Dipping Into The Archives Vol. 28
1999
Over the years Mets yearbooks (and I would suspect yearbooks for practically all teams) have gotten considerably larger, and yet they contain smaller amounts of information. Back when the books were only around 60 or so pages, they were jam packed with interest content. As the number of pages has increased, the ads to content ratio now skews heavily towards ads. Just an observation, although for me there is also a drawback in that the books have long since been bound together rather than stapled, which means it isn’t as easy to take photos. I know, boo hoo for me.
In 1999 the Mets found themselves in a tight wild card race with the Reds. The teams were tied going into the final game of the season, setting up a must win. I was at Shea for that game #162 against Pittsburgh, which the Mets won on a wild pitch in the 9th inning. That was one of the wildest atmospheres I ever experienced at that park; it took a minute for the crowd to process how that game ended, but once that set in we were all cheering like crazy. No one wanted to leave. The Reds also won their game that day, necessitating a tiebreak game for the wild card. Al Leiter pitched a two hit shutout, and the Mets were in the postseason for the first time since 1988.
After falling just shy of the playoffs in ‘98, GM Steve Phillips made a plethora of moves to improve the squad. Key supporting players such as Pat Mahomes and Melvin Mora came aboard. A decade after haunting the team Orel Hershiser was added as rotation depth. Rickey Henderson was now a Met! Sure, he was already 40 years old, but he was still damn good. Hell, even Bobby Bonilla came back.
The tinkering wasn’t done as plenty of additional moves were made at the trade deadline to add depth. Kenny Rogers and Darryl Hamilton and Chuck McElroy and Shawon Dunston, among others, joined the squad. No need to mention Billy Taylor, who was among the first of many bullpen arms acquired at deadline time to seemingly lose the ability to get hitters out upon arrival.
I skipped over the two most significant offseason acquisitions. Armando Benitez arrived from Baltimore as part of a three team deal that shipped Todd Hundley to the Dodgers. Benitez took over as closer, moving John Franco to the 8th inning role. Benitez was a tough guy to properly evaluate. He was often exactly what you want as a reliever, with high strikeout rates and exceptional WHIP numbers. However, he had a disturbing propensity for blowing up at the worst times; he constantly blew saves against both the Braves and Yankees, the last two teams against whom you’d want that to happen.
No one had a bigger impact than Robin Ventura, who was signed as a free agent. A Gold Glove third baseman, his addition moved Edgardo Alfonzo over to second, completing what Sports Illustrated would describe in a cover story as baseball’s greatest defensive infield. Perhaps a tad hyperbolic, but they were an outstanding unit. John Olerud left after the season to play for his hometown Seattle Mariners, so they only stayed together for this one season. Ventura, of course, would go on to have one of the game’s most memorable postseason moments that October, which we’ll get to shortly.
Unfortunately, many of the photos in the yearbook exhibit the worst part of that era - the black uniforms. Ugh! That’s clearly a generational thing; oldies such as myself prefer the classic blue and orange color scheme. Younger fans seem to be more attracted to the black unis; and those feelings are amplified by the connection to these successful teams. That’s part of the reason why they have been revived. But in my eyes it’s no coincidence that the reintroduction of the black uniforms in the 2022 season coincided with that year’s collapse. Throw those uniforms in the incinerator.
Look here, there’s a new name in the broadcast booth. The Mets and Tim McCarver consciously uncoupled following the 1998 season, but Tom Seaver joined the broadcast crew. He was no McCarver, but he was skilled when it came to analyzing pitching. He also had a lovably curmudgeonly side; a running joke during his stint was how much he was irritated by bobblehead dolls. Bottom line, it’s always a positive to be in good graces with the biggest legend in your franchise.
The season ended with a strong playoff run; they fell two games shy of the World Series but their October was so memorable. The Mets first faced Arizona in the NLDS and the tone was set with a victory over Randy Johnson in Game 1. I attended Game 3, in which they rode a terrific start by Rick Reed to take a 2-1 series lead, setting the stage for the next day’s Game 4. The Mets were on their way to victory until Benitez (of course) blew the save, but that only increased the drama. Todd Pratt forever endeared himself to Mets fans by becoming one of the few men to hit a series ending walk off home run, sending the Mets to face the Braves in the NLCS.
The rivalry with the Braves was so intense; Atlanta was in the midst of that elongated run in which they won the division every year. The Mets weren’t able to clear that hurdle, but here was a chance to make up for it. It looked like it was going to end quickly & ugly. The Braves won the first 3 games, but the Mets took Game 4 in the best way possible - beating all time villain John Rocker. Game 5 was a classic; a 15 inning marathon that ended with a walk off grand slam from Robin Ventura. Or not. The hit became a legend as his celebrating teammates tackled him before he could circle the bases, which led to the creation of the phrase “grand slam single.” The winning run counted, but Ventura’s aborted run around the bases only resulted with his being credited with an RBI single.
A miracle comeback from a 3-0 deficit was not in the cards; Game 6 was an insane back and forth affair, but the Mets lost the game and the series when Kenny Rogers walked in the winning run in the 11th inning. What an awful way to end a season; Rogers will not go down as one of the more popular players in team history. As disappointing as the ending was, it was at least a major step forward. The following season would be even better.
Before ending this section, I should note the passing last week of longtime Mets backup catcher Ron Hodges. I’ve discussed him previously, so no need to recap his career. I’ll simply say that as much as I’ve always kidded him, I respect the hell out of his career. It’s not easy to put together a 12 year career and it’s even more impressive to do it all for one team. It would be difficult for a man to duplicate his career these days. While it’s true that there is always a healthy market for a decent backup catcher, a modern day Ron Hodges would be someone like John Buck or Yan Gomes who bounces all over the league and seems to wind up on a different team each season. RIP to the second most important Hodges in Mets history.
PED’s & The Hall
Being that there are 2 prominent candidates on the current ballot who would have already waltzed right into the Hall of Fame were it not for their involvement with PED’s, it’s worth revisiting the issue, as tiresome as it is.
I get a little irked about the never ending argument because baseball has always had fluid reasoning when it comes to what is cheating and what is simple gamesmanship. Decision makers drew a line in the sand here, but what about the pitchers who were notorious for scuffing the baseball? How about teams that were known to have their grounds crews heavily water down the base paths when facing an opponent with a strong running game? And if one chooses to make the argument that PED’s are different because players are actively injecting substances into their systems, the counter argument is that amphetamine usage was almost universal in previous generations.
To me, the biggest reason why I can’t completely condemn the PED users is that the league all but encouraged steroid use. The sport essentially told players that this is the speed limit, but it will not be enforced. This was at the same time that MLB heavily promoted the offensive surge and the muscle bound sluggers pounding those long home runs. The league enabled that era; if it’s so tainted that the likes of Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens have been banned from induction, then there should be no place there for Bud Selig either or for anyone in power who spent years looking the other way. (My criticism also goes for the sportswriters who only found religion years after the fact with their “no” votes. It’s one thing if an individual writer had spoken out at the time, but very few did so.)
Eventually the league and the union got together and established a policy with teeth, which is where I draw my own line. The punishment now is 80 games for the first violation and 162 games for a second. Most importantly, any suspended player is ineligible for that year’s postseason so no one can exploit a loophole by testing positive in May, missing half the season, and going into October much more refreshed than the opposition. It’s no longer what Alex Rodriguez once described as a loosy goosey era; any player who uses banned substances these days risks not only damaging his own reputation, but also doing severe damage to his own team’s playoff chances. So, if I had an actual vote and not a hypothetical one, I would not vote for one with multiple suspensions on his record.
Not to say that won’t ever change. Everyone is in agreement that there is at least one player in the Hall who used steroids, likely more than that. What will happen if/when a past user is outed? And how will the circumstances of the revelation affect the reaction? It would be one thing if a lengthy investigation produces the smoking gun that proves Joe Schlabotnik’s usage. But what if Schlabotnik comes forward himself? What if he uses the rationale that he recognized players on other teams were using and he needed to keep up in order to remain competitive? And what if Schlabotnik was not one of the guys who had faced accusations in the past but was instead one of the players observers would point to and say “at least he’s doing things the right way?” Would any of the above change the general tone of the argument?
Don’t take this to mean that I’m trying to excuse bad behavior. I wish that all parties had done a better job early on of nipping the problem in the bud before PED use had exploded. At the same time, it’s naive to think that players would not search for every edge they could find; that’s in the very nature of highly competitive athletes. Sometimes it’s innocuous, remember that period when it seemed as if every relief pitcher was wearing those huge titanium necklaces? And sometimes it’s searching for chemical assistance, which is nothing new. A Google search can show that as early as the 19th century athletes were trying to find ways to increase their testosterone levels. And I have seen quotes from at least 2 inner circle Hall of Famers saying that they would have likely used modern PED’s had they been around in their own playing days.
With all that said, I’ll begin my run through this year’s ballot on Wednesday, and there is actually some good symmetry this time. There are 12 newcomers, 12 returnees, and 2 additional returnees who as I mentioned earlier would have been inducted already had it not been for these issues. So, I’ll deal with Manny Ramirez and Alex Rodriguez separately. I will feature 1 rookie and 1 veteran each day, in countdown form, running from who I think is least deserving from each group to most.
Master Of Puppets
Marty Krofft passed away over the weekend at the age of 86. I suppose the meaningfulness of that death is completely contingent on one’s age. For younger boomers and older Gen-Xers the programs that he and his brother Sid produced were indelible moments in our childhoods.
The Krofft Brothers formula involved lots of puppetry and acting that would be way over the top even by the normal standards of kid’s TV. Really, there’s no way any actor on a Krofft set was ever instructed to dial things back a bit. And those shows were a wonder to behold - a unique blend of camp, creepiness, wackiness, and WTF did I just see? (There’s a Krofft Brothers YouTube channel that contains full episodes of many of their Saturday Morning offerings. Edibles might be necessary to make it through an episode of The Bugaloos. Watching it might haunt you forever.)
Most of the shows only ran a season or two, but since they reran so frequently, most people around my age have seen them many times. H.R. Pufnstuf, Lidsville, Sigmund & the Sea Monsters, Land Of the Lost, and so many more. Because so many of them shared a similar tone, they had a tendency to blend together but for me Land Of the Lost was the one that stood out from the pack. Who can ever forget the Sleestacs, especially the intelligent one? And I do also have to say that Electra Woman & Dyna Girl made an impression on 10-year old me.
The Kroffts also made their mark on prime time TV, as they produced several of the variety shows that were still so prevalent at the time. In addition to Donny & Marie, they were responsible for two of the more infamous examples of the form - The Brady Bunch Variety Hour and Pink Lady & Jeff. I don’t know if it’s possible to accurately describe the concept of either to anyone too young to experience them in real time.
Krofft actually made a cameo as himself in an episode in the final season of Better Things. There was no one quite like him, or like his brother for that matter. There have been occasional attempts to revive some of their IP - the Will Ferrell starring Land Of the Lost was a notable debacle - but so far none have worked. I expect that it’s impossible to recreate their specific magic without the brothers involved to add their unique alchemy to the mix.
How Dominant Is Too Dominant?
I generally don’t talk much about sports that I don’t follow closely but I must acknowledge the just completed Formula 1 season. Max Verstappen took the final checkered flag of the season, which is par for the course. Not only did he wrap up the championship weeks ago, but over the course of the season he treated the rest of the field the way that the Road Runner treated Wile E. Coyote. Of the 22 races contested this season, he won a whopping 19 of them. He also had 2 second place finishes. His “worst” result was a 5th place finish in one race.
That’s largely why, as much as I love racing, Formula 1 just leaves me cold. I can certainly appreciate dominance, but this is just too much. That’s precisely the reason why I stopped following the sport years ago. Back in the day both ABC & CBS would air a handful of races during Mario Andretti’s era. I remember very well the Niki Lauda/James Hunt rivalry that was depicted in the film Rush. Seeing the same driver win race after race, however, forced me to lose interest.
This is much different from Jimmie Johnson winning 5 consecutive cups in NASCAR. He may have won multiple championships, but the most races he won in a single year was 10. Over the season the wealth was spread throughout the field. That’s rarely the case in Formula 1. The dominant driver of the time, whether it be Ayrton Senna or Michael Schumacher or Lewis Hamilton or now Verstappen wins such a high percentage of the races that I find it difficult to get too involved. I would love to be more of a fan, but it’s just not competitive enough for me.
Closing Laughs
Hope everyone had an enjoyable Thanksgiving and that no one was injured too badly on Black Friday. The best way to celebrate Cyber Monday is to share Tending The Herd with everyone you know. Or so I’m told. See you all on Wednesday!