’s 25th anniversary season. Am I being overly pedantic if I point out that if 1962 was the team’s first season then 1987 should be considered the actual 25th anniversary? The yearbook included a special section running through team history, including this listing of what was the all-time Mets team at that point. Interesting to consider how different that honor roll would look now, but I always appreciate a good Skip Lockwood shoutout.

Two veteran players were acquired in the offseason. Tim Teufel came over from Minnesota to replace Kelvin Chapman as the right handed half of the second place platoon. More importantly, the Mets picked up Bob Ojeda from Boston. That was a key move. Ojeda was only 28 at the time, but compared to the rest of his rotation mates he was practically a grizzled vet.

As I’ve mentioned earlier, I have a special level of sympathy for guys who had been with the team but couldn’t stick around long enough to be part of the championship club. Ed Lynch missed most of the first half of the season with an injury and by the time he returned Rick Aguilera had established himself, so Lynch was superfluous and got traded to the Cubs. Bruce Berenyi also found himself as an odd man out. Injured and ineffective he wound up in the minor leagues, never to return. And then there was George Foster. As it became clear that Lenny Dykstra was a keeper the team needed to find a way to keep both he and Mookie Wilson in the lineup. Mookie saw increased time in left field, which pushed Foster out of the way. Foster wound up getting released in August. In a happy twist his roster spot was taken by Lee Mazzilli. A franchise cornerstone during the dark days of the 70s, Maz returned as a pinch hitting specialist. He was no longer a great player, but he served a valuable role and it was nice to see at least one player who suffered through the awful years be able to grab some glory.

So much has been written and said about the 1986 team that I don’t know how much I can add that hasn’t already been said. They took no s*** from anyone, just ask Eric Davis. And my God, that postseason was something to behold.

Where to start? With the legendary Game 6 in the NLCS against Houston, in which they were desperate to end it there so that they wouldn’t have to face Mike Scott in Game 7? With a World Series battle against Boston, who famously had not won a World Series since 1918? With an injured an unavailable Tom Seaver in the Boston dugout? With a series of events in Game 6 that defy description? As Vin Scully famously said, if one picture is worth a thousand words, here were about a million of them.

The team obviously had many stars - Gooden/Strawberry/Hernandez/Carter - but there are also 3 men deserving of special mention. It’s appropriate that Mookie Wilson, one of the most beloved players in team history, was the man at the plate for the most important at bat the team has ever had. Ray Knight came back from an uninspiring first full season as a Met to perhaps most epitomize the attitude of the club, going on to win the World Series MVP award. And Jesse Orosco will always be remembered as the man on the mound for the final out. Did that glove ever land?

1986 was 37 years ago and counting. I’m not getting any younger. Can we please hoist another trophy soon?

Godspeed

Neither was a surprise - it had been more than a year since either had taken the field - but two notable retirements have just been made official.

Stephen Strasburg came up as one of the most highly hyped pitching prospects in memory. The #1 overall pick in the 2009 draft, he made his major league debut with the Washington Nationals the following June. And what a spectacular debut it was, striking out 14 batters. He was yet another one of the many young pitchers for whom each start was a can’t miss occasion - the term “Strasmas” suddenly became a thing. Sadly, he also became the poster child for such concepts as injury management and pitch/innings limits.

His rookie season was cut short after only a dozen starts, as he suffered a torn UCL and underwent Tommy John surgery. Physical issues were central to his career narrative. He was usually outstanding when available, but in his career he only managed to pitch enough innings to qualify for the ERA title 4 times. His crowning achievement came with the Nationals run towards the 2019 World Series. He pitched above and beyond, culminating with earning the World Series MVP award.

And that was all she wrote. Injuries, most notably the dreaded thoracic outlet syndrome, did him in. He threw a total of just over 30 innings in the seasons since 2019. As always it’s impossible to know precisely how much overuse contributed to his decline, and flags fly forever. But that’s balanced by the utter disappointment we as fans feel. We’ve been robbed of witnessing more years of peak Strasburg, but every time Nats fans see that pennant fly, I’d guess it’s a trade most would make.

As early as this spring, whispers were that he was unlikely to appear on a major league mound ever again. Last week word came out that Strasburg and the Nats will make his retirement official next month. Despite that World Series, the announcement still comes with a tinge of what could have been.

In addition, last week Kurt Busch made the expected announcement that he is retiring from NASCAR. He hasn’t raced since suffering a concussion in a qualifying crash last summer, and he has been unable to fully recover from the post-concussion symptoms to be able to race. A certain future Hall of Famer, he proved that a little maturity can greatly improve one’s public reputation.

In his early years in addition to attaining great success he was also a bit of a handful. His inclination to be brash, obnoxious, and temperamental often overshadowed his skill as a driver. He was one of the participants in what was the single greatest set of closing laps I ever saw. And he is in the history books for winning the initial Cup championship when NASCAR introduced its current playoff system in 2004.

He lasted long enough to become somewhat of an elder statesman. (Ironically enough it might be the emergence of his younger brother Kyle that helped improve his reputation. Kyle has been even better than Kurt, but he’s also been considerably more petulant. Kurt looks much better in comparison.) He wound up having to drive for smaller teams for a couple of years, which appear to have humbled him. By the end of his career he was the driver of the second car on Michael Jordan’s team, a role in which he was clearly intended to serve as a mentor.

Like Strasburg, his career didn’t end in the exact way he would have liked. He indicated that he was planning on retiring at the end of this season anyway, but his health removed him from the car prematurely.

The Modern Day Ellen James Society

One of the subplots in The World According To Garp involved a group of radical feminists known as The Ellen James Society. They were inspired by a young girl named Ellen James who was raped and whose assailants had cut out her tongue so that she wouldn’t be able to identify them. In solidarity the members of the sect removed their own tongues as a protest against violence towards women.

It’s not exactly the same thing - there’s no self-mutilation involved - but since the release of That Mugshot there has been a movement within the MAGA crowd for people to release mugshot selfies to show solidarity with Dear Leader. As always, it’s important to stress that no siree Bob, this is decidedly not a cult. I continue to hope that one day the fever will break. It appears I’ll be waiting a long time for that fever break.

That’s All For Now

It’s already the end of August? Where did the summer go? Let’s all have a great week. See you all again on Wednesday.