Joey's World Tour: Back To Camden Yards and PNC Park

Home is wherever I am on my baseball journey.

Hello, everyone.  This is Joey Beartran, fulfilling my duties as the Studious Metsimus roving reporter and culinary expert.  Back in 2010, I had two separate assignments to cover Mets road trips in Baltimore and Pittsburgh, as the Mets traveled to Charm City that June and the Steel City in August.  I enjoyed each ballpark so much that I asked my Studious Metsimus colleague if I could do it again this year.  It took a little begging and pleading (and me taking money out of his wallet when he wasn't looking so I could pay for my room and whatever food I ate), but I got the okay to go back to Oriole Park at Camden Yards and PNC Park.

Although the Mets were playing in Pittsburgh this past weekend, they were not in Baltimore prior to their series in Western Pennsylvania, so I attended a Mariners-Orioles game at Camden Yards instead.  Naturally, since I have no rooting interest in either game, I focused more on the tasty treats located everywhere on the field level concourses.

The matinee started 12 minutes late because of a light rain, then the play on the field stopped again for over two hours when a steadier rain fell in the third inning.  That was my moment to strike, looking for any new food choices that weren't in the park when I first attended a game there five years ago.  And boy, did I find a good one.

Located on the field level, near Section 68 on the third base side was a stand called "The Chipper".  Originally, I didn't want to go there because it reminded me a certain former Atlanta Braves player named Larry, but there was no one standing in line and I hadn't seen it before, so I gave it a shot.  Now if you're familiar with the state of Maryland, then you know that crab meat is very popular in the Mid-Atlantic state.  At "The Chipper", I was able to get kettle chips topped with crab meat, a creamy white cheddar cheese sauce, a plethora of chopped scallions and another Mid-Atlantic staple - Old Bay seasoning.

I mean, just look at this mouth-watering snack.  How can anyone not want to eat this when attending a game at Camden Yards?

These are the nom-tastic crab kettle chips, known as "The Chipper".  Even my sister Iggy was all smiles about them.

My order of crab kettle chips was so filling that it took me almost the entire duration of the two hour, five minute rain delay to finish them.  Or maybe it took me that long to eat them because I didn't know when (or if) the game was going to resume and I wanted to save as much money as I could from the amount I permanently borrowed from my colleague's wallet in case I needed to buy more edible provisions for, you know, quality assurance purposes.

At least the Mets were also playing a day game while I was in Baltimore, so I was able to keep up on Jacob deGrom's dominant performance in New York against the St. Louis Cardinals.  His eight-inning, one-hit effort in which he retired the final 23 batters he faced actually ended before the tarp on the field at Camden Yards was removed from the playing surface.

When the game in Baltimore eventually resumed, I decided to take a photo of Orioles right fielder Delmon Young, who just happened to be standing in front of the scoreboard at the exact moment the "NYM 5, STL 0" final score was flashing.  What an extraordinary coincidence that it flashed at the exact moment I took the photo.  And that Young wasn't centered in the shot.  And that the score was.

Always good to see an out-of-town scoreboard with a Mets victory on it.

The game eventually ended, nearly six hours after it was scheduled to start - the actual game time was three hours and 30 minutes, an alarming figure for a game that's supposedly been sped up this year - with the Orioles pulling out a 5-4 victory over the Mariners.  The fans of the home team who stayed during the seemingly interminable rain delay were rewarded with a win, which helped the team inch closer to the .500 mark in the mostly mediocre American League East.

Although the Orioles won the division title in 2014, it's been a rough road for Baltimore in 2015.  But at least if the O's don't make it back to the postseason this year, at least their fans can look back fondly on a time from 1966 to 1983 when Baltimore won six pennants and three World Series titles in an 18-season span.  One of those six American League pennants was won in 1969, which I am gladly pointing out in the photo below.  I wonder who won the World Series that year...

My hoodie should come with a spoiler alert if you don't know who the Orioles lost to in the 1969 World Series.

Speaking of fond memories, I have to recommend the Sports Legends Museum at Camden Yards, which is located in a building adjacent to the ballpark.  The museum has two floors.  The ground level floor features memorabilia from Baltimore native Babe Ruth, who supposedly had more power than Lucas Duda.  (I wasn't around when Babe Ruth was an active player, but I can't imagine anyone being stronger than Lucas Duda.)  It also has nine innings of Orioles history, which are nine individual wings dedicated to the 60-plus years of Baltimore baseball.

There are artifacts including newspapers announcing the arrival of the team in Baltimore in 1954 from St. Louis.  (They were the old St. Louis Browns, in case you didn't know.)  Also included is manager Earl Weaver's locker, the 1983 World Series trophy and a huge replica of a Sports Illustrated cover featuring Hall of Famers Frank Robinson and Brooks Robinson.

But wait, there's more!

You will also see sections devoted to each player, coach and manager inducted in the team's Hall of Fame, the first ball hit off the Camden Yards Warehouse (signed by former Mariners great and future Hall of Famer Ken Griffey Jr., who hit the ball during the 1993 Home Run Derby in Baltimore) and an entire section dedicated to Cal Ripken Jr., which is appropriately known as "Inning Eight" to commemorate the number worn by the Orioles legend.  Anything and everything you ever wanted to know about Cal but were afraid to ask is in this wing of the museum, but why should I take up so much space writing about it when I can just give you a sample of it?  Here are some photos of "Inning Eight", as well as photos from other sections of the ground level floor.

All photos above and below by Ed Leyro and Joey Beartran (Studious Metsimus)

Once I left the ground level floor, I proceeded down a flight of stairs to the much larger lower level.  Even the staircase is part of the museum experience, as important numbers in Baltimore sports history are painted on the walls, like ".316-49-122", which were the numbers posted by Frank Robinson in 1966 when he won the American League Triple Crown.

The subterranean level had exhibits on the Negro Leagues, focusing on the Baltimore Black Sox and the Baltimore Elite Giants.  There are also sections devoted to the Orioles' minor league affiliates, as well as other Maryland sports teams, including the Baltimore Blast soccer team, the University of Maryland Terrapins and the Baltimore Ravens.  Of course, my favorite section of the lower level was the locker room area, where they had uniforms and helmets that could be tried on by guests of the museum.  This section was also near an area where we could take photographs with the mascots of the Orioles and Ravens.

I was accompanied by my other sister, Honey Bee Hawk, who was with me on the trip not as a fellow Studious Metsimus correspondent, but as a fan, as she roots for Seattle sports teams and wanted to see the Mariners play the Orioles.  In the photo below, Bee tried on the Ravens helmet while I wore the Orioles batting helmet.  Needless to say, the heads of athletes are much bigger than ours.  The only heads those helmets would be too small on would be the mascots of the respective teams.

Is the Ravens mascot trying to swat Bee off the fence?  He should do that "nevermore".

Once we went back upstairs, we were greeted not with doors that said "exit", but with another wing - this one devoted to the Colts, who were Baltimore's original NFL team before they moved to Indianapolis in 1984.  In this area were old newspapers, a statue of Hall of Fame quarterback Johnny Unitas, old jerseys, coaches' scrapbooks, the Super Bowl trophy, and many other artifacts.  But you know me as a baseball fan, so I was more interested in the aforementioned baseball exhibits and spent most of my time in those areas of the museum.

I do have to say that the Sports Legends Museum blew the blue and orange socks off the Mets Hall of Fame and Museum.  I got there near closing time so I couldn't enjoy it as much as I could have.  (There was even a Roberto Alomar section and an Orioles leader board that prominently featured former Mets infielder Melvin Mora on the home run, RBI and runs scored columns.  Steve Phillips was so stupid for trading him.  But I digress.)  Given more time, I could easily have spent over an hour in the museum, which is approximately 55 minutes more than I usually spend in the Mets Hall of Fame and Museum.  The Wilpons are supposedly good at real estate.  It's time they give their team's tiny museum a little more of that real estate, don't you think?

From Baltimore, my designated driver and I made the four-hour trek to Pittsburgh to see Mets rookie sensation Noah Syndergaard take the hill against the Pirates at PNC Park.  Let's just say I'm glad I only stayed for that one game, as the Mets were swept in the three-game series, losing the three games by a combined score of 21-4.  At least the Mets weren't blown out of the game I attended.  They even brought up the tying run to the plate in the ninth inning, as Lucas Duda (or was it Babe Ruth?) was one fly ball into the Allegheny River away from knotting the game.  Unfortunately, Duda did not produce a Ruthian/Dudian clout and the Mets did not emerge victorious.

But at least Iggy and I did get to chow down on a Primanti Brothers sandwich, which has cole slaw and french fries in the sandwich.  I also took some sweet photos of Syndergaard and some of his fellow starting pitchers prior to the game in the bullpen.  And you know what?  Noah really does look like Thor, especially when the sun shines through his golden locks.

Jacob deGrom and Matt Harvey were just standing there, minding their own business, as Thor warmed up.

It wasn't all PNC Park when we went to Pittsburgh.  In fact, I made sure to tell my designated driver to take me to the site where the late Ralph Kiner used to hit many of his home runs.  Mr. Kiner used to display his prodigious power at Forbes Field, which was the home of the Pittsburgh Pirates two stadiums ago.  (They also called Three Rivers Stadium home for three decades.)

Although Forbes Field is no longer standing, having been razed in 1972 after a fire, part of the outfield wall still remains.  Located on what is now Roberto Clemente Drive on the campus of the University of Pittsburgh, the Forbes Field wall is a must-see for any fan of baseball history.  The center field wall still has the flagpole in front of it that was part of the field when the stadium stood, as well as the 436-foot and 457-foot signs that are still visible on its bricks.  Ivy still hangs near the 436-foot marker, bringing back memories of an era where day baseball prevailed and no one argued over multi-million dollar contracts or which drug was the most effective and undetectable in one's system.

Across the street from the outfield wall is Wesley W. Posvar Hall, part of the University of Pittsburgh campus.  Although I didn't go inside the building, I should let you know that home plate from Forbes Field is located inside the edifice, embedded in glass.  From there you can see just how far Mr. Kiner and all other players had to hit a ball if they wanted to hit it over the center field and right-center field fences.

Another section of the Forbes Field wall was brought over to PNC Park.  Hanging just above the Riverwalk near the right field corner of the Pirates' current stadium is a statue honoring Hall of Fame second baseman Bill Mazeroski.  If you recall, it was Mazeroski who hit the first World Series-ending home run, clubbing a shot over the left field wall against Yankees pitcher Ralph Terry in Game Seven of the 1960 Fall Classic.  Part of that wall, including the 406-foot marker, can now be found adjacent to that Mazeroski statue.  Below are photos of all the Forbes Field wall sections we visited in and around Pittsburgh.

Pittsburgh is a city full of bridges and sections of the Forbes Field outfield wall.

So there you have it, Mets fans.  That was my weekend getaway, where I returned to Baltimore and Pittsburgh in my never-ending baseball world tour.  I hope you enjoyed reading about my trip as much as I enjoyed making that trip.  And obviously, I strongly recommend taking a few days to see these two great baseball cities and visiting the two stadiums with all the baseball-related history in and around the ballparks.

Now if you'll excuse us, Iggy and I have to finish off this delicious Primanti Brothers sandwich.  We can't let our souvenir from Pittsburgh go to waste, can we?

A nom-tastic finish to a fantastic trip.

For more of Joey's World Tour, please click on the links below, where you will be entertained by Joey's wit, photos and love of ballpark cuisine:

World Tour Stop #1: Baltimore
World Tour Stop #2: Washington, DC
World Tour Stop #3: Pittsburgh
World Tour Stop #4: Texas
World Tour Stop #5: Los Angeles
World Tour Stop #6: San Diego
World Tour Stop #7: Toronto
World Tour Stop #8: Chicago
World Tour Stop #9: Milwaukee
World Tour Stop #10: Seattle
World Tour Stop #11: Cleveland
World Tour Stop #12: Brooklyn (Ebbets Field site) and Manhattan (Polo Grounds site)
 

Mariano Rivera And Tom Seaver Are "The Franchises"

On Saturday, all-time saves leader Mariano Rivera will formally announce that the 2013 season will be his last in the majors.  He will retire with a handful of World Series rings and the unofficial title of  greatest closer in baseball history.

How great has Rivera been over his career?  Let's look at a few examples, comparing Rivera's accomplishments to those of various Mets greats.

Entering the 2013 campaign, Rivera has notched 608 saves.  That's more than twice the amount recorded by John Franco on his way to becoming the Mets' all-time leader and surpasses the combined total posted by Armando Benitez, Jesse Orosco, Billy Wagner, Tug McGraw and Roger McDowell by 70 saves.  It should be noted that those five pitchers rank No. 2 through 6 all-time on the Mets' saves leaderboard.

Just four pitchers in Mets history have recorded a single-season ERA under 2.00 with at least 50 innings pitched.  Tom Seaver (1.76 ERA in 1971), Jesse Orosco (1.47 ERA in 1983) and Dwight Gooden (1.53 ERA in 1985) accomplished the feat once, while Tug McGraw (1.70 ERA in both 1971 and 1972) is the only Met to have two separate sub-2.00 ERA seasons.  Mariano Rivera has 11 such seasons, including eight sub-2.00 ERA campaigns over a nine-year stretch (2003-2011).

Only six Mets relievers (Tug McGraw, Jesse Orosco, John Franco, Armando Benitez, Billy Wagner, Francisco Rodriguez) have been selected to represent the team in the All-Star Game, combining to appear in eight Midsummer Classics.  (Orosco and Wagner were selected to two All-Star Games.)  Rivera has gotten the call a dozen times.

And although we're loath to admit this as Mets fans, we have to acknowledge one more important fact about Mariano Rivera.  Rivera has saved 42 postseason victories for the Yankees.  The Mets have 43 postseason victories ... period.

Tom Seaver has always been known as "The Franchise" to Mets fans.  And why wouldn't he be?  After all, he holds virtually every pitching record for the team and won two pennants and one World Series during his 12½ seasons in New York.

When Seaver was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1992, his name was on a record 98.8% of the ballots.  Former teammate Nolan Ryan, Baltimore Orioles legend Cal Ripken, Jr. and Kansas City Royals great George Brett came closest to Seaver's percentage, but couldn't quite match him.  Mariano Rivera will become eligible for the Hall of Fame in 2019.  Surely, he will be a first ballot Hall of Famer.  But can anyone see him not getting at least 98.8% of the votes?

Derek Jeter has contributed greatly to the Yankees during their near-two decade run of excellence.  But as much as he's meant to the franchise, Mariano Rivera has been "The Franchise" in the Bronx.  Rivera is to the Yankees what Seaver was to the Mets.  And all baseball fans, even Mets fans, have to agree that there will never be another closer like him.

Ghosts of Metsimus Past: No Experience Required (Unless If You Want To Win)

Welcome to another edition of Ghosts of Metsimus Past, where we have a Dickens of a time bringing back classic Studious Metsimus posts from the past.  In today's installment, we'll conjure up a post that was originally published on November 29, 2011.

It was around this time a year ago that the Mets allowed Jose Reyes to pack his suitcase for the warmth of South Florida.  Twelve months and one fire sale later, Reyes will now be trading in his new park in warm Miami for a new parka in chilly Toronto.  While Reyes is trying to figure out what the currency exhange rate is in Canada, his former infield partner in New York is counting the currency in his recently expanded bank account.

When Wright steps onto the field on Opening Day 2013, he will become the first Met since Mookie Wilson to be a Met for ten seasons.  In 2014, Wright will become the first player to be a Met for over a decade.  Who was the last player to accomplish this rare combination of loyalty and longevity?  Well, that's where this edition of Ghosts of Metsimus Past comes in.  Enjoy!

With the impending departure of Jose Reyes, the Mets will be left with David Wright and Mike Pelfrey as the only two players who have been with the team for at least five seasons, with Wright making his debut in 2004 and Pelfrey making his first major league appearance in 2006.  It would also leave David Wright as the only player left from the Art Howe era.

If Reyes has indeed played his last game as a Met, he will have played a total of nine seasons in New York, falling one year short of the decade mark.  That got me thinking.  Do you remember the last non-pitcher to play at least ten seasons for the Mets?  Would you believe it was Mookie Wilson?

Even before his famous ten-pitch at-bat in Game 6 of the 1986 World Series, Mookie Wilson was a beloved Met.  He was admired by the fans and respected by his teammates.  He was also a player the team wanted to have around, as he made his major league debut as a September call-up in 1980 and remained with the team until he was traded to the Blue Jays in 1989.

Mookie Wilson played for the Mets in every season in the '80s, experiencing the highs ("little roller up along first") and lows (George Foster).  He was also the last everyday player to suit up for the Mets at least once in ten consecutive seasons.  (Lee Mazzilli also played ten years for the Mets, but his time was split into two stints, from 1976-1981 and from 1986-1989.)

To find the last non-pitcher who played more than ten seasons in New York, you have to go all the way back to a player who played his first game for the Mets during their "Ya Gotta Believe" pennant-winning season in 1973.  Ron Hodges played 12 seasons for the Mets, ending his career in 1984.  However, despite the fact that Hodges was a non-pitcher, he was far from an everyday player, never collecting more than 250 at-bats in a single season.

How much time has passed since Ron Hodges became the last non-pitcher to play more than ten seasons with the Mets?  Let's just say color photography didn't exist back then.

It's amazin' that the Mets haven't had an everyday player spend ten years with the team in over two decades and even more amazin' that it's been over a quarter century (more than half of their existence) since a non-pitcher surpassed the decade mark.

In fact, in addition to Wilson, Mazzilli and Hodges, the only other everyday players to play at least ten seasons for the Mets in their fifty-year history are John Stearns (1975-1984), Ed Kranepool (1962-1979), Jerry Grote (1966-1977), Bud Harrelson (1965-1977) and Cleon Jones (1963, 1965-1975).  That's a total of eight everyday players in 50 years to play at least ten years with the Mets.  Compare that with 15 such players on the Astros (who also came into existence in 1962).

Free agency has definitely changed the landscape of the game.  Since its advent in the 1970s, players have been more likely to move from team to team than they are to stay with one franchise.  However, every team has a homegrown star or exceptional player that they try to lock up for as long as possible.  Not every team can boast a Tony Gwynn (20 years in San Diego) or Cal Ripken, Jr. (21 years in Baltimore), but they can claim a Jay Buhner (14 years in Seattle) or Mike Sweeney (13 years in Kansas City).

It's not only small market teams that keep their players around.  Large market teams do it as well.  For example, that other team that plays in New York (their name escapes me at the moment) has had a number of ten-year everyday players since they started winning division titles and World Series championships.  Players such as Derek Jeter, Bernie Williams and Jorge Posada all played key roles on those teams.  None of those players was playing in the major leagues the last time the Mets had a non-pitcher play at least ten years for them.

Don't look at us like that, Jose.  It's true.  You really would have been the first Met everyday player since 1989 to play at least ten years with the team had you decided to stay.

 

If Jose Reyes leaves the Mets during the offseason, he will fall one year short of reaching the decade mark, leaving it up to David Wright to try to end the streak in 2013.  Of course, he might be traded by then.  If that ends us happening, the longest-tenured everyday player on the Mets would be (get ready for this) Angel Pagan, assuming he's still on the team as well.

A good team has to have youth and a core of veterans who can share their wisdom and experiences with those novices.  Players who have seen the highs and lows (a la Mookie Wilson) are always key members of a winning team.  They've been in the clubhouse long enough and can help bring the team together in ways that can't be seen in a boxscore.

It's been almost a quarter century since the Mets have had a veteran like Mookie Wilson play at least ten years with the team.  It's also been a quarter century since the Mets last won a championship.  That's not a coincidence.

Is This Your Retirement, Larry?

Earlier today, Chipper Jones announced that he will be retiring at the end of the season after almost two decades spent entirely with the Atlanta Braves.  Jones will retire as one of the Braves’ all-time greatest players, finishing in the top three in many of the team's offensive categories (along with Hank Aaron and Eddie Mathews).  He will also end his career as one of the best switch-hitters in baseball history, joining other greats such as Mickey Mantle, Eddie Murray and Pete Rose.

Chipper Jones was like Norm from Cheers, with every fan at Shea Stadium and Citi Field saying his first name in unison as he strolled into the batter's box.  But unlike Norm, whenever Jones heard his name, it wasn't usually in adulation.

When the Braves and Mets competed for National League supremacy in 1999 and 2000, it was Jones who repeatedly delivered in the clutch, keeping the Mets from ending the Braves’ reign atop the division.  By then, he was already known as “La-a-a-a-a-arry” to the Shea faithful, similar to the way Darryl Strawberry was known as “Da-a-a-a-a-arryl” to Red Sox fans during the 1986 World Series.  Of course, Strawberry got the last laugh, hitting a towering home run off Red Sox reliever Al Nipper in Game 7.  Chipper Jones usually hushed the crowd as well with his ability to come through in the clutch.

And what a clutch hitter he was against the Mets.  In 812 career at-bats versus New York, Jones hit .318 with 44 doubles, 48 HR and 154 RBI.  Only Hall of Famers Willie Stargell (60) and Mike Schmidt (49) hit more career home runs against the Mets than Chipper Jones.

But Jones wasn’t just a great hitter when the Mets were in the other dugout.  He was an equal opportunity slugger, especially within his own division.  Take a look at his stats against the other teams in the National League East:

• vs. Marlins: .299, 45 doubles, 40 HR, 161 RBI in 834 at-bats.
• vs. Phillies: .332, 68 doubles, 46 HR, 144 RBI in 797 at-bats.
• vs. Expos/Nats: .298, 60 doubles, 40 HR, 154 RBI in 905 at-bats.

Through 2011, Jones has hit at least 40 doubles, 40 HR and picked up 140 RBI against every team in the National League East, numbers that will only rise as he plays his final year in the major leagues.  Despite his inability to stay on the field because of various injuries throughout the latter part of his career, he still managed to win a batting title in 2008, hitting an impressive .364 at age 36.

Over the years, Mets fans at Shea Stadium and Citi Field would shower Chipper Jones with boos and remind him of his given name whenever he stepped up to the plate.  But did they really hate Chipper Jones or was it just a masked sign of respect for a great player?

Admit it.  You've booed Chipper Jones, but you would have loved to see him in a Mets uniform.

Jimmy Rollins, Cole Hamels and Shane Victorino also get pooped on by the boo birds whenever they come to New York.  But all three of them brought it upon themselves by not being able to keep their mouths shut.  Cole Hamels may have been the biggest offender of Mets fans when he famously claimed that the Mets were choke artists.  In fact, his mouth is so big, he could insert Shaquille O’Neal's foot in it and it still wouldn’t shut him up.  Those players are players Mets fans genuinely hate.  There’s no respect in those boos.

But Chipper Jones is different.  He never guaranteed anything even when the Braves were racking up division titles faster than the current Mets rack up injuries.  He also never disrespected a fan base like Hamels or his former teammate, John Rocker, did.  In fact, Jones loved playing in New York so much, he named his son Shea.

Why was Chipper Jones booed so much in New York?  Because he was good.  Really good.  For a very long time.

Larry did his homework on the Mets, which is why he was so great against them for nearly two decades.  But he didn’t just pick on the Mets; he picked apart opposing pitchers all over the National League.  When the Braves make their final appearance at Citi Field this year on September 9, Mets fans should put aside their negative feelings and give Chipper Jones a standing ovation.  After so many years booing him, it’s time to recognize that he was one of the best players of his generation.  Jones is a certain first ballot Hall of Famer who, like Cal Ripken Jr. and Tony Gwynn, played his entire career with one team.  Only special players get to do that.  Chipper Jones has been a special player.

When the 2012 season comes to a close, Chipper Jones will be retiring from baseball.  Ask any Mets fan how they feel about the news and they’ll say they won’t be at a loss, which shouldn’t be surprising.  Why not?  Because when the game was on the line, the man they called “La-a-a-a-a-arry” usually had their favorite team at a loss.  It’s no wonder Mets fans will probably enjoy Chipper Jones’ retirement more than Chipper himself.

No Experience Required (Unless If You Want To Win)

With the impending departure of Jose Reyes, the Mets will be left with David Wright and Mike Pelfrey as the only two players who have been with the team for at least five seasons, with Wright making his debut in 2004 and Pelfrey making his first major league appearance in 2006.  It would also leave David Wright as the only player left from the Art Howe era.

If Reyes has indeed played his last game as a Met, he will have played a total of nine seasons in New York, falling one year short of the decade mark.  That got me thinking.  Do you remember the last non-pitcher to play at least ten seasons for the Mets?  Would you believe it was Mookie Wilson?

Even before his famous ten-pitch at-bat in Game 6 of the 1986 World Series, Mookie Wilson was a beloved Met.  He was admired by the fans and respected by his teammates.  He was also a player the team wanted to have around, as he made his major league debut as a September call-up in 1980 and remained with the team until he was traded to the Blue Jays in 1989.

Mookie Wilson played for the Mets in every season in the '80s, experiencing the highs ("little roller up along first") and lows (George Foster).  He was also the last everyday player to suit up for the Mets at least once in ten consecutive seasons.  (Lee Mazzilli also played ten years for the Mets, but his time was split into two stints, from 1976-1981 and from 1986-1989.)

To find the last non-pitcher who played more than ten seasons in New York, you have to go all the way back to a player who played his first game for the Mets during their "Ya Gotta Believe" season of 1973.  Ron Hodges played 12 seasons for the Mets, ending his career in 1984.  However, despite the fact that Hodges was a non-pitcher, he was far from an everyday player, never collecting more than 250 at-bats in a single season.

How long has it been since Ron Hodges became the last non-pitcher to play more than ten years with the Mets?  Let's just say color photography didn't exist back then.

It's amazin' that the Mets haven't had an everyday player spend ten years with the team in over two decades and even more amazin' that it's been over a quarter century (more than half of their existence) since a non-pitcher surpassed the decade mark.

In fact, in addition to Wilson, Mazzilli and Hodges, the only other everyday players to play at least ten seasons for the Mets in their fifty-year history are John Stearns (1975-1984), Ed Kranepool (1962-1979), Jerry Grote (1966-1977), Bud Harrelson (1965-1977) and Cleon Jones (1963, 1965-1975).  That's a total of eight everyday players in 50 years to play at least ten years with the Mets.  Compare that with 15 such players on the Astros (who also came into existence in 1962).

Free agency has definitely changed the landscape of the game.  Since its advent in the 1970s, players have been more likely to move from team to team than they are to stay with one franchise.  However, every team has a homegrown star or exceptional player that they try to lock up for as long as possible.  Not every team can boast a Tony Gwynn (20 years in San Diego) or Cal Ripken, Jr. (21 years in Baltimore), but they can claim a Jay Buhner (14 years in Seattle) or Mike Sweeney (13 years in Kansas City).

It's not only small market teams that keep their players around.  Large market teams do it as well.  For example, that other team that plays in New York (their name escapes me at the moment) has had a number of ten-year everyday players since they started winning division titles and World Series championships.  Players such as Derek Jeter, Bernie Williams and Jorge Posada all played key roles on those teams.  None of those players was playing in the major leagues the last time the Mets had a non-pitcher play at least ten years for them.

 Don't look at us like that, Jose.  It's true.  You really would have been the first Met everyday player since 1989 to play at least ten years with the team had you decided to stay.

If Jose Reyes leaves the Mets during the offseason, he will fall one year short of reaching the decade mark, leaving it up to David Wright to try to end the streak in 2013.  Of course, he might be traded by then.  If that ends us happening, the longest-tenured everyday player on the Mets would be (get ready for this) Angel Pagan, assuming he's still on the team as well.

A good team has to have youth and a core of veterans who can share their wisdom and experiences with those novices.  Players who have seen the highs and lows (a la Mookie Wilson) are always key members of a winning team.  They've been in the clubhouse long enough and can help bring the team together in ways that can't be seen in a boxscore.

It's been almost a quarter century since the Mets have had a veteran like Mookie Wilson play at least ten years with the team.  It's also been a quarter century since the Mets last won a championship.  That's not a coincidence.

A Curious Stat About '80s World Series Champions

In 1983, Eddie Murray and Cal Ripken Jr. helped lead the Baltimore Orioles to the World Series championship, their third since moving to Baltimore from St. Louis in 1954.  At the time, the Orioles were one of the best teams in the American League.  From 1966-1983, no team in baseball won more pennants than Baltimore's six.  Not the Yankees or the Big Red Machine (they each won four).  Not the Dodgers (they won five pennants, but only one championship).  Not even the Oakland A's dynasty (three titles) could surpass the pennant-winning success of the Baltimore Orioles for an almost two decade span.

Murray and Ripken probably expected more championships following their 1983 title, but in the past 28 years, the city of Baltimore has been left without a World Series championship or an American League pennant.  In fact, they're not the only team to win it all in the '80s and then win nothing since then.

Following the Orioles' run to the championship, the Detroit Tigers spent every day of the 1984 season in first place in the American League East, culminating their spectacular season with a World Series championship.  The Tigers won another division title three years later (1987), a pennant in 2006 and another division title this past season, but have not given Motown another championship since '84.

After Detroit's championship in 1984, the Kansas City Royals were the last team to spray champagne in 1985, albeit with a little help from Don Denkinger's blown call in Game 6 of the World Series.  The 1985 campaign marked the seventh playoff appearance for the Royals in ten seasons, but they have not sniffed the postseason since their one championship season.

We're Mets fans.  We know what happened in 1986.  We also know that the Mets haven't won another World Series in the past quarter century.  We can move on to the next team now.

The 1987 Minnesota Twins finally broke the streak of four consecutive World Series winners in the '80s who have failed to win it all since then.  The Twins repeated as World Series champions four years later when Jack Morris (a key member of the 1984 World Champion Tigers) pitched ten shutout innings in the seventh and deciding game of the 1991 World Series against the Atlanta Braves.  But we can talk about that '91 Twins team later (and we will).

The 1988 Los Angeles Dodgers rode on the coattails of Orel Hershiser's arm and Kirk Gibson's bat to stun the Mets in the National League Championship Series and the trying-to-start-another-dynasty Oakland A's in the World Series.  Unfortunately, the Dodgers have failed to reach the World Series, let alone win it, since then.

Mets fans should remember these faces very well, even if they'd rather forget the 1988 season.  (Photo of Orel Hershiser by Tom Gannam/AP; Photo of Kirk Gibson by Steve Dykes/LA Times)

Remember those "trying-to-start-another-dynasty" A's from the last paragraph?  Sure you do.  Well, they did follow up their loss to the Dodgers in '88 with a championship of their own in 1989, defeating their Bay Area rival San Francisco Giants in four games.  The World Series that was known for the devastating earthquake prior to Game 3 would also be known to A's fans as the last one they would win.

Even after the 1980s ended, the curious stat concerning World Series winners failing to win another title continued.  The 1990 Cincinnati Reds shocked the A's in that year's World Series, sweeping Oakland in four games.  The Reds have failed to win another pennant since then.  The following year, the Minnesota Twins won their second title in five seasons.  Although the Twins have won six division titles in the past decade, they have yet to win the World Series that has eluded them for twenty years.

The 1992 Toronto Blue Jays did win another championship following their six-game defeat of the Atlanta Braves in that year's Fall Classic.  However, that title came the following season (1993).  Toronto has failed to return to the postseason since their mini-dynasty ended.

The 1994 strike killed that year's World Series, but did not kill the streak of World Series winners failing to return to glory following their championship seasons.  That streak had one more season left in it, as the 1995 Braves won their first and only title in Atlanta, defeating the Cleveland Indians (who themselves have not won a championship since 1948, the longest title-less drought in the American League) in six games.

Seriously.  This is a Mets site.  Who authorized the use of this photo?

When the Yankees won the World Series in 1996, it ended a stretch in which ten teams won their final World Series championship in 12 seasons (not including the 1994 season, which had no World Series).  Only the 1987 Twins and 1992 Blue Jays were able to win another championship during those dozen seasons, and both of them have now gone approximately two decades since their last title.

For all the talk about parity in baseball in the 21st century, what with teams like the Texas Rangers, San Francisco Giants and Tampa Bay Rays all competing for World Series championships over the past few seasons when very few experts predicted them to reach the Fall Classic, the real time for parity happened a generation ago.

One-third of the teams in major league baseball all won championships from 1983 to 1995.  None of those teams has been able to scale that mountain again.  It's a curious stat that has been overlooked over the past 20-30 years.  It makes you wonder if the teams that are winning championships now will go that long in search of their next title.

Mr. Beartran Goes To Washington

Greetings, everyone! It's your fav'rit Studious Metsimus blogger/roving reporter/culinary expert Joey Beartran. Today I'm going to give you a recap of our trip to Washington, DC, where we went to see the Mets play the Nationals and posed security threats by getting way too close to the White House when the Secret Service wasn't looking (see photo, left).

We headed for Washington at an ungodly hour, leaving the house just after sunrise (for a Saturday, that IS an ungodly hour). Of course, since the game was a nationally televised FOX Game of The Week because of the start by Nats' phenom Stephen Strasburg, we had plenty of time to kill. And what better way to kill time than by stopping at Cracker Barrel?

It took quite some time to decide what I wanted for breakfast, (after all, I am the resident culinary expert) but once I decided, I gave a quick point to the menu and got ready for my delicious Cracker Barrel breakfast.



Of course, the Mid-Atlantic hospitality was quickly erased by the Mid-Atlantic "duh" factor. I asked for pancakes and such, but only got the "and such". Also, the orange juice was 95% pulp. When we were asked if we wanted our orange juice with pulp, we said no. Then our waitress said "well, that's all we have".

I was going to argue with her but I was afraid she'd say "Kiss My Grits" and I wasn't going to mess with Flo. (On a positive note, the unkissed grits were actually pretty good.)



I wanted to go someplace to get a better beverage since I was left unfulfilled at Cracker Barrel. My co-blogger just wanted to get to Washington. He was going to suggest we play "Rock, Paper, Scissors" to decide, but I wasn't going to fall for it. After all, I have no fingers, so I could never throw down scissors with my paw. Instead, we decided it like men have for centuries.

We played checkers.

Of course, I won the match with one of my patented moves that he never saw coming. (I told him, "Look over there! It's Keith Hernandez!", at which time he twirled around in his rocking chair and I made a triple jump that I'm not sure was legal, but as I said before...he never saw it coming.)

So from Cracker Barrel, we went to a Dunkin' Donuts in Havre De Grace, MD (birthplace of Orioles' legend and baseball Hall-of-Famer Cal Ripken, Jr.) where I indulged in a made-to-order Vanilla Bean Coolatta. (no pulp here!) Although it was hot out, I'm glad I wore my hoodie. It prevented me from getting brain freeze!

So we made it to Washington about two hours before game time. We drove by the ballpark and decided to keep going to see the historical part of our nation's capital, since we knew we wouldn't find anything historic at Nationals Park.

We saw the White House, the Washington Momument, the Eisenhower Executive Office Building and the World War II Memorial (where I sat in front of the memorial to Puerto Rico, the home of Alex Cora, Angel Pagan, Carlos Beltran and Los Hermanos Feliciano - Pedro and Jesus, who are not really hermanos. Not sure if they're brothers either.)




So now it was time for the main event; the Mets vs. the Nationals! If you want a recap of the game, here's the condensed version. We lost. There, now it's back to what you're really here for: MORE STORY AND PICTURES!!

Teddy Roosevelt has never won a Presidents Race at Nationals Park. Clearly, it's taken a toll on him psychologically, as seen by what he did to me when I asked to be photographed with him.


The stadium was okay aesthetically, but our seats were somewhere south of Guam (and north of the middle deck of Nationals Park), so we decided to walk around the ballpark to see what Washingtonian cuisine was like.

I have to say I was impressed with the food selections (see photos below). There were supersized deli sandwiches, chicken and waffle sandwiches, and chili nachos (which I wanted to wash down with a tall lime smoothie or two, but I wasn't allowed because apparently, we bought the adult version of the lime smoothie - Thanks for nothing, co-blogger!)



Upon completion of the game, it was time to go home after a long day of baseball, sightseeing, food sampling and that stupid Francisco Rodriguez walking light-hitting Cristian Guzman (who recently graduated from the Luis Castillo School of Power Hitting) on four pitches, then giving up a single to Met-killer Willie Harris, who was hitting .150 at the time. If that wasn't enough, he then walked another batter to load the bases, gave up a near-grand slam to Adam Dunn (which came back into the ballpark for a game-tying double), intentionally walked the next batter to load up the bases, then gave up the 10th walk-off hit up by a Mets pitcher this year when AARP member Ivan Rodriguez stroked a single to right.

But I'm not here to recap the game for you. I already told you clearly and concisely that they lost five paragraphs ago. I'm not bitter about it. But I did want to get out of Dodge, so we drove back home and relaxed overnight in Party Town USA, better known as Wilmington, Delaware.

Overall, the experience was pretty good. It would have been better had the Mets won and had Francisco Rodriguez gotten into a taxi to get Venezuelan food the night before. However, the trip was well worth it.

I got to meet Flo for the first time, even though she gave me very little orange juice to go with my pulp. I sampled an authentic Maryland Vanilla Bean Coolatta. I had my first chicken and waffle sandwich, even though I was made fun of for not putting syrup on it and for eating it with a fork. And best of all, I beat my colleague in checkers! What could be better than that?

Thanks to my colleague and the blogger formerly known as Aunt Coop for helping Mr. Beartran go to Washington. The Mets couldn't win one for the Beartran, but they did provide the backdrop for a fun time.

Where will my next road trip be? You'll find out before the end of the month. Until then (with apologies to Casey Kasem), remember to keep your feet on the ground and keep reaching for the nachos (but not mine).