Dipping Into The Archives Vol. 24
1995
The 1995 season was dangerously close to becoming the most miserable in the sport’s history. The 1994 strike had extended into spring training, and the owners pledged to start the new season with scabs. The strike didn’t end until future Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor issued an injunction against the owners in early April. The owners then quickly released the replacement players and brought the real ones back. It resulted in a reduction of the regular season to 144 games and an accelerated hot stove season. Teams scrambled to sign the remaining free agents and the clubs (Montreal) that claimed they were short on money traded away many of their key players.
Which meant that the Mets didn’t make too many roster changes in the offseason. The major free agent signing was Brett Butler. My memory was a bit off; somehow I remembered him playing for the Mets longer than he had, but he was dealt at the trade deadline as the Mets acted as sellers. Also jettisoned were Bret Saberhagen and Bobby Bonilla, symbolically closing a chapter on one of the more infamous eras in team history. There wasn’t much of a return in those deals; the most significant piece was Alex Ochoa, who was part of the return for Bonilla, but he came nowhere close to fulfilling his promise. It was more than just veterans that were sent away. In separate midseason deals the Mets traded away Jeromy Burnitz and Jason Jacome, who were arguably Dallas Green’s two biggest whipping boys. I have said in the past that it seems counterintuitive to break the spirits of young players whom you are counting on as part of your future. Once they were no longer targets of Green’s ire, Burnitz reached his potential; Jacome did not. Would either player have been better served playing for a manager who did not constantly criticize them? It’s impossible to know for sure, but I believe it didn’t help.
One may question why they were sellers at the deadline, the Mets finished tied for second in the NL East. But that is very misleading. Their final record was below .500, and they trailed the Braves by more than 20 games. It’s not as if they were a true contender, merely the best out of a pack of divisional also-rans.
There was one offseason acquisition who had some personal meaning for me, as the Mets received Pete Harnisch from Houston. He was a classmate of mine at Fordham. I knew some members of the baseball team, but he wasn’t one of them. Despite that I did still feel a vicarious connection to him. I was in at least one class with him, and of course I saw him on campus all the time. I know that for alumni of several schools it’s second nature to see classmates make it to the pros, but Fordham isn’t a school known for much athletic success. It was cool to see a classmate make it to the major leagues; it was very cool to see him pitch in the All-Star Game. But to see him play for the team I rooted for all of my life? That’s a whole ‘nother level. He wasn’t at his best with the Mets; he had a poor record largely due to lack of run support, and injuries began to pile up. He also had some major run-ins with Bobby Valentine but that is something for the future.
If you wish to Remember Some Guys, the publishers of that season’s yearbook were considerate enough to include a full page photo montage of the opening day roster. I barely remember that Jerry DiPoto was a Met. There are a couple of significant names missing from this photo spread, as midseason promotions showed that the organization’s improved minor league development was beginning to reach fruition.
The team promoted two of its biggest pitching prospects to the majors and they both made immediate impacts. Bill Pulsipher and Jason Isringhausen rose up through the ranks on parallel tracks. There was a strong contrast between the two - one lefty & one righty, with differing personalities to match. They were nicknamed The Beatnik & The Bumpkin. In 1995, Pulsipher was solid and Isringhausen was outstanding. With 1994 overall #1 draft pick Paul Wilson also on the fast track to the show, the future looked promising. We all know that nothing ever goes wrong worth young pitchers, correct?
I give the publishers some credit for hubris. They actually attempted to predict what the 2000 lineup could look like. This type of projection is classic fool’s gold. It’s a cute exercise, but there’s an inherent limitation. It’s tough enough to try to guess which minor league prospects will pan out. How can anyone foresee which players from other teams will be available one day? Spoiler alert - Brook Fordyce would not go on to be the Mets regular catcher in 2000. They’d import a catcher from the Marlins to fill that role; I believe he also played for another team before becoming a Marlin.
Looking ahead to the following season, 1996 would not be a hugely successful year, but it would be filled with highlights. The year featured some of the most productive individual seasons in franchise history, and before year’s end there would be a new face in the manager’s office. One of intermittent peaks in the team’s history was beginning to draw near.
SNL Recap
Nate Bargatze made his debut as host this week. He’s a well regarded standup comic, but he hasn’t yet made a major push into the mainstream so I would suspect that he came into the show largely unknown to a significant chunk of the audience. Foo Fighters served as the musical guest; I don’t have the energy to do the research, but they are way up on the list of musical artists who have performed most frequently. Paul Simon surely leads that list; I would guess that Foo Fighters are somewhere in the top five. This week also featured 2 surprise cameos (3 if you count H.E.R.’s guest duet in the second Foo Fighters tune.)
The cold open answered a lingering question. Since the 2024 election figures to be a rematch of 2020 & JAJ does both impressions, something’s gotta give. His Trump is too good to drop, so the show needs a new Biden. Mikey is your winner. He’s not really an impressionist, so rather than attempt to replicate the voice he focused on the mannerisms and he did do a fairly good job on Biden’s increasingly slowing gait. We also had a brief appearance by Michael, severely underplaying the role of Speaker Johnson, accompanied by Devon as his mysterious adult black son. The sketch ended with the Spirit of Halloween portrayed by…. Christopher Walken! Walken is an absolute SNL hosting legend, and it’s been quite a few years since his last time on the show, so it was nice to see him.
Bargatze has an easygoing presence, which was immediately apparent in his monologue. That vibe served him well throughout the show. My highlight was the Revolutionary War set sketch, with Bargatze as George Washington describing a new system of weights and measures to his troops. I liked it, it was well conceived and well played - Kenan’s questions about how the new nation would treat people that look like him were constantly ignored. It had nothing to do with current events nor was it something specifically tailored to the host. It was simply a fun concept that the writer came up with and was a solid piece.
I also liked the promo for a Hallmark Channel Halloween movie. It followed the basic template of virtually every Christmas movie on that network; a successful businesswoman returns to her old hometown during the holiday only to reconnect with her roots and rekindle an old romance. The twist is that with the holiday being Halloween the old flame is a serial killer.
With a lengthier than normal monologue this week, Update was brief with only one correspondent piece. Sarah once again spends her time humiliating Jost, in this case slapping on a suit and acting as Jost’s agent, pitching him a litany of potential projects that continue the running gag which mocks his Ivy League background. Sarah earlier filled in the role she was seemingly born to play; in a sketch she was Fran Drescher presenting Halloween costumes that trick or treaters could wear without violating any strike rules. It wasn’t a great sketch but it served a valuable role. Remember, late night shows fall under a different contract, so it is not affected by the SAG-AFTRA strike. At the same time, the cast must feel somewhat uncomfortable that they’re working and collecting paychecks while their colleagues are walking picket lines and trying to make ends meet. This sketch comedically made it clear that the show’s performers are in full solidarity with the striking actors.
It was a solid Please Don’t Destroy film this week, as long as you’re not skeeved out by watching John and Martin eat dog food. Sorry, dawg food. The other surprise cameo came from Padma Lakshmi in a cooking competition show sketch. In this one the competitors had to prepare the perfect soul food dish, with Bargatze competing against Ego. Predictably, one looked delicious and the other looked awful, but it was an apologetic Bargatze who produced the appealing dish, much to the surprise of the two judges - Kenan as a preacher and Punkie as a soul food magnate.
I give Bargatze good grades for his work. He fit in well with the cast and he seamlessly filled every role he was given. I can’t say any cast member really stood out this week. I suppose Sarah’s two big showcase pieces give her the week’s biggest spotlight. As a sign of how brutal things can be for the featured players, Marcello largely disappeared the week after he had plenty of screentime. It would be a shame if he would need to depend on having a fellow Latino host the show to provide him with the only real opportunity to shine.
No new show next week, it returns on November 11 with Timothee Chalamet hosting for the second time. Even better, the musical guest will be boygenius! Looking forward to that. To fill the gap week next week I’ll revisit my rewatching of older episodes with a look at the season premiere episode of year #10 - aka the All-Star season.
Matthew Perry 1969-2023
“Guess what?”
“The 5th dentist finally caved and now they ALL recommend Trident?”
That to me is a quintessential Chandler line. It has such a perfect specificity. I’m in the same age range as the Friends characters/actors so the show was always very relatable to me, Chandler in particular. I’m not saying that I make jokes to avoid uncomfortable situations, but I’m not NOT saying that. Here’s a better example. My handwriting is awful, and one time I noticed that my name on a Staples rewards card wasn’t anything close to my actual name. Whoever processed the form that I filled out couldn’t make out what I had written and took a wild guess. I had a Chanandler Bong moment there.
In retrospect Friends admittedly has some issues, but at its best it was a very funny show with extremely likable characters that was perfectly cast. It also earns bonus points for this - I have seen multiple instances of foreign born athletes who have said that they learned English from watching Friends reruns.
Matthew Perry was a sadly troubled soul. He was open about his struggles with addiction, and those issues caused some severe fluctuations in his weight over the course of the series. His appearance in the cast reunion from a couple of years ago was quite concerning; he looked terribly gaunt and unhealthy. At the same time it was clear that his fellow cast members were very protective of him. He tried his best to use his life as a cautionary tale and used his prominence to help others in the same boat.
We never quite understood exactly what Chandler did for a living; that is a mystery that will be lost to time. Thank you for the laughs, Mr. Perry.
More Gifts For You
I’ve got a couple more Bluesky invite codes to share. Hit me up if you’re interested.
Closing Laughs
Testing out a new daily feature; the world is so awful, so why not close things with a good laugh? This one is seasonally appropriate. Enjoy.
See everyone on Wednesday, and thanks for reading.