Ron Hodges Leads a Bevy of Backup Backstops

Ron Hodges spent a dozen years with the Mets, but most of them were spent on the bench.

Most Mets fans know that Ed Kranepool played 18 seasons in New York, spending his entire major league career in a Mets uniform.  But only one other player spent as many as a dozen seasons with the Mets without ever wearing another big league uniform.  And that player spent more time on the bench than he did on the field.  It seems like there was always someone in front of him on the depth chart, but that doesn't mean he wasn't one of the more valuable players on the team.

Ron Hodges was a Met from 1973 to 1984, beginning his career on the "Ya Gotta Believe" Mets and playing his final game just as the Mets started to believe in contention once again.  During his first three seasons in New York, Hodges served as Jerry Grote's backup.  Once Grote was supplanted behind the plate, John Stearns became the team's No. 1 catcher.

The late '70s and early '80s saw Stearns and Alex Treviño splitting time as the team's catcher, with Hodges serving as the club's third option.  Finally, once injuries took Stearns out of the picture and a blockbuster trade for slugger George Foster removed Treviño from the equation, Hodges became the Mets' starting catcher in 1983.

Hodges' 11th year in the majors produced his first season with 300 or more plate appearances.  But by then, Hodges was 34 years old and wasn't nearly as mobile behind the plate or as productive with the bat (0 HR, 21 RBI) as he was as a part-timer from 1973 to 1982.  Rookie Mike Fitzgerald took over the gig behind the plate in 1984, relegating Hodges to the bench and eventually his release following the '84 season.

Ron Hodges didn't play much in his twelve seasons as a Met, but he did endear himself to fans with his patience at the plate and his grittiness behind it.  Despite a .240 career batting average, Hodges reached base at a .342 clip, making him one of just four players in Mets history to have an on-base percentage at least 100 points higher than his batting average.  The others are Wayne Garrett (.237 BA, .348 OBP), John Olerud (.315 BA, .425 OBP) and Robin Ventura (.260 BA, .360 OBP).

In addition to being half of the "my career OBP is 100 points higher than my lifetime batting average" club, Garrett and Hodges were also instrumental in one of the most pivotal defensive plays in club annals.  On September 20, 1973, with the Mets needing a win over the first place Pirates to move to within half a game of the division lead, the two teams squared off in an extra-inning affair at Shea Stadium.  Garrett started the game at third base, while Hodges began the game on the bench.  But in the tenth inning, manager Yogi Berra inserted Hodges into the game and moved Garrett from third to short.  Three innings later, with Richie Zisk on first, Bucs' rookie Dave Augustine lifted a long fly ball to left field that just missed being a crushing two-run homer by inches.  Instead, it bounced high off the wall into Cleon Jones' glove.  As the Mets' shortstop, Garrett cut off Jones' throw to the infield and fired a strike to Hodges, who tagged out Zisk to prevent the Pirates from taking the lead.  Hodges' tag saved the game (and perhaps the season) in the top of the 13th inning, just minutes before his run-scoring single gave the Mets a thrilling extra-inning victory.  True to his title as backup catcher, Hodges remained on the bench for the rest of the 1973 season, with Jerry Grote starting every game during the Mets' amazing run to the NL East title.

Hodges was the Mets' elder statesman of the backup catching crew, but there have been some others who have been produced some memorable moments.  Below are five of the backup catchers whose names became part of Mets lore.

Duffy Dyer

After a one-game tryout with the Mets in 1968, Duffy Dyer was the Mets' third-string catcher in 1969.  But back-to-back doubleheaders in mid-August created the need for just the second start by Dyer on the season.  Dyer capitalized on the rare opportunity, hitting a three-run homer to turn a 2-0 deficit against the San Diego Padres into a 3-2 lead, which was also the final score.  The Mets were nine games behind the first place Cubs entering the game.  They were eight games out after Dyer's well-timed blast led the Mets to victory, a win that began a stretch in which New York won 36 of 46 games to overtake Chicago.

Dyer played with the Mets until 1974, but like Hodges, he was only the team's No. 1 catcher in one season (1972).  Dyer was a member of two pennant-winning teams, but never caught a game in the Fall Classic.  His sole postseason appearance in a Mets uniform came as a pinch-hitter in Game 1 of the 1969 World Series, grounding out for starting pitcher Tom Seaver.  Dyer batted .219 in 375 games as a Met, but had his brightest moment as a Met very early in his career.  That bright moment helped steer his teammates toward their improbable first World Series championship.

Mackey Sasser

Just prior to the beginning of the 1988 season, Mackey Sasser was traded by the Pittsburgh Pirates to the Mets.  Sasser played five seasons in New York, beginning his career with the Mets backing up future Hall of Famer Gary Carter and ending it as the No. 2 guy behind the team's soon-to-be single-season home run leader Todd Hundley.  In between Carter and Hundley, Sasser was the team's No. 1 catcher for one year.  And in that one-year opportunity, Sasser did something with the bat that no Mets catcher had done before him and only two Mets catchers have done since.

In 1990, Sasser played 100 games for the Mets, finishing the year with a .307 batting average.  In doing so, Sasser became the first catcher in team history to bat over .300 in a year in which he played more than half the team's games behind the plate.  (Since then, only Mike Piazza and Paul Lo Duca have been able to duplicate Sasser's feat.)  But Sasser's infamous inability to throw the ball back to the pitcher without double and triple pumping caused the Mets to look past his productive bat and look forward to Hundley as the team's top catcher.  Rick Cerone and Charlie O'Brien split catching duties in 1991, and Hundley took over the job in 1992.  Sasser finished his Mets career with a .283 batting average in 420 games.

Todd Pratt

If starting catcher duties were determined by overexuberance, then Todd Pratt would have had a steady job for his entire career.  Pratt was a Met from 1997 to 2001, never collecting more than 160 at-bats in any of his five seasons with the team.  But he was always the first player to celebrate a key hit produced by one of his teammates.  Pratt's premature celebration in Game 5 of the 1999 NLCS caused Robin Ventura's game-ending drive over the right field wall to forever be known as the Grand Slam Single.  And who can forget Pratt jumping for joy outside the Mets dugout on June 30, 2000 after Mike Piazza's three-run homer capped a miraculous ten-run inning against the Braves?  But Pratt's biggest moment as a Met allowed his teammates to celebrate one of his titanic blasts.

With Piazza sidelined with a thumb injury, Pratt temporarily took over starting duties for the Mets as the 1999 NLDS returned to Shea Stadium for Game 3.  With New York needing one win to wrap up its first postseason series victory in 11 years, Pratt stepped up to the plate with one out in the bottom of the tenth inning in a 3-3 tie.  Arizona had their closer, Matt Mantei, on the mound when Pratt lofted a high fly ball to straightaway center field, 410 feet from home plate.  But Gold Glove center fielder Steve Finley mistimed his jump, allowing Pratt's blast to clear the wall just over Finley's glove.  The homer gave the Mets a 4-3 win and a date with the Atlanta Braves in the League Championship Series.  To this day, it remains the only postseason series-ending home run hit by a Met in team history.  And it was by far, the most memorable of the 18 home runs hit by Pratt in his five-year career in Flushing.

Ramon Castro

Ramon Castro was never the team's top catcher in his four-and-a-half years with the Mets.  In his first year with the team in 2005, he was the backup catcher to all-time team legend Mike Piazza.  He then backed up Paul Lo Duca in 2006 and 2007, and was Brian Schneider's caddy in 2008 and 2009.  Castro had a powerful bat, and it was that bat that provided his two biggest moments as a Met.  Neither moment helped the Mets make the playoffs, but both blasts did give fans hope that the team would be playing in October.  Of course, one of those long fly balls didn't exactly leave the park.

On August 30, 2005, with the Mets competing for a wild card spot after three consecutive losing seasons, New York welcomed wild card leader Philadelphia to Shea Stadium for the first game of a critical three-game series.  The Mets trailed the Phillies by a game and a half entering the series opener, and trailed them, 4-3, going to the bottom of the eighth inning.  But Castro's three-run homer off Ugueth Urbina gave the Mets a 6-4 lead, and allowed the Mets to pull to within half a game of the wild card lead.  The Mets failed to make the playoffs in 2005, just as they failed in 2007.  But Castro did everything he could to try to push the Mets toward October in the latter year.  New York was down by a touchdown after Tom Glavine allowed seven first-inning runs to the Florida Marlins, but the Mets scored a run in the bottom of the first and loaded the bases with two outs for Ramon Castro.  A grand slam would have cut Florida's lead to 7-5, and Castro almost granted Mets fans with their wish, but his deep fly ball off Dontrelle Willis settled into the glove of left fielder Cody Ross just shy of the left field wall.  Castro hit 33 home runs in nearly five years as a backup catcher for the Mets.  The team's history might have been very different had he hit 34.

Omir Santos

Here's the only backup catcher of the five that technically wasn't a backup.  Omir Santos was a Met for just one season (2009), but because of an April injury to starting catcher Brian Schneider, Santos was afforded the opportunity to catch for the Mets.  With Schneider out, Santos was supposed to split his playing time with Ramon Castro.  Instead, he parlayed one memorable moment into becoming Schneider's backup, causing Castro to become expendable after nearly five years with the team.

In the month following Schneider's injury, neither Castro nor Santos started more than four consecutive games for the Mets.  On May 23, when the Mets visited Fenway Park to take on the Boston Red Sox, it was Santos' turn behind the plate.  The Mets were trailing by a run going into the ninth inning and were down to their last out when Santos hit a two-run homer off Red Sox closer Jonathan Papelbon, or so he thought.  Originally, the umpires ruled that the ball hit off the top of the Green Monster and came back into play, forcing Santos to settle for a long double.  But after further review, the ball was correctly ruled to be a home run, giving the Mets a 3-2 lead, which the bullpen held on to after the Mets infield made several stellar defensive plays in the bottom of the ninth.  A week after Santos' heroics, Castro was traded to the Chicago White Sox.  Once Schneider returned from the disabled list, the right-handed hitting Santos became part of a catching platoon with the lefty-swinging Schneider.  Santos ended up leading all Mets catchers in games played in 2009, but he was never the No. 1 guy behind the plate in his only year with the team, a year in which he produced 22 extra-base hits and 40 RBI in just 281 at-bats.  Of course, one of those extra-base hits and two of those RBI were slightly more memorable than the others.


A big tip of my Mets cap goes out to Mike Geraghty, who suggested the idea for this piece in honor of long-time Mets backup catcher Ron Hodges, as today is Hodges' 65th birthday.  If you haven't done so yet, you can follow Mike on Twitter at @IguanaFlats.  You'll be glad you did.
 

The Best On The Worst: Todd Hundley

With apologies to Jerry Grote, the two most beloved catchers in Mets history are Gary Carter and Mike Piazza.  Both Carter and Piazza were considered to be the best hitting catchers of their time and both made their teams better while they were in their prime.  Carter helped the Mets win two division titles and one World Series championship, while Piazza led the team to its only back-to-back postseason appearances and the 2000 National League pennant.

Because of their success and popularity, the uniform numbers of Carter and Piazza have been taken out of circulation, with fans clamoring for both No. 8 and No. 31 to be retired by the team.  Carter's five years with the Mets coincided with the team's greatest era, as New York won more games from 1985 to 1989 than any other team in baseball.  Similarly, Piazza kept the Mets competitive during his first four years with the club (1998-2001), with the team playing meaningful games in September and October all four seasons.

Carter entered the Hall of Fame in 2003.  Piazza hopes to follow in Carter's footsteps in 2014.  But there was a gap of nearly a decade between last game as a Met in 1989 and Piazza's inaugural contest with the team in 1998.  And there was one backstop who was behind the plate for most of that time, bridging the gap from one championship-caliber catcher to another.

This catcher never led the Mets to the playoffs, and most of his seasons ended with the team playing out the stretch in September in front of empty Shea Stadium seats.  But that didn't deter him from giving his best performance day in and day out, regardless of where the Mets stood in the division race.  It's too bad that he saw more losses behind the plate than any Mets catcher since Jerry Grote.

A young Todd Hundley keeps his eye on the ball. (Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images)

Todd Randolph Hundley was born on May 27, 1969, at a time when his father, Randy, was behind the plate for the division-leading Chicago Cubs.  Less than four months after Todd was born, Randy's squad had let its division lead slip away to the Miracle Mets.  It was something the Hundley family would get used to once Todd became a Met two decades later.

The Mets drafted Todd Hundley in the second round of the 1987 June amateur draft via the Baltimore Orioles, who lost a draft pick when World Series MVP Ray Knight signed a free agent contract with the O's following the 1986 season.  Hundley was a skinny kid with a familiar last name, especially within the catching community.  But Hundley made it to the majors on more than just nepotism; he made it with his superb talent.

Hundley struggled as a teenager in his first two minor league seasons, batting .146 in 34 games in 1987 and .186 in 53 games in 1988.  But everything came together for the young catcher in 1989, a year in which he batted .269 with 23 doubles, four triples, 11 homers and 66 RBI.  By 1990, Hundley was ranked as one of Baseball America's top prospects, earning him his first call-up to the big leagues in May.

Davey Johnson, who had a penchant for wanting good, young players on his team since becoming the Mets' manager in 1984, inserted Hundley into the starting lineup on May 18 against the San Diego Padres, and Hundley delivered a double off Bruce Hurst, who just four years earlier had almost been named World Series MVP as a member of the Boston Red Sox before the aforementioned Knight snatched it away from him.  Hundley would go on to start each of the next three games for the Mets, but would fail to get another hit.  Four days after his major league debut, Hundley saw his manager relieved of his duties by general manager Frank Cashen.  A week later, Hundley was back in the minor leagues and Mackey Sasser, with his .300-plus batting average, was named the team's primary backstop.  It would be another two years before Hundley took the job back from Sasser.

Hundley spent most of the 1990 and 1991 campaigns in the minor leagues, putting up excellent offensive numbers there, but struggling during his various call-ups to the big leagues.  Hundley combined to play in 57 games for the Mets in 1990 and 1991, batting .173 with one homer and nine RBI.  Hundley finally took over as the team's top catcher on Opening Day of the 1992 season, but by then, the Mets had turned into The Worst Team Money Could Buy.  A number of veteran players had been added to the team to complement Hundley, but many of them underachieved.  Players like Bobby Bonilla and Bret Saberhagen couldn't live up to the hype of the big stage in New York, and the team wilted in the hot, summer months.  As the team struggled, so did its young catcher, as Hundley could only muster one home run and 12 RBI in his last 68 games after posting six homers and 20 RBI in his first 55 contests.  But perhaps the misfortune of the team was a blessing in disguise for the 23-year-old Hundley, as the team focused more on the shortcomings of its high-priced veterans, allowing Hundley (who still had a .200 career batting average through 1992) to continue his development at the major league level.  The team sunk to new depths in 1993, but Hundley's star was just beginning to rise.

The 1993 season was one to forget for the Mets and their fans, as the team suffered its first 100-loss campaign since 1967.  But it an important year for Todd Hundley, as the switch-hitter reached double digits in home runs for the first time.  Hundley managed just a .228 batting average (which represented a career-high at the time), but he also had 11 HR and 53 RBI in 417 at-bats.

Over the next two seasons, both of which were shortened because of the players' strike, Hundley's power continued to evolve.  Because of the truncated seasons, Hundley combined to produce only 566 at-bats in 1994 and 1995, but in those at-bats, Hundley hit 31 homers and drove in 93 runs.  How far had Hundley advanced in the power department in those two years?  The only National League catcher with more home runs than Hundley in those two seasons was the Dodgers' Mike Piazza.  That's how much Hundley had improved.   In addition to his newfound power stroke, Hundley also showed dramatic improvement in his plate discipline, batting .258 with a .343 on-base percentage in '94 and '95, after posting .213 and .261 marks in those respective categories from 1990 to 1993.

Hundley's final 51 games in 1995 were very Piazza-like, as he batted .311 with 11 HR and 32 RBI.  The team also responded, going 27-24 in those 51 games.  For the first time since Hundley became a regular in the Mets' lineup, the team had something to look forward to in 1996.  Not only was Hundley turning into a top offensive threat, but a young trio of starting pitchers was about to burst onto the scene for the Mets.  The group of Jason Isringahusen, Bill Pulsipher and former No. 1 overall draft pick Paul Wilson, dubbed Generation K, was supposed to herald a new era of greatness in Mets history.  The threesome didn't become the second coming of Seaver, Koosman and Matlack, but the man who tried to mold them behind the plate did produce an historic season of his own.

In 1996, the Mets finished the year with a 71-91 record.  It was the sixth consecutive losing mark for a once-proud team who had ridden the championship wave just a decade before.  But when the trio of Isringhausen, Pulsipher and Wilson failed to live up to the lofty expectations, it was another trio who took baseball by storm in '96, as Bernard Gilkey, Lance Johnson and Todd Hundley set their sights on breaking as many offensive team records as they could.

Gilkey produced one of the most complete seasons ever put up by a Mets' everyday player in 1996, setting or tying club records in doubles (44) and runs batted in (117), while adding 30 homers, a .317 batting average and a league-leading 18 outfield assists.  Gilkey also became the first Met ever to have an 8.0 WAR in a single season.  Johnson, meanwhile, broke team records in hits (227), triples (21), total bases (327) and runs scored (117), becoming an All-Star for the first time.  But as mentioned in the 1990s Nike commercial, "chicks dig the long ball", and in 1996, everyone was digging the long balls being hit by Todd Hundley.

Hundley began the 1996 season the way he ended the previous year, batting .323 with eight homers and 19 RBI over his first 18 games.  Although his average dipped below .300 by May 1, Hundley continued to hit bombs with aplomb.  By the time the All-Star Game rolled around, Hundley had already taken 23 balls over the wall and had driven in 66 runs.  It was a Midsummer Classic Hundley would not miss, as the Mets' catcher was named to his first All-Star team in July.  After the break, Hundley continued to mash the ball.  By season's end, Hundley had become the first Met to reach 40 homers in a season.  His 41 taters also set a major league record for home runs by a catcher.  Furthermore, he became the first switch-hitter in National League history to hit more than 40 homers in a season.  The only major leaguer who had accomplished the feat before 1996 was Hall of Famer Mickey Mantle.  When all was said and done for the 1996 season, Hundley had batted .259 with 32 doubles, 41 homers and 112 RBI.  But he still had not played a meaningful game in September since his rookie season in 1990.  That all changed in 1997.

Under new manager Bobby Valentine, the losing attitude that had permeated the Mets clubhouse from 1991 to 1996 vanished.  Gone were the Vince Colemans, Bobby Bonillas and Bret Saberhagens from the previous six seasons.  Replacing them were players like Hundley, Butch Huskey (who posted a career-best .287, 24 HR, 81 RBI season in 1997) and veteran trade acquisition John Olerud, who brought an exceptional bat and glove with him to Shea Stadium from Toronto.  The pitching staff also finally came together, with Bobby Jones becoming an All-Star and Rick Reed getting a second chance to make a first impression.  Turk Wendell also came over to the Mets in an August deal that included center fielder Brian McRae.  Those extra pieces helped the Mets finish the year with an 88-74 record, with the team remaining in competition for the wild card until the final week of the season.  The seeds for success were planted in 1997, and Todd Hundley continued to blossom.

Although Hundley hit 11 fewer homers in 1997 than he did in '96, he still became the first Mets catcher to post multiple 30-homer seasons.  Hundley also made the All-Star team for a second consecutive season and walked a career-high 83 times in 1997, en route to posting a career-best .394 on-base percentage.  But a late-season slump by Hundley irked Bobby Valentine, causing him to lash out against his All-Star catcher.  The skipper caused headlines of his own when he was quoted as saying...

 



"I think he doesn't sleep enough.  He's a nocturnal person.  He needs more rest.  He has a really tough time getting to sleep after games.  I heard one night he stayed out until 4 o'clock in the morning before he was ready to go to sleep."





At the time, Hundley was going through many personal issues.  His wife was pregnant with their third child and his mother was very sick.  In addition, Hundley was recovering from nagging injuries to his toe and ribs.  But Hundley persevered through all of his distractions and still managed to lead the team to its best record since his rookie campaign.  The distraction he had in 1998, however, was one he could not recover from.

At the conclusion of the 1997 season, Hundley underwent a major surgical procedure on his right elbow.  It was a procedure his surgeon, Dr. David Altchek, claimed could have him out of action until the following April or could wipe out his entire 1998 season.  Mets general manager Steve Phillips prayed for the best but prepared for the worst.  The Mets began the season with Tim Spehr and Alberto Castillo as their top two catchers, but also used Rick Wilkins and Todd Pratt behind the plate in May.  By mid-May, it was clear Hundley was not going to be back any time soon.  It was also clear that the four-headed monster at the catcher's position needed a big-time upgrade.  Phillips immediately went to work, and despite denying he was interested in Mike Piazza, claiming he "wasn't a fit" for the Mets, acquired the slugging catcher in a trade with the Florida Marlins.

With Piazza now on the team, Hundley was out of a job.  And despite a valiant effort to redefine himself as an outfielder, the experiment flopped, as Hundley batted .161 with three homers and 12 RBI in 53 games.  During the offseason, the Mets signed Piazza to a seven-year, $91 contract and traded Hundley to Piazza's first team, the Dodgers.  Hundley played five more seasons in the majors with the Dodgers and Cubs, hitting 24 homers in both 1999 and 2000 for his first major league manager, Davey Johnson, who was now managing in Los Angeles.  Hundley had two subpar seasons in Chicago and 2001 and 2002, before returning to the Dodgers for his final major league season in 2003, the same year the Cubs won their first postseason series in 97 years.

In 14 major league seasons, Hundley hit 202 home runs, making him one of only 18 players who played the majority of his games at catcher to hit at least 200 homers.  As a Met, Hundley hit 124 home runs, which is currently the seventh-highest total for any player in franchise history.  Hundley also ranks in the team's top 20 in games played (829; 18th all-time), runs scored (340; 18th), RBI (397; 13th), walks (299; 20th), doubles (118; 19th), total bases (1,116; 16th) and slugging percentage (.438; 17th).  But most of those numbers were compiled on some bad Mets teams.  And Hundley also had some of the worst timing of any player in recent history.

Hundley began his career just two seasons after the Mets won a division title.  By his second year, the Mets were beginning the third-longest stretch of sub-.500 seasons in franchise history.  Hundley also played his last year as a Met just before the team embarked on their only back-to-back playoff appearances in club annals.  And Hundley's bad timing continued after he left the Mets, as he went back to Los Angeles from Chicago the year before the Cubs came five outs away from advancing to their first World Series in nearly six decades.

Wearing white or black, Todd Hundley knew how to attack.  (Photo by David Seelig/Getty Images)

Todd Hundley was one of the best players to ever put on a Mets uniform.  Unfortunately for him, his time with the team came during one of the most embarrassing eras in team history.  It also occurred between the careers of two of the most beloved catchers who ever called Flushing home - Gary Carter and Mike Piazza, two Hall of Fame-caliber players who are still respected and revered by Mets fans.

Hundley's Mets career began under the tutelage of Davey Johnson and ended with Bobby Valentine as his skipper - the two winningest managers in team history.  But Hundley saw very little winning during his nine seasons in New York.  The years Hundley spent with the Mets may have been some of the worst the team has experienced in the last few decades.  That doesn't mean Hundley shouldn't be remembered as one of the best players the team has ever seen.  He was one of the few reasons to look forward to a Mets game in the mid-1990s.


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.  Please come back next week for the next installment.

A Charlie O'Brien Thanksgiving

In 1990, the Mets and Pirates were duking it out for supremacy in the National League East when New York acquired Charlie O'Brien from the Milwaukee Brewers to be the backup catcher to the incumbent Mackey Sasser.

Sasser was what we call a good-hit, no-throw catcher.  That meant he was a solid contact hitter (.307 batting average in 100 games in 1990) who had a little bit of a problem throwing the ball back to the pitcher.  Okay, it was a big problem, as opposing base runners would occasionally take advantage of Sasser's tap-tap-toss back to the pitcher by stealing a base.

Charlie O'Brien was an excellent defensive catcher who called a good game and had an outstanding arm behind the plate.  O'Brien would go on to throw out a whopping 30 would-be base stealers in 1990 and would erase a total of 95 men who attempted to steal during his four seasons in New York.

But O'Brien as a hitter?  That was another story.

This photo is almost as small as Charlie O'Brien's batting average.  Almost.

In four seasons with the Mets, spanning 659 plate appearances, the Bob Uecker look-alike was also a Bob Uecker hit-alike.  O'Brien had a .212 career batting average with the Mets to go with a .289 on-base percentage and .309 slugging percentage.  How bad was O'Brien as a hitter?  Over the same time period (1990-1993), his sometimes battery-mate, Dwight Gooden, hit .221 and slugged .336 in 318 plate appearances.  (At least O'Brien was a tad more patient than Doc, as Gooden "only" reached base at a .234 clip.)

Despite never being the team's top catcher (Rick Cerone caught most of the games in 1991 and Todd Hundley took over in 1992 and 1993), O'Brien remained a Met for those four seasons, even if his pitchers had a better chance to drive in a run than he did.

Fast forward two decades to the current Mets.  Josh Thole has been with the team for four seasons, although he didn't receive the bulk of the playing time until the second half of the 2010 season.  In 916 career at-bats with the Mets, Thole is a .261 hitter with a .331 on-base percentage.  He is not much of a power threat, as evidenced by his .333 slugging percentage, but then again, he was never counted on to be one.

Yet despite his decent batting average on on-base percentage, especially when compared to what O'Brien did 20 years earlier, the Mets are trying to replace Thole behind the plate.  To this I ask ... why?

Don't get Josh Thole angry.  You wouldn't want to see him angry.

Since becoming a Met in 2009, the team's ERA has been lower with Thole behind the plate than with any other catching option.  The following is Thole's "catcher's ERA" compared to the team's cumulative ERA for each season.

• 2009: Josh Thole (4.10 ERA), Team (4.45 ERA)
• 2010: Josh Thole (3.58 ERA), Team (3.70 ERA)
• 2011: Josh Thole (4.25 ERA), Team (4.19 ERA)
• 2012: Josh Thole (3.77 ERA), Team (4.09 ERA)

• Total: Josh Thole (3.92 ERA), Team (4.10 ERA)

Simply stated, Thole makes his pitchers better when he's catching them.  And lest we forget, it was Josh Thole calling pitches for Johan Santana on the night of his historic no-hitter.

But no.  That's not good enough.  Thole is a decent hitter and a fine handler of pitchers.  But in this era, if a catcher can't hit 20 homers, then it's time to look for his replacement, as the Mets are seeking to do this off-season.

Just imagine what would have happened to Charlie O'Brien if he was catching in this era instead of the 1990s.  Four years with the Mets?  He'd have been lucky to just get four months on the team.

Charlie O'Brien toiled for 15 seasons behind the plate in the major leagues (1985, 1987-2000), hitting a measly .221.  Josh Thole, even if he slumps badly, will always be a better hitter than O'Brien was.  But do you really think Thole will be in the majors for 15 seasons if he continues to be primarily a singles hitter?

A certain Mets catcher from two decades past should be thankful he caught when he did.  He'd have no chance to stick around in Flushing in this era.

The Rich Get Richer, The Poor Get Promenade Seats

The Wilpons are at it again. They've noticed the empty seats at Citi Field over the past few weeks. They've seen the decline in SNY's ratings for Mets telecasts. Therefore, they have decided to do something that looks like they have the common fan in mind, when in reality, they're not doing a dang thing for us.

According to an official press release put out by the Mets today, ticket prices for season ticket holders will be cut by more than 10% for the 2010 season. Some locations will see over 20% price reductions.

Let me repeat that for you in bold letters. SEASON TICKET HOLDERS will be getting this discount, or as I like to call them, the ones who could probably afford their tickets no matter what the price is.

The press release did not say anything about partial plan holders (Studious Metsimus owns two 15-game plans) and individual ticket prices. They did seem particularly proud of the fact that no ticket price would increase and made sure to mention that tickets will cost as little as $11.

Of course, they failed to mention that those $11 seats were only available in the outfield area of the Promenade Level. This is the area that has many of those obstructions and poor sightlines that Mutt (Fred) and Jeff (Jeff) promised the fans wouldn't exist at the new home of Amazin'.

Also, these $11 seats were only available for 10 games out of the 81-game home schedule, with all of those games being against the Washington Nationals and the Florida Marlins. By comparison, 34 of the 81 games were part of the gold or platinum ticket category. Those same seats cost $23 for the gold games and $27 for the platinum games. A fan who wanted tickets in these outfield seats with a nice closeup view of the auto junkyards on 126th Street would have to plunk down a nice chunk of change to see the ants on the field.

I found an old Mets pocket schedule from 1990 and was shocked to see what ticket prices cost back then. Take a look for yourself:
















You could sit in box seats directly behind the dugout for $12. Upper deck seats, regardless of who the Mets were playing or whether you wanted to sit in the infield or outfield were $6. Even the loge seats were only $10.

Think about that. Less than two decades ago you could sit mere feet behind legendary Mets players such as Daryl Boston and Mackey Sasser for only one dollar more than the worst seat at Citi Field for selected weeknight games against the Washington Nationals.

















The Wilpons want the fans to think they're listening to them. Dave Howard, the executive VP of business operations is even quoted in the press release as saying,

"The Mets are sensitive to the economic realities facing our fans and we have lowered our ticket prices in response to these challenging conditions. This move underscores our appreciation of our fans' ongoing loyalty and support. We are committed to delivering exceptional service and value to our customers at Citi Field in 2010."

They're making it seem like the season ticket holders represent the Mets' entire fan base. Fiddle Faddle! The people in the Promenade Level, those who bought the lesser plans, the ones who buy individual game tickets. They're the ones who are the true supporters of the team. They're the ones who wish they could buy more tickets but are priced out of such a luxury. Shouldn't they get a discount as well?

It's nice that the Wilpons have noticed that the performance of the team on the field has not justified the prices we're paying to see them suck, I mean play. It would be nicer if they lowered these prices all around. Hopefully, they're saving that for the next press release.