Mets Milestones
As I’ve admitted before on this blog, I wasn’t really happy when we got Tom Glavine. It seemed to me to be a classic move of the Phillips era: getting a great player for a lot of money at the end of his career to try to win something before Piazza and Leiter melted. I always admired Glavine, as an intelligent man and a great pitcher. And I had always enjoyed watching him pitch since I love to watch great control pitchers even more than I like to watch guys who have “great stuff.” But Glavine’s identity was already fixed. He was part of the great Braves rotation of the ‘90s and to put it very mildly, that’s not exactly a Mets identity.
I just didn’t see him as a Met. And I continued to have trouble seeing him as a Met for the first three seasons. I couldn’t shake my sense that he would always be the guy who came after Maddux and before Smolz.
Well that all changed for me in the 2006 playoffs. We desperately needed someone to be our ace, after losing Pedro and El Duque. With his paternal strength and competence, Tom Glavine stood up for us and bailed us out. He did it the way a dad does, the way an ideal grownup does. I never think of this man as being ten years younger than I am. I was way high up in the stands when he pitched that beautiful game 2 of the NLDS against the Dodgers and I was so happy and hopeful when he came back and pitched another gem in the first game of the NLCS against the Cardinals. We know that he didn’t take us all the way, but we also remember how he eased our worst fears and gave us, for a few moments, a sense that we were standing on firm ground. I thank him for that. Last October, Tom Glavine became a Met, a Met for all time. And so I’m thrilled for him that he just won his 300th game.
Even though 242 of those wins were for the Braves, and I’m sure he’ll go into the Hall of Fame as a Brave, I am happy for this man who has fought hard and usually well for my Mets. I have a premonition that he will play a decisive role in the playoffs this year, possibly pitching the last games he will ever pitch. I am in his corner, in his cheering section. I am so proud that somebody I cheer for has the honor of being only the fifth lefty in history to win 300 games, only the sixth National Leaguer. Great job, Tom. I’m so happy for you and your family, and I am so glad that you are with us now.
So I hope that no one will object if I say that no matter how happy I am for Tom, I still can’t see this titanic accomplishment as a Mets milestone. Not when this is only the 58th game he has won as a Met..
There have been some Mets seasonal milestones and game records. Tom Seaver broke Koufax’s single game strikeout record and for a while held the record for strikeouts in a season by a NL righthander. Piazza hit more home runs than any catcher in history. Gooden may have had the single best season of the post-World War II era. Reyes keeps getting all of these creative combinations. The thing is that there aren’t many Mets career milestones. This is one of the sad facts of the franchise. Look at the list of our career leaders. Ehhhh.
There is one milestone I wish we could claim. I remember that desolate day when Tom Seaver won his 300th game in a White Sox uniform. I was so happy for him, of course, but I found the ironies unbearable. There he was, the greatest Mets pitcher ever, winning number 300 in New York, but not at Shea, not in our uniform. The only consolation I felt on that day came when I heard a reporter ask Seaver when he had first become aware of the big crowd at Yankee stadium. Seaver laughed and said: “When I was driving to work this morning and the traffic on the Major Deegan was backed up all the way to the George Washington Bridge.” You see, he had never left us. He still lived among us. Oh, why couldn’t the traffic have been on the Whitestone Expressway?
I’m digressing, I guess. But that’s the way I feel. Glavine and Seaver are giants of the game. Their achievements belong to the game and to all baseball fans. Good for the Cubs fans who stood and cheered him. I would have done the same for one of theirs. But I am still puzzled about why this franchise, over forty-five years, only gets the last few years of Hall-of-Famers, or else it loses the fullness of the achievement of the few Hall-of-Famers we’ve grown ourselves. I have this disappointment. And the hope that all of this is about to change.
August 6th, 2007 at 7:49 pm
I’ve often remarked on the lack of grand Mets achievements, Dana. Hell, our leading HR and RBI man in the glorious 100-win 1969 season was our leadoff hitter, and his numbers were less than spectacular.
Our winningest pitcher in the incredible 108- win season of 1986 won 18 games.
Have we ever had a hitter lead the league in batting average?
There have been some splendid years by pitchers, to be sure, but compared to a lot of other teams, not so many.
All of this was brought home to me yesterday at RFK Stadium, when the scoreboard showed all the NL leaders…with nary a Met among them (they didn’t show stolen bases, which, let’s face it, while cool, is not a major offensive stat.)
And then I look at the standings, and our beloved Amazins have the best record in the National League.
Such has it ever (in the good times) been. Shall it ever thus be? I think not, what with Wright and Reyes locked up for a long time, and the new ballpark not so far away. I think John Maine can be a big star, Ollie, too. And we’ve got some splendid young talent in the outfield that could really blossom.
In short, I’m hoping for not a Renaissance for the Mets, but a rebirth, as a solid, regularly competitive, often spectacular team for years to come.
August 6th, 2007 at 8:21 pm
You’re absolutely right about all of this, Chris. But Cleon Jones almost beat out Pete Rose for the batting title in 1969. And I think we did win one or two home run titles in the late ’80s, didn’t we? But never a batting title? Pretty amazing.
August 7th, 2007 at 12:04 am
Cleon had a splendid year in 1969, to be sure, but he finished 3rd in hitting behind Rose and Clemente.
Pretty sure we never had a player lead the league in HRs or RBIs, either.
A few beautiful pitcher seasons (Seaver, Doc, Cone), and that’s about it.
It may be apocryphal, but I read somewhere that Johnny Bench once approached Jerry Grote and said something to the effect of, “I’m glad you’re not on my team, because if you were, I’d have to learn another position.”
Oh, one other stat. That Reds team of the 70s? A slew of different MVPs. For the Mets, since 1962? No MVP. Not even Seaver in ‘69. (Willie McCovey took the prize.)
I say it’s time to take care of some of these gaps in our team’s history.
Jose? David? I’m looking in your direction…I mean, damn, the ROCKIES have an MVP in their history.
What a curious franchise we have…and how much I love them, regardless. And always will.
August 7th, 2007 at 2:37 am
Actually, I find in the Baseball Encyclopedia that Kingman won the HR title with the Mets in 1982 with 37, Strawberry won it with 39 in 1988 and Hojo won it with 38 in 1991. But of course, for the most part, as you say, we’ve won far less than our share of anything.
August 7th, 2007 at 4:51 am
It really is hard to believe that with all the talented players who have been on the Mets teams over the years, that we have so few individual titles that have occurred when they were Mets. However, it doesn’t detract from their abilities and talents. There were and are plenty of players who did not win the titles, but were still good, dependable ball players. Not getting an award doesn’t make the player any less valuable. One glaring example, Gil Hodges. has been discussed previously.
Sports is not the only place this happens. There are countless movie stars who are talented but have never won Oscars. Awards and Hall of Fame honors are sometimes popularity contests, and sometimes even payola rears it’s head (although no one will admit it).
I can understand why you have mixed emotions about Glavine. I hated and still do hate the Atlanta Braves, but once a player becomes a Met, I don’t think of their previous team. If they help us, they are Mets through and through. Keith Hernandez, Gary Carter, Donn Clendennon, all were originally from the Cardinals, Expos, and Pirates, but when we think of their accomplishments with the Mets, does it matter what team they came from? I don’t think so. So congratulations to Tom Glavine, and I hope he helps the Mets get to the post season and win.
August 7th, 2007 at 10:39 am
He’s such a class act. I know we have to share him with the Braves (ok, so they’re really sharing him with us) but he makes it feel like he really has embraced the Mets. I felt very much the other night like this was a team accomplishment too. Like they were all afraid to mess up a play, or not get the hit we needed. No one wanted to be the one to keep him from getting it the second time and make the 30 members of the Glavine family fly to the next city.
August 7th, 2007 at 3:02 pm
Yes, Subie, you could really tell how badly the team wanted it for him. I hope that’s a good indication of how the Mets will play this season when the pressure is really on.
August 7th, 2007 at 4:29 pm
The individual achievements are nice but, in a sense over-rated. Barry Bonds, about to become the new homerun king and he has never been on a World Championship team. A-rod, the youngest to 500, has how many World Series Rings?
You mentioned pitching before. How about Craig Swan leading the NL in ERA for a season (and I think two). How many people even remember that name?
Of course, with all the great pitchers to put on a Met uniform, no one has thrown a no-hitter while wearing it. Still, it is a team game and doesn’t it actually say something remarkable and positive that even when we have won the World Series, or gotten there, we did not have a player leading the league in offensive stats.
One last comment. I do think the Stolen Base is a major offensive category. Base stealers can make things happen and that is certainly true of Reyes.
PS Yes it will be nice to see Reyes and/or Wright become MVP’s while being NYMets!
August 8th, 2007 at 2:03 am
Adjunct, Oh I remember Craig Swan and I remember him winning the ERA title. I was a very big fan in those very dark days. That, Kingman’s HR title in 1982 and Jesse Orosco’s amazing near Cy Young season in 1983 were the only points in the Dark Ages when we seemed to be leading the league in anything.