One Mo-MET In Time: Tim Harkness

In the early days of the New York Mets, fans attended the team's home games to see many things.  They went to see manager Casey Stengel, who was as entertaining as any comic actor they could watch on television.  They also went to catch a glimpse of former members of the Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Giants, who were closing out their careers in the city they called home prior to going out west.  Some fans even went to see stars from other teams - players they hadn't been able to see in a National League park since the defection of the Dodgers and Giants following the 1957 campaign.

What fans didn't get to see too much during the team's early days were wins.  In the two years the Mets called the Polo Grounds home, the team won a total of 56 games there.  That's fewer wins at home in a two-year period than the Cincinnati Reds won in their home park in 1962 alone, and the Reds were a third-place team that year.

Needless to say, most of the excitement generated on the field during the team's short stay at the Polo Grounds had nothing to do with the players wearing "Mets" on their chests.  If the team had a lead, they had a good chance of blowing it.  And if they trailed in the late innings, there seemed to be little chance of a happy recap.  But during the team's second season, an unlikely hero stepped up to the plate on an early summer afternoon, trying to erase a two-run deficit in extra innings.  What happened next was something that would not be seen again during a Mets home game for nearly three decades.

Tim Harkness had a left-handed power swing made for the short distance to right field at the Polo Grounds.

Thomas William Harkness, better known as Tim, was a power threat from a very young age.  The Canadian slugger signed with the Phillies in 1956, then played in the Dodgers minor league system over the next five years.  A year after putting up a 28 HR, 111 RBI season at the Double-A level, Harkness made his major league debut with the Dodgers.  But Harkness never caught on as a first baseman in Los Angeles.  He started just six games at the position in two seasons, appearing primarily as a pinch-hitter before being traded to the Mets at the conclusion of the 1962 campaign.

With the Mets, Harkness became the team's primary first baseman in 1963, although he did share the position at times with Duke Carmel (17 starts), Frank Thomas (15 starts) and an 18-year-old Ed Kranepool (15 starts).  Harkness was a streaky hitter, hitting home runs and driving in runs in bunches - he had four homers and 14 RBI during a 17-game stretch in May - but experienced many more cold periods than hot ones.  In fact, from May 30 to June 25, Harkness batted .125, collecting nine hits in 72 at-bats.

Harkness, who once had a .276 batting average in late May, was now in danger of dropping below the .200 mark, entering the June 26 tilt against the Chicago Cubs with a .208 batting average.  Coming into the game, Harkness had collected just 53 hits in his brief three-year career in the majors, never having more than three hits in any single game.  Through nine innings against the Cubs, Harkness had picked up one hit in four at-bats.  But the game was tied through nine, as the Mets had chipped away at an early four-run deficit to send the game into extra innings.  The team's day wasn't quite done, and neither was Tim Harkness.

Harkness doubled to lead off the 11th inning, but was stranded in scoring position when pinch-hitter Norm Sherry grounded into an inning-ending double play.  Two innings later, a single by Harkness put runners on the corners with one out.  But the Mets couldn't capitalize on Harkness's third hit of the game, as two groundouts ended the scoring threat.

It was on to the 14th inning at the Polo Grounds, where the Cubs looked to score for the first time since taking a 4-0 lead in the fifth inning.  Mets reliever Galen Cisco was one out away from getting out of the inning, but surrendered a two-run, inside-the-park home run to future Hall of Famer Billy Williams, giving Chicago a 6-4 lead.  The Mets, who had squandered numerous scoring opportunities in the previous innings, had one more chance to come up with a game-winning rally.  What they got was a seminal moment in team history.

Jim Hickman led off the Mets' half of the 14th inning with a single.  Ron Hunt followed with a single of his own, but Hickman was thrown out after he accidentally ran past second base.  Cubs pitcher Jack Warner then walked Jimmy Piersall to put the tying runs on base for Frank Thomas.  Thomas, who led the Mets with 34 home runs during the team's inaugural season in 1962, entered the game with just four home runs in 1963.  But Thomas had hit a two-run homer earlier in the game, and was another clout away from winning it.  With the crowd of just over 8,000 hoping for Thomas to blast his second homer of the game, all they got was a fly ball to left off Cubs reliever Paul Toth.

The Mets were now an out away from losing a heartbreaker to Chicago.  Seldom used catcher Sammy Taylor stepped up to the plate.  Left-handed pitcher Jim Brewer was summoned from the bullpen to face the lefty-swinging Taylor.  Taylor was already 0-for-6 in the game and had collected just eight hits all season up to that point.  But Brewer had not pitched in a major league game in 17 days and had been awful since May 19 (7.59 ERA in his last six appearances).  Taylor was able to coax a walk from Brewer to load the bases, bringing up Tim Harkness.

Harkness had already tied his career high in the game by notching three hits, including two in extra innings.  A fourth hit would almost surely tie the game.  A long hit would win it.  Harkness worked the count full.  Then with one mighty swing, Harkness delivered something no Met had accomplished before and no Met would accomplish again for almost 30 years.

With the right field wall looming just 257 feet away from home plate, Harkness pulled a grand slam over that wall, giving the Mets a thrilling 8-6 victory.  The game-winning blast was Harkness's fourth hit of the game - a new career high - but most importantly, was the first walk-off grand slam in the brief history of the team.

Tim Harkness emerges from the Mets clubhouse to greet fans following his extra-inning heroics. (UPI Photo)

Although the Mets hit a handful of walk-off grand slams over the next few decades, including one by Jim Hickman just six weeks after Harkness's game-winner, most of them occurred with the score tied.  But the grand slam by Harkness turned a potential two-run loss into a two-run win.  No Mets player would hit another walk-off grand slam with the team trailing at the time until Kevin McReynolds turned the trick against the Montreal Expos on June 25, 1991, nearly 28 years to the day after Harkness's heroics.  It would be another 23 years before a third Mets player - Ike Davis in 2014 - slammed the Mets from an apparent loss to a last-licks victory.

Harkness would go on to hit another walk-off homer for the Mets in 1963 - although this one was only a two-run shot in September - but for the most part, his grand slam against the Cubs was his last highlight of the season.  After victimizing Jim Brewer on June 26, Harkness went into a deep slump, going 9-for-87 with no homers and two RBI over his next 35 games.  A six-game hitting streak to end the season kept his average above .200, but also showed the Mets that the team needed to go in a different direction at first base.

The Mets moved into Shea Stadium in 1964, a park whose right field fence was nearly 100 feet deeper down the line than the one at the now-defunct Polo Grounds, and Harkness's power suffered.  Harkness played 39 games for the Mets in 1964, hitting just two homers.  Only one of those homers came at Shea Stadium.  Harkness was traded to Cincinnati in July, then bounced around in the minors for the next three seasons, never making it back to the majors.

In four big league seasons, Harkness never matched his power production in the minors.  His 28 HR, 111 RBI campaign in the minors in 1960 didn't translate to the majors, as Harkness managed just 14 homers and 61 RBI as a member of the Dodgers and Mets.  But for one amazing day in June 1963, Harkness became a hero in New York, powering the Mets to a dramatic, come-from-behind victory.

Manager Casey Stengel probably said it best (as he usually did) when discussing how important Harkness's homer was to the team at that moment.

  
"It was one of those good ones.  We just about had to end it there because I'd run out of men."





As the saying goes, if you watch baseball long enough, you're bound to see something you've never seen before.  On June 26, 1963, Mets fans saw something they had never seen before when Tim Harkness sent the small, but lively, Polo Grounds crowd home happy, turning a loss into a win with a game-ending grand slam home run.  It was the only time a Mets player ever snatched a victory from the jaws of defeat on a grand slam at the Polo Grounds.  Twenty-eight years later, Kevin McReynolds became the only Met to repeat Harkness's feat at Shea Stadium.  And twenty-three years after that, Ike Davis became the first Met to do it at Citi Field.  It has become a once-in-a-stadium's-lifetime event.

Tim Harkness may not have had a long career in New York, nor was it particularly a successful one.  But for one memorable moment, he provided Mets fans with a thrill that would not soon be forgotten.  It would also be a moment that would rarely be duplicated.


Note:  One Mo-MET In Time is a thirteen-part weekly series spotlighting those Mets players who will forever be known for a single moment, game or event, regardless of whatever else they accomplished during their tenure with the Mets.  For previous installments, please click on the players' names below:

January 5, 2015: Mookie Wilson 
January 12, 2015: Dave Mlicki
January 19, 2015: Steve Henderson 
January 26, 2015: Ron Swoboda
February 2, 2015: Anthony Young
 

Hark(ness), The Herald Davis Swings

If you were at Citi Field today as I was, you witnessed a thrilling conclusion to the Mets-Reds affair.  With the Mets trailing, 3-2, going into the bottom of the ninth, Juan Lagares, Anthony Recker and Ruben Tejada all reached base to start the inning.

Up stepped Ike Davis, needing a long fly ball to tie the game and a base hit to perhaps win it.  What he did was even more exciting.

Slam!  Let the boys be boys!  (Photo by Howard Simmons/NY Daily News)

Davis' long blast off the Subway sign in right-center turned a potential heartbreaking one-run loss into a scream-until-you-lose-your-voice three-run victory.  The walk-off grand slam gave the Mets a 6-3 win over the Reds and put them in position to sweep Cincinnati on Sunday.

But Ike Davis' game-ending homer was more than just a fantastic moment in this young season.  It also was one of the rarest moments in the 53-year history of the team.  Please allow me to elaborate.

Davis' walk-off grand slam was only the seventh such home run hit by a Mets player in franchise history.  Tim Harkness was the first Met to smoke a game-ending salami, accomplishing the feat against the Chicago Cubs at the Polo Grounds on June 26, 1963.  Just forty-four days later, Jim Hickman also victimized the Cubs for a walk-off grand slam at the Polo Grounds.  The killer H's were the only two players in team history to end games with four-run homers until 1980, when Mike Jorgensen took the Dodgers' Rick Sutcliffe deep at Shea Stadium.  Six years later, Tim Teufel hit a grand slam against Tom Hume of the Phillies at Shea, a feat that wasn't seen again at the Mets' former home until 1991, when Kevin McReynolds blasted a bases-clearing shot over the wall versus the Montreal Expos.  It took another 22 years before Jordany Valdespin became the sixth Met to end a game with a grand slam, taking the Dodgers' Josh Wall over the wall at Citi Field on April 24, 2013.  Less than 365 days after Jordany took a spin around the bases, Ike Davis became the seventh slammer.

Obviously, becoming the seventh player to hit a walk-off grand slam in Mets history puts Davis in select company, but four of the other six players who ended games by putting a four-spot up on the scoreboard did so when their respective games were tied.

Hickman, Jorgensen, Teufel and Valdespin each turned tie games into four-run victories with their powerful swings.  That means Harkness, McReynolds and now Ike Davis are the only players who can claim snatching a victory from the jaws of defeat by walking off with a grand slam home run.  And each player did so at a different home park, with Harkness turning a 6-4 deficit into an 8-6 win at the Polo Grounds, McReynolds blasting away at a potential 5-4 loss by slamming the Mets to an 8-5 victory at Shea Stadium and Ike Davis erasing a 3-2 Reds lead with one swing of the bat, giving the Mets a 6-3 win at Citi Field.

Harkness.  McReynolds.  Davis.  Three very different players playing in three very different eras.  But all produced one very similar result with three well-timed swings of the bat.  And it was a result that made Mets fans across the generations leave the ballpark feeling slam-tastic.

The Best On The Worst: Jim Hickman

Ed Kranepool is always referred to the last member of the 1962 Mets to play for the team.  While that statement is correct, it's also true that Kranepool was still playing for James Monroe High School in the Bronx when the Mets were taking the field for the first time in St. Louis.  Kranepool did not make his debut during the Mets' inaugural season until September 22, just in time to suit up for the fledgling team's 116th loss.

Although Kranepool played in each of the club's first 18 seasons, by the time he participated in his first major league game, there had already been 44 players who had taken the field for the Mets, with more than half of them appearing on the team's Opening Day roster.  But almost all of the players who were in the Mets dugout during the team's inaugural game on April 11, 1962 were former Mets by the time the team began its fifth season in 1966.  Almost.  One still remained, and by the time he had played his final game as a Met on October 2, 1966, he had already made quite a name for himself in Mets lore.

Jim Hickman - an original Met who was one of the few reasons to feel good about those early teams.

James Lucius Hickman was originally signed by the St. Louis Cardinals as an amateur free agent in 1956.  Although Hickman showed good pop in the minors, he had trouble collecting hits that stayed in the ballpark.  From 1956 to 1959, Hickman managed to hit 86 home runs at various minor league levels, but only hit .266 during his first four professional seasons.  Hickman's first .300 season earned him a promotion to Triple-A in late 1960, but a regression to a sub-.250 batting average in 1961 kept him from advancing to the majors.  After six seasons bouncing around in the Cardinals organization, Hickman was left unprotected in the 1961 Expansion Draft.  He became a former Cards' farmhand on October 10, 1961, when the New York Mets selected him with their 18th pick.

A move to an expansion team practically guaranteed playing time at the major league level for Hickman, even though he was the fifth outfielder selected by the Mets in the expansion draft.  Starting for the Mets would be a different story, especially after the team acquired future Hall of Fame outfielder Richie Ashburn two months after the draft.  Certainly, if Hickman could endure six years in the minors as a patient gentleman, he could also do the same on the bench for the Mets.  But he wouldn't need to, especially once manager Casey Stengel gave him his first chance to play all nine innings of a game.

Jim Hickman made his major league debut in the Mets' third-ever game on April 14, 1962, appearing as a pinch-hitter for Al Jackson.  Hickman popped out in his first at-bat, then went 0-for-2 in his first start three days later before being removed for a pinch-hitter in the seventh inning.  Hickman didn't play a full nine innings until the Mets' ninth game.  The Mets lost to Pittsburgh to fall to 0-9, but Hickman was the team's hitting star, going 3-for-4 with two RBI.  New York finally won its first game the following day, but Hickman went 0-for-4 and was back on the bench for a week.  Hickman was used solely as a pinch-hitter until late April, when one big swing in front of the home crowd put him in the starting lineup for good.

On April 28, the Mets erased a five-run deficit against the Phillies by scoring six runs in the sixth inning.  Although the Mets had taken a 7-6 lead, Philadelphia put two men on base in the seventh and another in the eighth without scoring.  Needing an insurance run, Jim Hickman gave the Mets exactly what they needed, clubbing a pinch-hit home run off Ed Keegan in the bottom of the eighth.  Hickman's first big league blast gave the Mets the extra cushion they needed, as they held on for an 8-6 victory to earn their second win in franchise history and first at home.  The next day, Hickman got the start in center field for the Mets.  He rarely saw the bench again.

Beginning May 1, Hickman went on a hitting tear, which coincided with the Mets' first (and only) hot streak in 1962.  Hickman hit .364 during the first half of May and finished the month with five doubles, five homers, 11 RBI and 17 runs scored in 24 games (22 starts).  The Mets won nine of 12 games from May 6 through May 20, but lost that winning feeling as June approached.  Hickman, however, continued to be one of the more productive Mets at the plate.

Although his final numbers for the year (.245, 18 doubles, 13 HR, 46 RBI) weren't spectacular, they were still among the best on the team.  Despite collecting only 96 hits, Hickman was second on the team in doubles and third in home runs.  Hickman was also one of just three regulars on the original Mets to post a slugging percentage above .400.

Hickman's second season in New York saw him lead the team in various categories and also produced one of a number of "firsts".  On August 7, 1963, Hickman became the first player in team history to hit for the cycle, accomplishing his feat against the team that originally drafted him.  Serving as the Mets' leadoff hitter against St. Louis, Hickman singled in the first, doubled in the second and tripled in the fourth.  The home run, which helped Hickman earn a starting position a year earlier, was all Hickman needed to make baseball history.  But after hitting 13 homers in his rookie season and five more in the Mets' first 31 games in 1963, Hickman had experienced a power outage, hitting just four homers in 260 plate appearances from May 13 through his third at-bat on August 7.  Facing Barney Schultz in the sixth inning, Hickman made it five homers in 261 plate appearances, as he completed the cycle with a blast off the journeyman reliever. 

The first cycle in franchise history helped Hickman get back on the home run track, as he swatted eight homers over the next six weeks.  The cycle was also one of eight multi-hit games for Hickman in August after he produced just seven such games in June and July combined.

Two days after hitting for the cycle, Hickman produced another memorable moment, hitting a walk-off grand slam against the Chicago Cubs.  The two-out, ninth-inning blast off reliever Lindy McDaniel turned a potential extra-inning affair into a 7-3 Mets victory, which gave starting pitcher Roger Craig his first victory after 18 consecutive losses - a National League record at the time.  Ironically, McDaniel had intentionally walked pinch-hitter Tim Harkness to load the bases for Hickman - the same Tim Harkness who just six weeks earlier had also victimized the Cubs for a walk-off grand slam, the first such blast in team history.

"Oh, what a month.  Late in the season back in '63.  What a very special time for Jim..."

Despite Hickman's strong August, his extended mid-season slump kept his final batting average low (.229), but that didn't prevent him from being one of the team's most productive offensive players in 1963.  Hickman finished second on the team in hits (113), doubles (21), RBI (51), runs scored (53) and slugging percentage (.399).  He also led the Mets in homers (17) and triples (6) while playing in a team-leading 146 games.

Amazingly, despite all the great power hitters and speedsters who have donned a Mets uniform through the 2013 season, Hickman remains the only player in club history to lead the team outright in both triples and homers in the same season.  The only other players to lead the team in the two categories - but not outright - were Cleon Jones in 1971 and Howard Johnson in 1989.  Jones hit 14 homers to tie Ed Kranepool and Tommie Agee for the club lead in 1971.  He also matched Bud Harrelson with a team-leading six triples.  Eighteen years later, Johnson led the Mets with 36 homers, but his three triples made him the team's co-leader in that department with Kevin McReynolds and Dave Magadan.

Hickman's power was mostly a product of his home ballpark in 1962 and 1963, as he hit 21 of his 30 homers at the Polo Grounds during his first two seasons in the big leagues.  But the Mets were moving into state-of-the-art Shea Stadium in 1964, leaving some to believe that Hickman's power wouldn't translate well in the Mets' new home.  Those fears were quickly allayed, as it took just 13 at-bats in his new home park for Hickman to hit his first home run, and he couldn't have picked a better time to hit it.

The Mets began the 1964 season by playing just 13 of their first 42 games at home, leaving Hickman little time to become acclimated to Shea's dimensions.  To make matters worse, Hickman only started three of those 13 home games.  But when the Mets returned to New York after a lengthy 15-game road trip on May 29, Hickman was in the team's starting lineup against the San Francisco Giants.  Hickman was 0-for-2 in the game when he came to bat in the bottom of the seventh inning.  The Mets, who began the frame trailing by two runs, were able to tie the game on run-scoring hits by Frank Thomas and Joe Christopher.  Up stepped Jim Hickman, trying to give the Mets the lead for the first time in the game.  After Christopher stole second to put himself in scoring position, Hickman took Giants starter Jack Sanford deep with his first Shea Stadium home run - a tie-breaking clout that gave the Mets a 4-2 lead, which would become the final score two innings later.

Although Hickman failed to play in 140 games for the first time as a Met in 1964, he still managed to post career highs in batting average (.257) and RBI (57).  He also slugged 11 home runs in just over 400 at-bats (six of them were hit at Shea Stadium), allowing him to reach double digits in homers for the third consecutive season.

The 1965 campaign was a season of transition for Hickman and the Mets.  After spending most of their first three seasons using well-known, but past-their-prime, players to attract fans to the Polo Grounds and Shea Stadium, the Mets started to call up more of their minor league talent.  Two rookie outfielders - Cleon Jones and Ron Swoboda - combined to play in 165 games in '65.  Along with Joe Christopher, whose breakout performance the previous year (.300, 16 HR, 76 RBI) made it impossible for the manager to sit him on the bench, that left few starting opportunities for Hickman.  It took a sad day in Mets history to give Hickman the second chance he needed to turn his lost season around.

Through late July, Hickman was having a terrible season.  The outfielder was in the starting lineup in only 48 of the team's first 96 games and was batting an even .200 with eight homers and 20 RBI.  But when Casey Stengel broke his hip as a result of a fall, Wes Westrum took over as the team's skipper, giving Hickman more starts in the outfield, as well as spot starts at first base.  Hickman responded well, batting .276 with seven homers and 20 RBI over the last third of the season.  One particular game in early September showed that Hickman was all the way back from his early season doldrums.

On September 3, 1965, Hickman was once again facing the team that originally drafted him, the St. Louis Cardinals.  Two years after achieving the first cycle in Mets history in a game against St. Louis, Hickman would be the author of another "first" versus the Cards.  In the second inning, Hickman got the Mets on the board first with a home run off Ray Sadecki.  Two innings later, Hickman struck again, giving the Mets a 3-0 lead with another blast off Sadecki.  By the sixth inning, St. Louis had cut the Mets' lead back to a single run, and still had Sadecki on the mound when Hickman stepped up to the plate for his third at-bat.  Had Sadecki learned anything from Hickman's first two at-bats against him?  Let's just say it was third verse, same as the first (and second), as Hickman launched his third homer of the game to give the Mets a 5-2 lead.  The Mets went on the win the game, 6-3, as Hickman became the first player in club history to record a three-homer game.  Hickman had a chance to become the eighth major leaguer to sock four home runs in one game, but settled for a measly single in his fourth at-bat.

Despite finishing the year with a career-low 369 at-bats, Hickman still managed to hit 15 homers - four behind team leader Ron Swoboda.  Hickman also added 18 doubles, which contributed to his .407 slugging percentage - second on the team to Swoboda.  A post-Stengel resurgence boded well for Hickman in his quest to return to everyday action in 1966.  But an unfortunate injury shattered those dreams, as well as his future with the Mets.

From 1962 to 1965, Jim Hickman started 338 games in the outfield, with 240 of them coming in center field.  As the 1966 season opened, Hickman had become the longest tenured player on the team - the only player from the original Mets roster to make it to the team's fifth season.  Hickman was back to being a regular outfielder in 1966, starting 16 of the team's first 21 games.  But a wrist injury kept him out of action for nearly three months, giving Cleon Jones the opportunity to take over the center field position on a full-time basis.  Upon his return on August 9, Hickman started just 26 of the team's final 51 games, finishing the year with just four homers and 16 RBI in 174 at-bats.

Hickman's injury-shortened season, along with the emergence of Cleon Jones, led the Mets to trade him and Ron Hunt to the Dodgers for outfielder Tommy Davis in November.  Hickman played one year in Los Angeles - just as Tommy Davis played a single season in New York - before being traded to the Cubs after a horrendous 1967 season in which he batted .163 with no homers in 65 games.  Hickman split time between the majors and minors in 1968, then finally ended three years of injuries and inadequate play in 1969, batting .237 with 21 homers and 54 RBI for the surprising North Siders.  A year later, in 1970, Hickman had a season that no one could have seen coming.

Prior to 1970, Hickman was the owner of a .236 lifetime batting average and had never scored or driven in 60 runs in a single season.  But the new decade brought about a new Jim Hickman, as the slugger set career highs across the board.  Hickman batted .315 with 33 doubles, 32 homers, 115 RBI and 102 runs scored for the Cubs in 1970, earning his only All-Star nod and finishing eighth in the National League MVP vote.

Hickman's success was short-lived, as he was never able to replicate his monster season.  From 1971 to 1973, Hickman averaged 13 homers and 48 RBI, while batting .259.  He closed out his career in 1974, after playing one season with the St. Louis Cardinals - the team he tried to make during his first six professional seasons, but never quite made it.

When Jim Hickman played his final game for the Mets in 1966, he ranked either first or second in virtually every offensive category.  Hickman led the team in games played (624), doubles (78 - tied with Ron Hunt), home runs (60), RBI (210) and walks (167).  He also ranked second in runs scored (202) and hits (439), with Hunt leading both categories.  Hickman surpassed ten homers in four consecutive seasons (1962-65).  The only other player in the Mets' first 20 seasons to accomplish that feat was Tommie Agee, who hit over ten homers in each season from 1969 to 1972.

Jim Hickman was known as Gentleman Jim during his 13-year career in the big leagues, not just for his sincere politeness, but because of his humility on and off the field.  As detailed by author William J. Ryczek in his book, "The Amazin' Mets, 1962-1969", the Tennessee-bred Hickman always thought he lacked the tools to be the best player he could be, and not all of the tools were physical.

"I was 25 when I came to the Mets, and these kids out of the cities were 18 going on 30.  It was a hard place to adjust to.  I think if I had been a little tougher mentally, I might have been a better player."

During the first five seasons of their existence, Jim Hickman was the Mets' most consistent power hitter.  He was also one of the team's most dependable run producers, driving in crucial runs for Mets teams that struggled to win.

Although Hickman struggled to stay in the starting lineup at times, he still managed to find himself in the right place at the right time for many "firsts".  He was the first Met to hit for the cycle and the first Met to hit three homers in one game.  (Jose Reyes is the only other player to accomplish both during his time with the Mets.)  Hickman is also the only Met to lead the team outright in triples and homers in the same season.  And had Tim Harkness not beaten him to the punch, Hickman would have provided the first walk-off grand slam in team history.  Hickman was known for a "last" as well, as he was the last member standing from the original Mets who took the field in April 1962.

Jim Hickman was more than just a player who was known for several memorable individual games.  He was one of the few dependable players the Mets had during their formative years.  Before Tom Seaver joined the team in 1967, Jim Hickman and Mets losses were about the only sure things you were going to get as a Mets fan during the team's first half-decade.


Note:  The Best On The Worst is a thirteen-part weekly series spotlighting the greatest Mets players who just happened to play on some not-so-great Mets teams.  For previous installments, please click on the players' names below:

January 6, 2014: Todd Hundley 
January 13, 2014: Al Jackson
January 20, 2014: Lee Mazzilli
January 27, 2014: Steve Trachsel
February 3, 2014: Rico Brogna
February 10, 2014: Skip Lockwood 
February 17, 2014: Ron Hunt
February 24, 2014: Craig Swan 
March 3, 2014: Hubie Brooks 
March 10, 2014: Joel Youngblood 

The Evolution of The Mets' All-Time Hits Record

Although he finished his 18-year career with only 1,418 hits, an average of less than 80 hits per season, Ed Kranepool had remained the Mets' all-time leader in hits for well over three decades.  That's "had", as is the past tense of "has".  David Wright has now supplanted Kranepool as the team's all-time leader with his 1,419th hit, collecting the landmark hit off Jeff Locke in the third inning of Wednesday night's game against the Pirates.

But Kranepool wasn't always the team leader in base hits.  Just as Wright replaced him, Kranepool replaced someone else.  And that someone else replaced someone else.  And so on.  Let's take a look at the evolution of the Mets' all-time hits record, going from Day 1 in 1962 to David Wright's record-setting hit.

The Mets played their inaugural game on April 11, 1962 against the St. Louis Cardinals.  Rightfielder Gus Bell, who already had 1,746 hits to his credit in his first 12 big league seasons, became the answer to the trivia question, "who collected the first hit in New York Mets history?", with his second inning single off Cardinals starter Larry Jackson.  Naturally, that hit made him the first player in team history to claim the title of all-time team leader in hits.  It didn't last long.

In the fifth inning, Charlie Neal took over the just-established title of all-time Mets leader in hits with a home run off Jackson.  It was the second homer in team history (Gil Hodges hit the first one inning earlier) and Neal's second hit of the game, erasing Bell from the record books before the ink was fully dry.  Neal added a third hit that day, which helped him remain the team's leader in hits a little longer than Bell did.  But just a little.

On April 17, 1962, Felix Mantilla passed Neal with a sixth inning single.  Mantilla's hit gave him the team lead in hits with five, which was as many losses as the Mets had.  The Mets were 0-5 but had already gone through three all-time hits leaders.

In 1962, Felix Mantilla (left) passed Charlie Neal (right) on the all-time hits list and in this photo.

Two days later, on April 19, 1962, Frank Thomas became the first Met to hit two home runs in a game.  His second blast gave him seven hits on the season, which made him the team's fourth different all-time hits leader in its first seven games.  But the more things changed, the more they stayed the same, as the Mets were still without a win at 0-7.

April 23, 1962 was a memorable day in Mets history.  Not only did the Mets finally pick up their first victory (even if it took ten games), but it also marked the day Felix Mantilla retook the team lead in hits.  His tenth safety of the season broke a three-way tie for the team lead in hits (Charlie Neal had since jumped back into the mix by then).  For some reason, the Mets' first-ever victory overshadowed Mantilla's return to the top of the all-time hits list.  Go figure.

Four days after their first win, the Mets were still searching for victory No. 2.  On April 27, 1962, the Mets trailed the Phillies 11-1 before a furious rally got them within 11-9.  Their rally fell short, however, as the Phillies held on for the victory.  Just as the Mets' rally fell short, so did Mantilla's stay atop the team's all-time hits list, as Frank Thomas's 13th hit sent him back to the penthouse (or what passed for the penthouse on the 1962 Mets).

Thomas held on to the team lead in hits until May 12, 1962, when Mantilla's 28th hit allowed him to leapfrog past Thomas back to familiar territory.  That lasted all of one day, as Thomas' 29th hit on May 13, 1962 shot him back to the top.  He remained the team leader for the rest of the season.

At the end of the 1962 season, Thomas was the team leader in hits with 152, followed by Charlie Neal (132) and Felix Mantilla (128).  Thomas remained the team's all-time hits leader for the rest of his Mets career, which ended on August 7, 1964 when he was traded to the Phillies.  At the time, he had collected 311 hits in a Mets uniform.  Thomas was finally passed on September 30, 1964 by Jim Hickman.  Hickman's 312th hit as a Met was the final hit in his five-hit game against the Milwaukee Braves.

Ron Hunt

Hickman was the Mets' career leader in hits until 1966, when a wrist injury kept him out of action for nearly three months.  That allowed Ron Hunt to nudge his way past Hickman, which he did on July 7, 1966 when he collected his 415th hit as a Met.  Hunt finished his Mets career as the team's all-time leader in hits with 474.  Ironically, Hunt was traded to the Dodgers following the 1966 season along with the man he replaced as the team's all-time hits leader, as both he and Hickman were dealt to Los Angeles for the Brooklyn-born two-time batting champion Tommy Davis.  Davis went on to establish the Mets' single-season record for hits with 174 in 1967, but never approached Hunt as the team's all-time leader as Davis' stay in New York was limited to just that one season.

While Hunt was toiling in Los Angeles, Ed Kranepool was racking up hits in New York.  On July 2, 1967, in the first game of a doubleheader against the Cardinals, Kranepool surpassed Hunt when he collected his 475th hit.  The pride of James Monroe High School in the Bronx continued to be the team's career leader in hits throughout the rest of the decade but a poor 1970 season got him sent down to AAA-Tidewater.  Kranepool collected only eight hits for the 1970 Mets, and by the end of the season, he had Cleon Jones breathing down his neck for the team lead in hits.  In 1971, Jones finally passed him.

On May 25, 1971, with Ed Kranepool not in the lineup, Cleon Jones delivered a first-inning RBI double for his 750th hit as a Met.  The milestone hit pushed Jones past Kranepool as the team's all-time leader in hits after Kranepool had held the spot for almost four years.

Injuries limited Jones to 14 games in June, allowing Kranepool to retake the team lead in hits on June 11, 1971 when he collected his 763rd hit.  Less than a month later, on July 7, 1971, Jones passed Kranepool again, this time with hit No. 783.  This time, Jones would hold on to the career lead in hits a little longer than his first time.

On August 2, 1973, Cleon Jones became the first player in team history to collect 1,000 hits in a Mets uniform.  Kranepool didn't reach 1,000 hits until May 12, 1974.  By that time, Kranepool was being used primarily as a pinch-hitter while Jones was still an everyday player.  At the end of the 1974 season, Jones had 1,176 hits to Kranepool's 1,060 hits.  But a tumultuous season on and off the field ended Jones' Mets career abruptly in 1975, allowing Kranepool to make his move.

The 1975 season began with Cleon Jones on the disabled list nursing a knee injury.  But on the morning of May 4, Jones was arrested for indecent exposure while on extended spring training in Florida.  Although Jones denied he was in a state of undress and the charges were eventually dropped, he was fined $2,000 by chairman of the board M. Donald Grant and was forced by the team to publicly apologize for his arrest.  Jones eventually made it back on the playing field on May 27, but was released by the team less than two months later after a heated altercation with manager Yogi Berra.  Jones played his last game as a Met on July 18, 1975, finishing his Mets career with a franchise-record 1,188 hits.  Kranepool now had no one in his way on the way to the hits record.

Ed Kranepool

On May 4, 1976, Ed Kranepool became the team's all-time hits leader (again) when he delivered an RBI single off Reds' reliever Will McEnaney, just six months after McEnaney had recorded the final out of Cincinnati's World Series victory over the Boston Red Sox.  Kranepool's record-setting hit came just three days after Cleon Jones played what became his final game in the major leagues as a member of the Chicago White Sox.  After recording his team-record 1,189th hit, Kranepool went on to play three more seasons with the Mets, retiring after the 1979 season as the team's all-time hits leader with 1,418 hits, a record he had held ever since.

It took 36 years, 4 months and 22 days for a Met to do what Cleon Jones did to Ed Kranepool twice.  With his 1,419th hit, an infield single off Jeff Locke in Wednesday's game, David Wright has become the first Met since Jones to push Kranepool down to the No. 2 spot on the team's all-time hits list.  Should the Mets choose to sign Wright to a long-term deal, he could very well keep the No. 1 spot to himself for quite some time, perhaps longer than the 36 years, 4 months and 22 days it was held by Kranepool.

Over the first decade of the team's existence, eight different men held the distinction of being the Mets' all-time leader in hits.  Everyone from Gus Bell (who held the title for all of three innings) to Charlie Neal to Felix Mantilla to Frank Thomas to Jim Hickman to Ron Hunt to Ed Kranepool to Cleon Jones spent time as the all-time hits leader for the Mets from 1962-1971.  Then Kranepool didn't relinquish the title for more than three and a half decades.  As the Mets have evolved from expansion team to National League veterans, so has the team's hits record.  It'll be fun to see what David Wright does with it now that he's become the new hits leader for the Mets.

 

Player	Date Player Became Mets’ All-Time Hits Leader	Number of Hits At The Time Player Became Hits Leader
Gus Bell	April 11, 1962 (2nd inn.)	1
Charlie Neal	April 11, 1962 (5th inn.)	2
Felix Mantilla	April 17, 1962	5
Frank Thomas	April 19, 1962	7
Felix Mantilla	April 23, 1962	10
Frank Thomas	April 27, 1962	13
Felix Mantilla	May 12, 1962	28
Frank Thomas	May 13, 1962	29
Jim Hickman	Sept. 30, 1964	312
Ron Hunt	July 7, 1966	415
Ed Kranepool	July 2, 1967	475
Cleon Jones	May 25, 1971	750
Ed Kranepool	June 11, 1971	763
Cleon Jones	July 7, 1971	783
Ed Kranepool	May 4, 1976	1,189
David Wright	Sept. 26, 2012	1,419

At 27, Jose Reyes Is Now The Mets' Longest Tenured Player

With Pedro Feliciano not accepting the Mets' arbitration offer, he can now sign with another team. When he does leave the Mets, he will hand over the title of longest tenured player to Jose Reyes, who has been a Met since 2003.

Feliciano became a Met on August 15, 2002, when Cincinnati traded him to New York for Shawn Estes, the man who couldn't hit Roger Clemens with a pitch, but then hit a Roger Clemens pitch over the wall.

Since then, Feliciano has bounced back and forth, being selected by the Detroit Tigers off waivers in December 2002, then re-signing with the Mets the following April, then leaving for a year to Japan to play for the Fukuoka (watch your mouth!) Daiei Hawks, before returning to the Mets for good in 2006. However, since he never played for another major league team since becoming a Met in 2002, Feliciano kinda sorta held the title of longest tenured Met since the end of the 2006 season.

For all you stat geeks out there, here is the list of longest tenured players on the Mets, going back to the players who were on the Opening Day roster in 1962.


Jim Hickman (1962-1966): Although Ed Kranepool played three games for the Mets in 1962 and then remained with the team until 1979, he was not on the Opening Day roster. Hickman was. The man known as "Gentleman Jim" is known for two "lasts" and two "firsts". He was the last player to hit a home run at the Polo Grounds, accounting for the only run in a 5-1 loss to the Phillies on September 18, 1963. He was also the last of the original Mets, being traded to the Dodgers after the 1966 season, a year in which he became the only Met to appear on the Mets' Opening Day roster in each of their first five seasons. Hickman became the first Mets player to hit for the cycle when he accomplished the feat in 1963 against the Cardinals and was the first Met to hit three home runs in a game, which he achieved in 1965, also against St. Louis.

Ed Kranepool (1967-1979): After Hickman was traded to the Dodgers prior to the 1967 season, Ed Kranepool assumed the role of longest tenured Met, a title he did not give up until he played his last game for New York in 1979. Upon his retirement, Steady Eddie was among the franchise leaders in almost every major category and to this day, remains the Mets' all-time leader in games played (1,853), at-bats (5,436), hits (1,418), singles (1,050) and total bases (2,047).

Ron Hodges (1980-1984): Both Ron Hodges and Craig Swan played for the Mets from 1973-1984, but Hodges made his debut three months before Swannie (Hodges appeared in his first game on June 13, while Swan debuted on September 3). The hard-nosed catcher was with the Mets in good times (the "Ya Gotta Believe" Mets of 1973) and in bad times (the dark ages following the Midnight Massacre in 1977) and finished his career just as the Mets were becoming relevant again in 1984. His last appearance as a Met came as a pinch-hitter in the 1984 season finale. The next time the Mets played a regular season game, Gary Carter was their catcher.

Jesse Orosco (1985-1987): The man who perfected the art of the championship clinching glove toss made his debut with the Mets in 1979 after being traded to the Mets from Minnesota for the other man who specialized in championship clinching victories, Jerry Koosman. Although Orosco did not pitch in the major leagues in 1980, he returned for good in 1981. Once Ron Hodges retired after the 1984 season, Orosco became the only Met left who played for the team in the 1970s. He was traded to the Dodgers after the 1987 season and eventually pitched for just about everyone else on his way to becoming the major league's all-time leader in pitching appearances (1,252 games).

Wally Backman (1988) and Mookie Wilson (1988-1989): After Jesse Orosco left the team, the title of longest tenured Met fell on two players. Both Mookie Wilson and Wally Backman made their major league debuts for the Mets in the same game on September 2, 1980 in Los Angeles. Technically, Mookie Wilson appeared first, batting leadoff against the Dodgers, while Wally Backman batted eighth. The two continued to be integral parts of the Mets from their first game together in 1980 through the 1986 World Series championship and beyond. Backman remained a Met until he was traded to the Twins following the 1988 season, while Mookie Wilson was a Met until the middle of the 1989 season, when he was traded for (gasp) Jeff Musselman.

Terry Leach (1989): Bet you didn't see this one coming, although this one carries an asterisk similar to Pedro Feliciano. Leach made his debut for the Mets in 1981, pitching in 21 games. He repeated his 21-game salute in 1982, then spent the 1983 season in the minors. He was then traded to the Chicago Cubs, who later shipped him off to Atlanta in April 1984. One month later, he was released by the Braves and the following day, the Mets re-signed him. He came back up to the Mets in 1985, where he continued to pitch until the end of the 1989 season. His finest year as a Met came in 1987, when he was moved into the starting rotation because of injuries to various starters. Leach surprised everyone by going 11-1 in his spot-start duties. Short story long, after Mookie Wilson was traded to Toronto in July of 1989, Leach became the longest tenured Met for the rest of the season. Although he was traded twice between 1981 and 1989, he never pitched in the major leagues for a team other than the Mets during that time. But if you don't think Leach should be on this list, then perhaps you'd choose...

Darryl Strawberry (1990): Darryl Strawberry was once dubbed "the black Ted Williams" when he still playing high school ball. Although he never approached the Splendid Splinter's career marks, he is still the most explosive power hitter in Mets history. The franchise leader in home runs (252), RBI (733), runs scored (662), walks (580) and unfortunately, strikeouts (960), the Straw Man first played for the Mets on May 6, 1983 and became the only Met to play from the George Bamberger managerial era to the 1990s.

Ron Darling (1991): When Darryl Strawberry switched coasts to play for his hometown Dodgers, him teammate since the end of the 1983 season, Ron Darling, became the veteran of the team. The answer to the trivia question, "who was the last National League pitcher to win the Gold Glove Award before Greg Maddux started his streak of a bajillion straight Gold Gloves?", Ronnie fell one victory short of becoming only the fourth pitcher in franchise history to win 100 games when he was traded to Montreal on July 15, 1991. Sixteen days later, he was moved to Oakland, where he stayed until his last game in 1995. To this day, the former All-Star and Gold Glove winner remains a beloved Met and his 99 wins rank fourth in franchise history behind Tom Seaver (198), Dwight Gooden (157 - more on him later) and Jerry Koosman (140).

Dwight Gooden (1991-1994): He never went to med school, but the doctor performed surgeries every fifth day, operating on hitters with a blazing fastball and devastating curveball (dubbed Lord Charles). He had the best three-year stretch to start a career of any pitcher, when he went 58-19 with a 2.28 ERA from 1984-1986. He also completed 35 of his 99 starts, with 13 shutouts. And, oh yes. There were the strikeouts. Dr. K set the all-time rookie strikeout record in 1984 when he fanned 276 batters. He followed that up with 268 Ks in his Cy Young Award-winning season (1985), then "only" struck out 200 batters in the Mets' 1986 championship season. Substance abuse and injuries prevented Doc from ever regaining the dominant form he displayed in his first three seasons. However, he did have one final great year in 1990, when he finished 19-7 and registered his fourth (and first since 1986) season of 200 or more strikeouts, by finishing with 223. When he pitched his final game for the Mets in 1994, he became the last member of the 1986 World Champions to take the field as a player in blue and orange.

John Franco (1994-2004): After Ed Kranepool's 18 seasons in New York, John Franco played the most years as a Met, playing from 1990-2004 (he missed the 2002 season with an injury). Once Gooden pitched his last game for the Mets, Franco became the longest tenured Met and didn't give it up until after the 2004 season. Franco is the only Met pitcher to have played for the two winningest managers in Mets history, playing for Davey Johnson in 1990 and Bobby Valentine from 1996-2002 (Todd Hundley is the only other player who did it, having played his first game as a Met ten days before Davey Johnson was fired). He holds the franchise records for games pitched (695 - Pedro Feliciano is a distant second with 459) and saves (276 - Armando Benitez isn't even in the rearview mirror with his 160). Franco is also appearing on the Hall of Fame ballot for the first time in 2011.

Mike Piazza (2005): Mike Piazza became a Met in 1998 after his one week stay as a Florida Marlin ended. His combination of power and batting average was never seen before in a Mets uniform. The future Hall of Famer is the only player to appear twice in the top ten single season batting averages in Mets history (.348 in 1998 and .324 in 2000, good for second and tenth all-time) and also appears twice in the top ten single season home run list (40 in 1999 and 38 in 2000 - his '99 total is now the third highest total in franchise history, while the '00 total is tied for sixth all-time). No other Met appears in BOTH top ten lists. In just eight years as a Met, Piazza left his mark all over the career all-time Met offensive leaders, finishing in the top five in career batting average (4th, .296), on-base percentage (5th, .373), slugging percentage (1st, .542), doubles (5th, 193), home runs (2nd, 200), runs batted in (3rd, 655) and extra-base hits (4th, 415). He not only replaced John Franco as the longest tenured Met after Franco pitched his last game in 2004, but also replaced him as #31 on the Mets, as Franco gave switched from #31 to #45 to accommodate Piazza. Piazza will become eligible for the Hall of Fame in 2013 and might become the second player to be inducted into the Hall as a Met.

Steve Trachsel (2006): Once Piazza waved his final goodbyes as a Met at Shea Stadium, the longest tenured Met became a player who never got the respect he deserved - Steve Trachsel. Although Trachsel was sometimes referred to as the Human Rain Delay II (Mike Hargrove was the original Human Rain Delay) and The Slowest Pitcher On Earth for his deliberate approach to pitching once there were runners on base, he really did spend six years as a Met (2001-2006). It just seemed like one long season because he was so slow to get the ball to the plate. Despite never being a fan-favorite, Trachsel was the winning pitcher in the 2006 NL East division clincher against the Marlins. It might also come as a surprise that Trachsel ranks in the top ten in career wins (his 66 victories are 10th on the Mets' all-time list) and is one of only five Met hurlers to pitch two complete game one-hitters, achieving both in 2003 (the other four are Tom Seaver - who accomplished the feat an Amazin' five times, Gary Gentry, Jon Matlack and David Cone).

Pedro Feliciano (2007-2010): As mentioned before, his inclusion as one of the longest tenured Mets comes with an asterisk, as he was not exclusively the property of the Mets during his stay in New York that began in 2002. He was briefly a member of the Detroit Tigers organization in 2002, but never played for them, as he was released by the Tigers two months after they signed him and re-signed with the prior to the 2003 season. He then played for the Fukuoka Daiei Hawks in the Japanese Pacific League in 2005 before coming back to the Mets for what was arguably his best season in 2006. In that magical season, Feliciano finished with a 7-2 record and a 2.09 ERA. He was also stellar in that year's postseason, appearing in six games against the Dodgers and Cardinals, allowing only one run on two hits in 4 2/3 innings. He was credited with the victory in the NLDS clincher in Los Angeles. From 2008-2010, he earned the monicker Perpetual Pedro for breaking the franchise record for games pitched in each season. He also led the entire National League is appearances each year, pitching in 86 games in 2008, 88 games in 2009 and 92 games in 2010. Feliciano did not accept salary arbitration from the Mets after the 2010 season and is now free to sign with whoever he chooses.


That brings us to Jose Reyes. Since Doc Gooden became the longest tenured Met in 1991 at the age of 26, no Met had become the team veteran while in his 20s until now. Reyes will now assume that title, having played with the Mets since 2003. He and David Wright are the only two players left from the Art Howe era. In fact, with John Maine being non-tendered, Reyes is one of only four players left who played for the Mets in the 2006 postseason. (The others are Wright, Carlos Beltran and - shudder - Oliver Perez. Mike Pelfrey pitched for the Mets during the 2006 regular season, but did not make the postseason roster.)

Our 27-year-old shortstop has been called immature at times. He has also been accused of showing up the opposition and most recently, he has been mentioned in various trade rumors. Despite all this, one thing is certain. He may act like a spoiled child at times, but whether he likes it or not, he is now the veteran of this franchise. Younger players are going to come to him for advice and for tips on how to play the game. A more mature Jose Reyes will have to emerge on the playing field and in the clubhouse. A veteran wouldn't have it any other way.