The Thrill of Victory, The Agony of the Mets: Frank Cashen

Stand at the corner of Riverside Drive and West 122nd St. in Manhattan and you'll see the General Grant National Memorial.  Grant's Tomb, as it is more commonly known, is the final resting place of former president Ulysses S. Grant and is the largest mausoleum in North America.

Stand at the corner of Roosevelt Ave. and 126th St. in Queens and you'll see where Shea Stadium used to be.  In the late 1970s, nearly a century after General U.S. Grant passed away, Shea was not-so-affectionately known as Grant's Tomb after Mets chairman M.D. Grant.  And not even an experienced doctor could have saved the Mets from going six feet under during Grant's tenure.

Shea Stadium resembled a mausoleum in 1979, with fewer than 800,000 fans braving the tumbleweed that passed through the park's empty concourses to watch the men who passed as players tumbling over each other on the field.  But things began to change a year later in 1980, when the ownership team of Nelson Doubleday and Fred Wilpon purchased the Mets from the Payson/de Roulet family.

After many years of misguided machinations by M. Donald Grant, the Mets were looking for a general manager who could make the team relevant again.  They found him after receiving a tip from the beer guy.

The architect and the building he worked in.  (Manny Millan/Getty Images)

John Francis Cashen was a sportswriter in Baltimore for 15 years.  When he wasn't writing, the bow tie aficionado was studying law at the University of Maryland.  On top of that, Cashen worked as a publicity director at a race track owned by local businessman Jerold Hoffberger, which led to a job in advertising for Hoffberger's National Brewing Company.

In 1965, Hoffberger, whose "Natty Boh" beer was the main sponsor of the Baltimore Orioles, gained controlling interest in the O's and asked Cashen to be the team's executive vice president.  Although Cashen had no experience working for a major league club, he enjoyed immediate success in his new role.  The Orioles won four pennants in his first six years on the job, taking home the World Series title in 1966 and 1970.

But after ten highly successful seasons with the Orioles, Cashen left the team to manage the brewery, which wasn't experiencing as much success.  Hoffberger eventually lost control of the National Brewing Company and ended up selling the Orioles in 1979.  No longer attached to his former boss, Cashen returned to baseball, accepting a position as Commissioner Bowie Kuhn's assistant.  Within a year, Cashen was changing jobs again, with a little help from his previous employer.

The New York Mets had new ownership in 1980, and were looking to build a winner from the ground up.  To do that, Doubleday and Wilpon needed a savvy general manager.  But before they could start the interview process, they first had to answer the phone.

"I understand you just bought the Mets," said the voice on the line.  "Well, the best general manager in the business is Frank Cashen."

Doubleday had never met Jerold Hoffberger, but once he took the former Orioles' owner's call, he figured he had nothing to lose by contacting Cashen.

"We called him," Doubleday said.  "He was the only one we talked to.  It only took a week."

And with that, the Mets had their new general manager.  However, it took a little longer than a week for the Mets to have a competitive team.

The 1979 Mets needed to win their last six games of the year to avoid losing 100 games.  But the season-ending skein couldn't keep them from finishing in the N.L. East cellar for a third consecutive campaign.  Cashen knew the roster needed a total shakeup if he wanted to field a competitive team that would bring the fans back to Shea Stadium.

"I took over a huge mess," Cashen said.  "Talent-wise, we had nothing.  Fan support, there was nothing.  In my estimation it was as ugly as you could get.  Just terrible.  We needed a complete overhaul of everything."

(Chuck Solomon/Getty Images)

One of the first things Cashen did as part of his overhaul was hire Jerry Della Famina and his advertising agency.  Due to his past work in advertising for the National Brewing Company in Baltimore, Cashen knew that the team had to promote a new image to its fans; one that promised that the losing ways of the club were coming to an end.  Della Famina came up with "The Magic Is Back" as the team's slogan in 1980, which led to much ridicule after the team ended the year with a 67-95 record.  His initial failure caused Cashen to realize exactly what was needed to help bring fans back to the ballpark.

"You can go overboard with marketing and advertising," Cashen said.  "The real thing that sells the team is the team.  You have to have the players."

At first, Cashen did not have much success importing veteran talent via the trade market, as players such as Ellis Valentine, Randy Jones and George Foster all underperformed after being acquired by the Mets.  But Cashen knew young talent when he saw it.  And his trades for prospects, as well as his draft strategy, were key in building a cohesive unit that would end the Grant's Tomb era of baseball at Shea.

Cashen's first-ever draft pick was Darryl Strawberry, who went on to set the franchise record for home runs.  Over the next three years, Cashen went on to draft Dwight Gooden, Lenny Dykstra, Roger McDowell and Randy Myers, among others.  He also signed several amateur free agents such as Kevin Mitchell and Ed Hearn.  And he traded away fan-favorite Lee Mazzilli in exchange for minor league pitchers Ron Darling and Walt Terrell, flipping Terrell a few years later for Howard Johnson.

When he first came aboard, Cashen said it would take four or five years to make the team competitive.  In 1983 - Cashen's fourth season with the team - the Mets were still languishing at the bottom of the division standings.  But by then, Strawberry and Darling were major-league ready.  In addition, Cashen finally made a trade for a veteran player that worked out for the club, acquiring first baseman Keith Hernandez from the defending world champion St. Louis Cardinals.  The Mets won just 68 games in 1983, but that represented the franchise's highest win total in seven years.

The 1984 season began with a loss before the team had even taken the field, as the Mets foolishly failed to protect Tom Seaver - Cashen had brought back the prodigal son just a year earlier - in the free agent compensation draft.  But Seaver's departure opened up a spot in the starting rotation, one that was filled when new manager Davey Johnson insisted to a hesitant Cashen that 19-year-old phenom Dwight Gooden was equipped to succeed in the big leagues after striking out 300 hitters in 191 innings at Single-A Lynchburg in 1983.

"He's ready, I know it," Johnson said.  "And don't worry because I'll protect him.  That's what I do with young arms."

With Cashen's young talent beginning to spread its wings at the major league level, the Mets exceeded all expectations by winning 90 games in '84 - the second-highest total in franchise history up to that point.  New York played meaningful games in September for the first time in nearly a decade, but ultimately fell short of the postseason.  Nevertheless, the team drew over one million more fans than they did in the year prior to Cashen's hiring.  Knowing that the team had to remain competitive to keep its new and returning fans, Cashen had to once again trade one of the club's most popular players.  But this time, instead of acquiring prospects in the deal, Cashen went for the gold.

On December 10, the Mets sent fan-favorite third baseman Hubie Brooks to the Montreal Expos, along with catcher Mike Fitzgerald, speedy outfielder Herm Winningham and pitching prospect Floyd Youmans.  In return, the Mets received veteran catcher Gary Carter, who was a seven-time All-Star, three-time Gold Glove winner and three-time Silver Slugger Award recipient.  In other words, Carter was the missing link, both as a hitter and groomer of young pitchers.

"As easy as the trade for Hernandez was, the trade for Gary Carter was much, much, much, much more difficult," Cashen said.  "It took about 10 telephone calls and a couple of face-to-face meetings and was done over a period of a couple of months before I could finalize the deal.  He [Expos president John McHale] didn't want to do it.  I thought the possibility of getting him was slim and none.  We needed a hitter and a catcher and he fit the bill completely.  I hung in there for a long time, much longer than you do for an ordinary kind of trade."

Have bat, will travel - from Montreal to New York.  (Bob Vedral/Sporting News via Getty Images)

Prior to the acquisition of Carter, the most prolific offensive season by a Mets catcher was by John Stearns in 1978, when the Bad Dude smacked 15 homers and drove in 73 runs.  Carter surpassed both of those totals easily, cranking out a 32-homer, 100-RBI campaign in his first year with the team.  Carter nearly single-handedly carried the Mets to a division crown, batting .323 with 15 homers (Stearns' full-season total in '78) and 38 RBI over his last 34 games.  But alas, the Mets fell short of the playoffs once again, as their 98-64 record left them three games behind the St. Louis Cardinals in the N.L. East.

The Mets had won 188 games between the 1984 and 1985 seasons with nary a postseason berth to show for it.  The team now had veteran leadership in Keith Hernandez and Gary Carter, and Cashen's key early '80s draft picks had all graduated to the big club.  With the core of the team already in place, Cashen decided to add smaller pieces to complete the championship puzzle, acquiring second baseman Tim Teufel to platoon with incumbent middle infielder Wally Backman and trading for left-handed starting pitcher Bob Ojeda to fill out the starting rotation.

The less splashier moves were a tremendous success, as Ojeda led the Mets with 18 victories in 1986, while Teufel's presence allowed Backman to play primarily against right-handed pitchers.  Backman responded by batting a career-high .320, while Teufel brought some pop to the lineup, contributing 25 extra-base hits in just 279 at-bats.  After two years of being the runner-up in the division, the Mets finally ended 13 years of frustration, advancing to the postseason for the first time since 1973.

With the right mix of veterans and homegrown talent, the team Cashen built won it all in 1986, defeating the Boston Red Sox in seven games to win the franchise's second World Series championship.  It took four years of rebuilding before the Mets became contenders and then another couple of seasons before they had the talent (and the luck - Thanks, Buckner!) to bring the trophy home, but Cashen kept the promise he made to his bosses.  He stitched together a ragtag group of imperfect players and came up with the perfect season for long-suffering Mets fans.

Of course, once a team climbs to the top of the mountain, the only place to go is back down.  And the descent started when Cashen traded away Kevin Mitchell just six weeks after the Mets had won the World Series.  Although the Mets received slugger Kevin McReynolds in the eight-player deal with the San Diego Padres, Mitchell was "one of the guys" who embodied the identity of the never-say-die Mets, whereas McReynolds' idea of hunting for a trophy usually ended with an animal's head on his wall.  McReynolds wasn't a rough-and-tumble Met like Mitchell and several of his former teammates were, but Cashen felt that Mitchell would be a negative presence in the clubhouse, especially around Gooden and Strawberry.  The news of the transaction did not sit well with manager Davey Johnson.

"That's the one trade I really fought," Johnson said.  "They felt Mitch was a bad influence on Doc and Straw.  I knew that wasn't the case.  Mitch came from a tough background but he wasn't a problem at all.  I tried to convince the powers-that-be, but they kept saying, 'we think he'll self-destruct.' "

This photo clearly depicts Kevin Mitchell as a self-destructing bad influence.  (Bill Turnbull/NY Daily News)

What Mitchell did do over the course of his career after his departure from New York was destroy baseballs.  After playing just 62 games in his hometown of San Diego, Mitchell was dealt to the San Francisco Giants, where he hit 143 homers in less than five full seasons.  Mitchell helped the Giants win two N.L. West titles and the 1989 National League pennant, taking home the league's Most Valuable Player Award in the Giants' World Series campaign.

While Mitchell was becoming one the game's most feared hitters, McReynolds had a solid career with the Mets.  In 1988, McReynolds finished third in the N.L. MVP vote and helped the Mets win a division title.  But that was the only time he played in the postseason with the team, as the '88 squad didn't have the fire and resilience that their '86 counterparts had.  They did have David Cone, however, who became one of the league's best pitchers after Cashen traded for him.

In what is widely considered to be the best post-championship trade made by Cashen, the Mets acquired Cone from Kansas City for catcher Ed Hearn and pitchers Rick Anderson and Mauro Gozzo.  Cashen wasn't even asking for Cone in particular, but stuck to his mantra about who to select in a trade when given the opportunity.

"We knew Kansas City needed a catcher and we had Eddie Hearn," Cashen said.  "I'd like to tell you that we were that brilliant, but we looked into their system for a pitcher.  You know my philosophy: if you don't know what you want, take pitching." 

Cone had an up-and-down 1987 campaign, filling in as a starter when the staff was overcome with injuries and serving as a reliever when the other pitchers were healthy.  Cone himself wasn't immune to the injuries that plagued the pitching staff in 1987, missing nearly three months with a broken right little finger.  But Cone blossomed in 1988, becoming the first Met not named Seaver, Koosman or Gooden to win 20 games in a single season.  As good as Cone and his teammates were in 1987 and 1988 - the Mets combined to win 192 games during the two seasons - they had no pennants to show for their regular season success.  What they did have was a group of rapidly aging veterans and memories of a time when the team was expected to win a championship every year - something that Cashen was becoming well aware of.

At the tail end of the 1988 campaign, the Mets promoted 21-year-old wunderkind Gregg Jefferies.  Jefferies, who had torn the cover off the ball at every minor league level, would split time between second and third base during the final month of the season and started all seven games against Los Angeles in the National League Championship Series at the hot corner.  But after the disappointing defeat to the Dodgers, the Mets decided that Jefferies' future in New York would be at second base.  Wally Backman, who had been with the organization for a dozen seasons, including the last nine at the big league level as the team's second baseman, was the odd man out, causing him to ask for a trade.  In December, the Mets granted his wish, sending the gritty fan-favorite to the Minnesota Twins for three minor league pitchers.

Unfortunately, Jefferies didn't become the next hitting superstar for the Mets, playing just three more seasons in New York after Backman was traded to make room for him.  The .321 batting average and .961 OPS posted by Jefferies during his late-season call-up in 1988 proved to be a fluke, as Jefferies batted just .272 and had a .732 OPS for the Mets from 1989 to 1991.  In addition, Jefferies rubbed his more experienced teammates the wrong way with his immature behavior and childlike temper tantrums.  If anything, Jefferies became the clubhouse cancer that Cashen thought Kevin Mitchell was going to be just a few years earlier.

Six months after the departure of Backman, Cashen continued to part ways with some of the other characters from the '86 club.  On Father's Day 1989, the Mets traded Lenny Dykstra and Roger McDowell to the division rival Phillies for Juan Samuel.  The second baseman turned center fielder failed miserably in New York, and was an ex-Met the following season.  Meanwhile, Dykstra and McDowell both played well into the '90s, with Dykstra providing the spark in Philadelphia's pennant-winning 1993 campaign.  Needless to say, the trade to cut ties with Dykstra was unpopular with Mets fans and with the team's manager.

"The only thing I wanted Dykstra to do was stop trying to hit home runs," Johnson said.  "I never wanted him out of there.  He was part of the grit and the grind, along with Backman."

After 1986, Davey Johnson and Frank Cashen didn't see eye-to-eye very much.  (Focus on Sport/Getty Images)

As the 1980s came to a close, so did the tenures of many long-time Mets players.  In addition to the trades of Backman, Dykstra and McDowell, the team shipped off beloved outfielder Mookie Wilson to Toronto at the trade deadline in 1989 and chose not to renew the contracts of Keith Hernandez and Gary Carter at the end of the season.  That was followed by the firing of Davey Johnson in May 1990 and the failure to re-sign Darryl Strawberry six months later.

Just as Cashen had no problem sending Kevin Mitchell back to his hometown four years earlier, he had no qualms about letting Strawberry return to his place of birth in Los Angeles.  The Mets had offered what they thought was a fair deal, putting four years and $15.5 million on the table for the right fielder, but the Dodgers were willing to give Strawberry a longer commitment and the corresponding financial compensation that came with such a commitment.  When the deal was announced, Cashen remained unapologetic about not bringing back the 28-year-old superstar.

"We offered him four years; they offered him five," Cashen said.  "The money was the same.  I've never offered a ballplayer a contract for $15.5 million.  I don't have to apologize for it."

And just like that, the first player Cashen drafted when he became the Mets' general manager was gone.  

When the Mets rallied to defeat the Red Sox in Game Six of the 1986 World Series, the miraculous comeback featured two-out singles by Gary Carter, Kevin Mitchell and Ray Knight, followed by a wild pitch and a little roller up along first by Mookie Wilson.  Within three seasons, they were all gone.  In fact, by the time 1990 came to a close, all nine players who started Game Six and the manager who wrote their names on the lineup card were no longer with the team.  The house that Cashen built so meticulously had been all but torn down.  A year later, the architect walked away as well.

In 1991, the Mets had a solid first half under manager Bud Harrelson, and by late July the team was 15 games over .500 despite having a suspect offense.  But the Mets won just 24 of their final 70 games to finish the year under .500 for the first time in eight years.  That was enough for Cashen, who resigned at the end of the year after 12 seasons as the Mets' general manager.  Cashen remained with the team as its chief operating officer in 1992 and then as a consultant, briefly filling in as general manager in 1993 and once again in 1998.
 
Nearly two decades after spending his last day as the team's full-time general manager, Cashen was inducted into the Mets Hall of Fame.   He received the honor in 2010 along with two of his former first round draft picks (Strawberry, Gooden) and the manager he hired that helped turn the team around in 1984, leading to a championship two years later.

The Mets' turnaround in the 1980s might never have happened if not for these four men.  (Nick Laham/Getty Images)

Cashen, who passed away in 2014 at the age of 88, wasn't without his faults, as he frequently had disagreements with manager Davey Johnson.  Cashen's old-school approach to running a club, expecting professionalism from his players at all times, was frustrating to Johnson, especially when it came to women traveling with the team and the players' behavior off the field.  Cashen was also quick to trade away players, as seen by the jettisoning of Mitchell, Backman and Dykstra for players who either couldn't handle New York (Juan Samuel), couldn't make it to the big leagues (all the minor leaguers who came back in return) or couldn't feign interest in the game (Kevin McReynolds).  The fast trigger finger eventually led to the team's decline in the early '90s and the subsequent drop in attendance at the ballpark.  A team that had surpassed three million paying fans in 1987 and 1988 was barely drawing half that amount just five years later.  Shea Stadium wasn't quite Grant's Tomb again, but the magic that had permeated the park in the 1980s had certainly dissipated by the 1990s.

Despite his various flaws, Cashen's legacy remains untarnished and he is still revered as one of the greatest general managers in franchise history.  He may not have had everyone on his side during his time with the Mets, but even his fiercest detractors knew how important he was to the team.

"Frank was our leader," Strawberry said upon hearing of Cashen's passing.  "I always admired the way he put together our team.  He mixed young guys, like me and Doc, with guys like Carter and Hernandez.  He was able to find the perfect blend to build a championship."

The Mets were one of the worst teams in the league at the beginning of Cashen's tenure in New York.  When he left, they were once again a second division team.  But for all the agony Mets fans endured waiting for a competitive club to root for, the one championship squad Cashen constructed has remained something they can look back on with pride.

A man who got his start working for the local beer guy will always have Mets fans raising a glass in his honor.


Note: The Thrill of Victory, The Agony of the Mets is a thirteen-part weekly series spotlighting those Mets players and personnel who experienced the best of times and the worst of times with the team.  For previous installments, please click on the names below:

January 2, 2017: Tom Seaver
January 9, 2017: Mike Piazza
January 16, 2017: Wally Backman
January 23, 2017: Daniel Murphy

 

The Thrill of Victory, The Agony of the Mets: Wally Backman

To succeed in baseball, sometimes all you need is someone who believes in your ability to do the job you're hired to do.  At times, that belief can get a player who doesn't light up the boxscore with eye-popping stats an everyday job.  The same holds true for a manager, who requires his front office to have faith in his ability to guide the team toward its goals.

For one former Met who was losing hope that he would be able to spend a full season in the big leagues, all it took was a manager's promise; one that gave him the confidence to improve his game to a level that would keep him in the majors for over a decade.  But that faith was not reciprocated when it was his turn to be the manager, ending a nearly four-decade relationship with the franchise that first believed in him as a player.

A rare photo of Wally Backman with a clean uniform.  (Rick Stewart/Getty Images)

Walter Wayne Backman was a scrappy middle infielder from Oregon who impressed the Mets so much while he was in high school that they drafted him in the first round of the 1977 June amateur draft.  Although Backman was purely a singles hitter (he had just 88 extra-base hits in his first four seasons in the minors), his ability to draw walks and steal bases made him a valuable commodity in the speed-driven game of the late '70s and early '80s.

Backman made his major league debut on September 2, 1980, as did fellow speedster Mookie Wilson.  Backman's performance after his September call-up was far more impressive than Wilson's, as the second baseman batted .323 with a .396 on-base percentage in 110 plate appearances, while Wilson batted just .248 with a .325 OBP in nine extra opportunities at the plate.  Backman split time between second base and shortstop during his month-long debut and produced nine multi-hit games, making a case for his inclusion on the Mets' 1981 Opening Day roster.

Although Backman did make the team out of the spring training in 1981, he was relegated to mostly pinch-hitting duties, as he was hard-pressed to find a defensive position on the field.  Incumbent second baseman Doug Flynn had just won his first Gold Glove award for defensive excellence in 1980, while shortstop Frank Taveras was coming off a two-year stretch in which he stole 74 bases.  To make matters worse, rookie third baseman Hubie Brooks, who also excelled during a late-season call-up in 1980 (.309 batting average, 10 RBI in 89 plate appearances), blossomed into the team's best player during the strike-shortened 1981 campaign, batting .307 with 27 extra-base hits in 98 games.  The glut of talented infielders on the Mets' roster limited Backman to just five starts and 42 plate appearances in what should have been his first full season in the majors.

The 1982 campaign brought a new manager to the Mets in George Bamberger, and with the new skipper came Backman's first extended stint at the major league level.  With Flynn having been traded to the Texas Rangers during the off-season, the second base job was Backman's to lose.  Backman handled the offensive side of the game quite well, batting .272 and reaching base at an impressive .387 clip.  In addition, Backman's 115 OPS+ tied All-Star catcher John Stearns for the team lead among regular players.  But after five years of Flynn's Gold Glove caliber defense at second base, Backman was an underwhelming replacement in the field, committing 14 errors in 88 games at the position.  When a broken collarbone ended Backman's season in mid-August, his short tenure as the Mets' starting second baseman also appeared to be over.  It would have been were it not for a manager who had a feeling about his switch-hitting second sacker.

When Backman got injured in 1982, the Mets turned to 22-year-old Brian Giles to replace him.  Giles was much more reliable defensively and became the team's new starter at second base in 1983, leaving Backman without a position.  As a result, Backman spent most of the '83 campaign at Triple-A Tidewater under manager Davey Johnson.  The rest, as they say, is history.

A not-so-rare photo of Wally Backman with a dirty uniform.  (Tony Triolo/Sports Illustrated)

With a mathematics degree in his back pocket and a willingness to use computers to help him manage, Johnson saw in Backman a player whose value couldn't be measured with traditional baseball statistics.  Backman had an impressive .316 batting average for Tidewater in 1983, but his keen ability to draw walks produced a .422 on-base percentage.  At a time when OBP was not considered one of the major determinants of a player's value, Johnson saw its worth and knew that Backman would be key to his team's success.  So when Johnson was promoted to be the Mets' manager in 1984, he kept a promise to take his spark plug with him.

"I need a leadoff hitter, and Backman fit the bill," Johnson said.

Prior to 1984, the Mets had been using Mookie Wilson as their leadoff hitter.  But Wilson's .310 lifetime OBP, combined with his league-leading at-bat total in 1983 meant that he was also among the leaders in outs made.  With Backman batting first and Wilson dropping to No. 2 in the batting order, the Mets had a true leadoff hitter.  Backman's .360 OBP and 32 stolen bases were both second on the team in 1984, trailing only Keith Hernandez's .411 OBP and Wilson's 46 steals.

In addition to Backman's successful season at the plate, he also saw a significant improvement in his defense, making four fewer errors in 1984 than he did in his previous full season with the Mets in 1982, despite starting 39 more games in '84 than he did in '82.  Backman's offense and defense was instrumental in the Mets' improvement from a perennial second-division team to a 90-win contender in 1984.  And he had his manager to thank for the opportunity.

"The best thing that happened to me was having Dave Johnson as a manager last year," Backman said.  "In the past, I was never a leadoff man.  Dave put me leadoff to begin the season.  He saw what I could do and had confidence in me.  That took a lot of pressure off.  I could relax and play my game."

Backman continued to improve in 1985, making just seven errors in 140 games.  However, he wasn't playing entire games, as he would be removed often for a pinch-hitter whenever a left-handed reliever came into the game.  You see, for as many improvements as the switch-hitting Backman made under Davey Johnson, most of his success as a hitter came from the left side of the plate.  In 1984, Backman batted .162 (6-for-37) against left-handed pitchers, albeit with a .340 on-base percentage.  Since that was considered a small sample size for the mathematically inclined Johnson, the skipper gave Backman more opportunities to bat against southpaws in 1985.  And Backman got even worse.

During the 1985 campaign, the second baseman batted a meager .122 (16-for-131) vs. LHP and he was also drawing fewer walks against them, which led to an also cringeworthy .212 OBP.  As a left-handed batter, however, Backman's two-year production was among the best in the league, as batted .307 against right-handed pitching.  Not helping matters was that Backman's replacement at second base whenever a left-handed pitcher was on the mound (Kelvin Chapman) was himself a lousy hitter.  Although Chapman fared well in 1984 against left-pitchers (.296 batting average, 358 OBP in 181 plate appearances), he was downright atrocious replacing Backman in 1985, batting .172 with a .230 OBP in 142 PA.

With more teams using left-handed starters and relievers, Johnson needed a solution to generate more production against them.  He found the answer in a technique employed by former Mets manager Gil Hodges.

(Barry Colla Photography)

In Johnson's first season managing the Mets, five of his starting eight players had at least 595 plate appearances and only seven players on the roster reached 250 plate appearances.  Once he penciled in a player at a certain position in 1984, he was there for the season.  That started to change a little in 1985, as Johnson took a page out of the Book of Hodges and employed a Mookie Wilson/Lenny Dykstra platoon in center field and used both Ray Knight and Howard Johnson at third base to maximize the offensive production.  If a left-handed pitcher started, Wilson and Knight would receive the bulk of the starts.  If it was a right-handed pitcher on the mound, Dykstra and HoJo would play.  As a result, only five players on the 1985 team surpassed 470 plate appearances, but 11 men came to bat at least 200 times.  The platoons helped, as the Mets, who finished in the middle of the pack in most offensive categories in 1984, became one of the National League's strongest hitting squads in 1985, finishing in the league's top five in batting average, OBP, slugging percentage and runs scored.

Second base was the one position that Johnson couldn't find a suitable platoon partner for Backman.  The two-year Kelvin Chapman experiment had failed, and the Mets needed a solution if they wanted to be a complete offensive team in 1986.  Enter Tim Teufel and enter the postseason.

With Teufel aboard in 1986 to spell Backman against southpaws, the Mets flourished at second base, with Teufel providing the pop (25 extra-base hits, 31 RBI in 279 at-bats) and Backman becoming an OBP machine (.320 batting average, .376 OBP).  Only seven batters in the National League who qualified for the batting title managed to hit over .300.  Backman missed qualifying by a mere 62 plate appearances.  However, he did become just the second Met in franchise history to bat at least .320 in a season of 400 or more plate appearances, joining Cleon Jones, who accomplished the feat in 1969.  By the time 1986 was over, Backman would join Jones in accomplishing a team milestone.

The 1986 Mets won 108 games and ran away with the N.L. East title.  In the National League Championship Series against the Houston Astros, the Mets ran into the league's top pitcher in Mike Scott.  Backman's former Mets teammate stymied New York in Games One and Four, meaning the Mets had to beat the other Astros pitchers if they wanted to advance to the World Series.  After being shut out by Scott in the series opener, Backman got things going for the Mets in Game Two, scoring New York's first run of the series after delivering a one-out single off future Hall of Famer Nolan Ryan.  In his next at-bat, Backman produced an RBI single against Ryan and scored on a triple by Keith Hernandez to put the game out of reach.  Backman was also front and center in the Mets' Game Three and Five victories.

With the Mets trailing the Astros by a run in the bottom of the ninth in Game Three, Backman beat out a drag bunt to lead off the inning, then went to second base on a passed ball.  After Danny Heep flied out, Lenny Dykstra hit a long fly ball to right field that barely cleared the wall, giving the Mets and an exuberant Wally Backman a thrilling come-from-behind win.

After Scott's second victory of the series in Game Four, the Mets knew they had win Game Five in order to avoid playing an elimination game at the Astrodome in Game Six.  This time, Nolan Ryan would fare better against Backman, striking out the second baseman three times in his first four at-bats.  Matching Ryan pitch for pitch was Dwight Gooden, who was brilliant in his ten innings of work.  By the 12th inning, the two teams were still deadlocked and Astros pitcher Charlie Kerfeld was in his second inning of relief.  After retiring Dykstra to lead off the inning, Backman delivered a crucial single, lining the ball off the glove of third baseman Denny Walling.  An errant pickoff throw by Kerfeld allowed Backman to scamper to second base, but also meant that the Astros would intentionally walk Hernandez to get to the slumping Gary Carter.  Carter was batting just .048 in the series (1-for-21) as he stepped up to the plate.  By the time his eight-pitch at-bat was over, his average was up to .091, as Carter drove in Backman from second with a hard-hit ground ball up the middle.

Wally Backman celebrates after scoring the winning run in Game Five of the 1986 NLCS.  (ABC TV screen shot)

The Mets were now one win away from advancing to the World Series for the first time in 13 years, but had to fly to Houston to win that pennant.  Left-hander Bob Knepper was tabbed to face the Mets in Game Six, which meant that Backman would start the game on the bench and Tim Teufel would play second base.  By the time the game was over, Backman would play a key role in deciding the outcome of the game.

New York trailed Houston by three runs as the Mets came to bat in the top of the ninth.  Knepper had been brilliant, facing the minimum three batters in seven of his first eight innings.  But the Mets rallied to tie the game against Knepper and reliever Dave Smith.  With the game knotted and two men in scoring position, Backman was called upon to face the right-handed Smith and was intentionally walked to load the bases.  That's where the Mets' rally ended, as pinch-hitter Danny Heep struck out to end the inning.

The two teams continued to put up zeroes until the 14th, when Backman gave the Mets the lead with a one-out RBI single off reliever Aurelio Lopez.  Had Backman just supplied the Mets with a pennant-winning hit?  Would his name become synonymous with those legendary Mets who came through in the club's biggest moments?  Not quite, as Billy Hatcher delayed the Mets' champagne celebration with a home run off the left field foul pole in the bottom of the 14th.

As the game advanced into the 16th frame, both teams were clearly fatigued, especially the pitchers.  With Lopez still in the game for the Astros, Darryl Strawberry led off the inning with a double, which was followed by an RBI single by Ray Knight, who advanced to second on the throw home.  Backman then stepped up to the plate, prompting Houston manager Hal Lanier to summon left-hander Jeff Calhoun from the bullpen.

With Teufel having been replaced by Backman in the ninth inning, Mets manager Davey Johnson was forced to leave Backman in the game to face the lefty.  Calhoun immediately went ahead on the count with two quick strikes.  But a wild pitch allowed Knight to advance to third base, causing Calhoun to be more careful with his pitches.  Using his keen eye at the plate, Backman coaxed a nine-pitch walk out of Calhoun to continue the rally.

As bad as Backman had been at the plate against southpaws, the next batter was even worse against all pitchers, as closer Jesse Orosco was now set to bat.  But the pressure of the situation continued to get to Calhoun, as his first pitch to Orosco got by catcher Alan Ashby, allowing Knight to score from third base and Backman to advance to second.  Orosco then bunted Backman over to third and Backman later scored the third run of the inning on a single by Lenny Dykstra.  Backman's run proved to be the game-winner, as the Astros scored twice against Orosco in the bottom of the 16th before the reliever struck out Kevin Bass with the tying and winning runs on base.

By winning the pennant in Game Six, the Mets avoided a potential do-or-die game against Mike Scott, who had already dominated the Mets twice in the series.  As much as the Mets didn't want to face him, Backman was originally one of the few players who thought a potential third start by Scott would be the charm for the Mets.

"I don't care if he scuffs 400 balls," Backman said, referring to the rumored secret of Scott's success.  "I don't care if they're scuffed before the game.  I don't think any pitcher can beat us three times in a row."

However, once the Mets outlasted the Astros in Game Six, Backman came to the same realization that most of his teammates already had about having to face Scott in a potential seventh game.

"If we had lost and had to face Scott tomorrow," Backman said, "I wouldn't have slept at all."

Mike Scott wonders what might have been had he been able to scuff his balls one last time.  (Scott Halleran/Getty Images)

Although Backman batted just .238 with a .304 OBP in the NLCS, he always seemed to come through for the Mets during all of their memorable rallies, confirming Davey Johnson's belief in Backman's ability to be a key cog for the team.  Backman continued to produce for the Mets in the World Series against the Boston Red Sox, even though he started just four of the seven games due to the presence of left-handed starting pitcher Bruce Hurst, who was essentially Mike Scott without the scuffed balls.

Backman was sensational in his four starts, batting .375 and reaching base at a .444 clip to help the Mets win three of those four games.  But four victories were needed to win the World Series, and the Mets would need to earn that fourth win against Hurst, who had already defeated New York twice in the series.  It had been two weeks since Backman made the proclamation that no pitcher could beat the Mets three times in a row.  And before Game Seven was over, Backman made sure that his prophecy came true.

The Red Sox took an early 3-0 lead against Mets starter Ron Darling, a lead which was still intact going to the bottom of the sixth inning.  But the Mets finally got to Hurst in that sixth frame, collecting two singles and a walk off him.  With the bases loaded, Keith Hernandez delivered a two-run single to get the Mets within a run.  It was then that Davey Johnson inserted Backman into the game as a pinch-runner, which paid off when Backman came in to store the tying run on a bloop by Gary Carter that forced Hernandez out at second base.  When Backman came up to the plate for the first time in the game in the seventh inning, he drew a seven-pitch walk from Boston reliever Joe Sambito that moved Rafael Santana to third base.  The base on balls proved to be huge, as Hernandez drove in the Mets' sixth run of the game with a sacrifice fly.  The Mets went on to win the game and their second World Series title, defeating the Red Sox in the seventh game, 8-5, with Backman scoring the tying run and drawing a key walk that led to the deciding run crossing the plate.

After winning a championship in 1986, the Mets expected to win several more titles during Backman's career.  But alas, that was not to happen, as injuries befell most of the team's starting pitchers in 1987.  The injury bug also got to Backman, as the second baseman missed 18 games in June with a hamstring issue and an additional 18 games at the end of the year with lingering effects of the original injury.  With Backman missing extended time on the field on multiple occasions in 1987, his platoon partner, Tim Teufel, got more playing time and made quite an impression on the team.

Teufel had 351 plate appearances during the 1987 campaign (which was 16 more than Backman) and batted .308 with 29 doubles, 14 homers and 61 RBI.  As a result, Teufel got more playing time in 1988, with Backman starting just 28 games through mid-June.  The lack of consistent playing time hurt Backman, as he batted just .238 through the team's first 60 games.  But Backman got a second chance as a starter when Teufel missed 23 games with an injury and was absolutely spectacular, batting .344 with a .418 on-base percentage from mid-June to late August.  Just when it looked like Backman would help lead the team to another postseason appearance, he was disabled once again, missing 13 games from late August through mid-September.  By the time he got back on the field, he had lost his job once again.

(Andrew D. Bernstein/Getty Images)

Although Backman finished the 1988 campaign with a solid .303 batting average and .388 OBP in 347 plate appearances, it was his injury replacement that captured everyone's attention in September.  Gregg Jefferies was called up from AAA-Tidewater on August 28 to replace Backman on the roster.  After becoming the team's first homegrown hitting prospect since Darryl Strawberry, batting .354 in his first three professional seasons and showing extra-base power with above-average speed, the 21-year-old wunderkind and fellow switch-hitter proceeded to tear the cover off the ball for the Mets, batting .462 with 14 extra-base hits in his first 13 games.  Jefferies ended the year with a .596 slugging percentage and .961 OPS, and his 17 RBI in just 29 games matched the total produced by Backman during the entire season.

Backman did play all seven games against the Los Angeles Dodgers in the National League Championship Series, batting .273 with a .333 OBP, but the writing was on the wall.  Jefferies was going to be the team's starting second baseman in 1989, and Backman was going to need to play elsewhere.  After a dozen seasons in the organization, the Mets granted Backman's request for a trade, sending him to the Minnesota Twins for three minor league pitchers.  Upon finalization of the deal, Backman was clearly disappointed that his tenure with the Mets had to end the way it did.

"It's funny, you're nothing one year, the way I was after 1987, the first bad year I had," Backman said.  "They couldn't have given me away a year ago.  Now, I have a good year and I'm gone."

Backman became a journeyman during the final five seasons of his career, playing for the Twins, Pirates, Phillies and Mariners from 1989 to 1993.  Backman's playing days ended in May 1993, when he was released by Seattle after batting .138 in ten games with the team.  But just because his playing days were over didn't mean Backman was going to hang up his baseball uniform for good.

Less than half a decade after playing in his final game, Backman managed independent baseball teams before coming back to minor league baseball to manage the Chicago White Sox's Carolina League team in Winston-Salem.  He then was promoted to Chicago's Double-A team in Birmingham and won a league title in 2002.  Backman had another first-place finish in 2004 managing for Class-A Lancaster in the Arizona Diamondbacks' organization before getting his first chance to manage in the majors with the parent club.  What should have been a proud moment for Backman ended up being his worst nightmare, as he was fired just four days after he was hired by the D-Backs when it was revealed that he had been arrested for harassment and had been convicted of driving under the influence.  Backman had also filed for bankruptcy and did not report the news in his final interview.

After taking some time away from baseball, Backman returned to managing independent league teams and winning more division titles.  He came back to the Mets organization in 2010 to manage the Brooklyn Cyclones, leading them to a division title.  Backman then moved up the minor league ladder, managing in Double-A in 2011 and Triple-A in 2012.  But although Backman won back-to-back division titles managing Las Vegas in 2013 and 2014, he couldn't get what he really wanted from the Mets - a job managing or coaching at the major league level.

The Mets qualified for the postseason in 2015 and 2016, winning the National League pennant in 2015, but Backman was left in the Pacific Coast League while the team was celebrating its success three time zones away.  And so, with his path to the majors blocked by an organization that he claimed was disrespecting him, Backman resigned as manager of the 51s.

"When you work for an organization, do everything, you want to be respected for what you do,"  Backman said.  "I just felt, for my time being there, that the respect wasn't there."

The face of a disrespected man.  (Kin Lui)

Wally Backman was part of the Mets organization for the better part of four decades.  From a scrappy infielder in the 1980s who was one of the spark plugs for a championship team to a fiery manager who led teams to titles wherever he managed, no one could ever say that Backman wasn't a winner.  But for someone whose name was synonymous with winning, why did Backman lose so much?

Before Davey Johnson confided in him, he couldn't get anyone to believe in his ability to play the game.  When the Mets promoted Gregg Jefferies, who was basically a brat with a bat, Backman couldn't stay on the field for the only organization he ever knew.  Because the Arizona Diamondbacks were unaware of how background checks worked, Backman and his family suffered unnecessary embarrassment.  And finally, no amount of division titles was enough to give Backman a job coaching with the Mets on a full-time basis.

For someone who has been a champion many times over, Backman's lifelong career in baseball has been more bitter than sweet.  A player as beloved as he was with the Mets and a person who has given so much of himself to the game deserves better than the hand he has repeatedly been dealt by baseball.


Note: The Thrill of Victory, The Agony of the Mets is a thirteen-part weekly series spotlighting those Mets players and personnel who experienced the best of times and the worst of times with the team.  For previous installments, please click on the names below:

January 2, 2017: Tom Seaver
January 9, 2017: Mike Piazza

 

30 Years Later: "Little Roller Up Along First..."

Every generation has its defining moment.  People who grew up in the 1960s know exactly where they were when President Kennedy and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. were assassinated.  In the 1980s, every American knows where they were when the Space Shuttle exploded.  It's no different for Mets fans.

People who grew up rooting for the Mets remember every detail of the 1969 Miracle Mets' run to the World Series.  Fans of my generation well up with happy tears when you mention two words to them:  Game Six.  How can anyone forget the night of October 25, 1986?

The Mets were facing elimination entering Game Six of the 1986 World Series.  They fought back to tie the Series at Fenway Park after dropping the first two games of the Fall Classic at Shea Stadium.  Then Bruce Hurst shut them down in Game Five to send the series back to New York with the Mets down three games to two.

It was up to Bob Ojeda to save the Mets' season.  He was opposed by Roger Clemens, who was on his way to his first Cy Young Award.  Ojeda was also called upon for Game Six of the 1986 NLCS against the Astros, a game in which the Mets defeated Houston in 16 innings to claim the National League pennant.  In that game, Ojeda struggled early, giving up three runs in the first inning before settling down.  Game Six of the 1986 World Series was no different for Ojeda.  He gave up single runs to the Red Sox in each of the first two innings, but then settled down.

When Ojeda was replaced by Roger McDowell to start the seventh inning, the Mets had come back against Roger Clemens to tie the score at 2.  Although the drama that unfolded in the tenth inning is what Game Six is most known for, a number of interesting events occurred in the seventh inning that are often forgotten.

With one out and Marty Barrett on first base for the Red Sox, Jim Rice hit a ground ball near the third base line that barely stayed fair.  Ray Knight fielded it and threw wildly to first base, with the ball popping in and out of the glove of a leaping Keith Hernandez.  That brought up Dwight Evans with runners on the corners.  Evans hit a ground ball for the second out of the inning, but Barrett scored the go-ahead run and Rice was able to advance to second base.  That was when Mookie Wilson became a hero for the first time that night.

Roger McDowell was able to get ahead of Red Sox catcher Rich Gedman by throwing strikes on the first two pitches, but Gedman then grounded the 0-2 pitch from McDowell between short and third for a base hit that appeared to give the Red Sox an insurance run.  However, Mookie Wilson charged the ball and fired a strike to Gary Carter at home plate to cut down a sliding Jim Rice for the third out of the inning.

The defensive efforts of Wilson and Carter helped keep the Red Sox lead at one, a lead that would be erased when the Mets came up to bat in the bottom of the eighth inning.

Roger Clemens had been pinch hit for in the top of the eighth inning, so the Red Sox brought in former Met Calvin Schiraldi to pitch the bottom of the eighth.  Schiraldi had been brilliant in relief for the Red Sox during the regular season, compiling a 4-2 record and a sparking 1.41 ERA.  However, all that changed once Lee Mazzilli led off the inning with a base hit.  Lenny Dykstra followed with a sacrifice bunt, but he reached first base safely when Schiraldi threw wildly to second base in a failed attempt to nail Mazzilli.  Now the Mets had two men on with nobody out for Wally Backman, who laid down a bunt of his own.  His successful sacrifice moved Mazzilli and Dykstra into scoring position for Keith Hernandez, who was intentionally walked to load the bases.  That brought up Gary Carter.  On a 3-0 pitch, Carter had the green light and lined a sacrifice fly to left field.  The fly ball allowed Mazzilli to score the tying run.  When neither team scored in the ninth inning, the stage was set for the most dramatic frame in Mets history.

The inning started with a bang, but not the one wanted by Mets fans.  Dave Henderson led off the tenth with a laser beam down the left field line that just stayed fair as it cleared the wall.  The home run off Rick Aguilera silenced the Shea Stadium crowd of 55,078 and gave the Red Sox a 4-3 lead.  They weren't done yet.  Aguilera came back to strike out the next two batters but then proceeded to give up a double to Wade Boggs and a run-scoring single to Marty Barrett.  The latter hit gave the Sox an insurance run as the lead was now 5-3.  The next batter was hit by a pitch.  Who was the victim of Aguilera's wayward offering?  None other than Bill Buckner (more on him later).  Now there were two men on base for Jim Rice.  Rice could have redeemed himself for being thrown out at home in the seventh inning with a hit in the tenth.  However, Rice failed to add to the Red Sox lead when he flied out to Lee Mazzilli in right.  His failure to come through in two crucial spots set up the events in the bottom of the tenth inning for the Mets.

Wally Backman and Keith Hernandez were due to lead off in the bottom of the tenth inning.  However, two fly balls later and the Mets were down to their final out with no one on base.  The dream was one out away from becoming a nightmare.  108 regular season wins and a thrilling NLCS against the Astros would mean nothing if the Mets couldn't start a rally against Calvin Schiraldi and the Red Sox.  The Shea Stadium scoreboard was flashing "Congratulations Red Sox: 1986 World Champions" and NBC had already awarded its player of the game to Marty Barrett.  Then Gary Carter stepped up to the plate and something special began to happen.

On a 2-1 pitch from Schiraldi, Carter singled to left.  Then Kevin Mitchell, pinch-hitting for Rick Aguilera lined a hit to center on an 0-1 curveball.  The tying runs were now on base for Ray Knight.  If you recall, Knight had made an error in the seventh inning that led to a run for the Red Sox.  Perhaps this game would never have gone into extra innings had Knight not committed his error.  Knight didn't care.  All he cared about was getting a hit to continue the inning.  Unfortunately for him, Schiraldi threw his first two pitches for strikes.  The Mets were down to their final strike, but Knight had a little something to say about that.

On a pitch that was headed for the inside corner of the strike zone, Knight fisted it over Marty Barrett's head into short center for another base hit.  Carter scored from second base and Mitchell went from first to third on the hit.  The tying run was 90 feet away and the winning run was at first base.  Red Sox manager John McNamara had made up his mind.  He was going to Bob Stanley to try to win the World Series.  Stanley would face one batter, Mookie Wilson, with everything on the line.

Stanley would throw six pitches to Mookie Wilson to get the count to 2-2.  Hoping for strike three with his seventh pitch, Stanley let go of the pitch and at the same time, let go of the lead.  The pitch was way inside, causing Mookie to throw himself up in the air to avoid getting hit.  Fortunately, the ball didn't hit Mookie or Rich Gedman's glove (or home plate umpire Dale Ford for that matter).  The ball went all the way to the backstop and Kevin Mitchell was able to scamper home with the tying run.  The wild pitch also allowed Ray Knight to move into scoring position with the potential winning run.  All Mookie needed to do now was get a base hit to drive him in, or perhaps he could so something else to bring him home.

During the regular season, John McNamara had always removed first baseman Bill Buckner for defensive replacement Dave Stapleton during the late innings.  However, this time Buckner was left in the game despite the fact that he was hobbling around on two gimpy legs and had just been hit by a pitch in the previous inning.  What was McNamara's reasoning for the decision?  He wanted Buckner to be on the field to celebrate their championship with his teammates.  Instead, Buckner was on the field for a different celebration.

Buckner was at first base as the count went to 3-2 on Mookie Wilson.  A mountain of pressure had been lifted off his shoulders once he went airborne to elude Stanley's pitch.  A relaxed Mookie came back to the plate to finish what he came up there to do.  After fouling off two more pitches, including a line drive that curved foul down the left field line, Wilson hit a slow ground ball that hugged the first base foul line, bringing Mets fans to their feet as Bill Buckner hobbled to the line in an attempt to field it.  I'll let NBC broadcaster Vin Scully describe what happened.

"Little roller up along first.  Behind the bag!  It gets through Buckner.  Here comes Knight and the Mets win it!"

A miracle had happened on the diamond.  Perhaps Mookie's grounder hit a pebble.  Perhaps Buckner took his eyes off the ball as he watched Mookie sprint down the first base line.  Perhaps God was a Mets fan.  Regardless of what caused it to happen, Mookie's grounder found its way under Buckner's glove and the Mets lived to see another day.  (Buckner later admitted in the film "Catching Hell" that his momentum as he approached the first base line caused his glove to close on its own, a split second before he would have fielded it.  With the glove closed before the ball reached it, the grounder was able to scoot by the gimpy first baseman.)

As a dejected Bill Buckner walked off the field, Shea Stadium was rocking as it never had before.  Mookie Wilson was still running towards second base because he had no idea that Ray Knight had scored the winning run.  Ron Darling, who was scheduled to start the seventh and deciding game of the World Series the following night (even though it was rained out and played two nights later), admitted that he could see dust falling from the roof of the Mets dugout because of the vibrations caused by the fans jumping up and down over it.  Keith Hernandez had left the dugout to go into Davey Johnson's office after making the second out of the inning, but never moved from the chair he was sitting in, even after the historic rally had begun because as he admitted afterwards, the chair he was sitting on had hits in it.

As the unbelievable events were flashing on the TV screen for those of us who weren't fortunate enough to have tickets to the game, Vin Scully came back on the air after a long pause to tell the viewers everything they needed to know about what they had just seen unfold at Shea Stadium on that Saturday night.  The recently retired Hall-of-Fame broadcaster said:

"If one picture is worth a thousand words, you have seen about a million words.  But more than that, you have seen an absolutely bizarre finish to Game Six of the 1986 World Series.  The Mets are not only alive, they are well and they will play the Red Sox in Game Seven tomorrow."

Game Six didn't give the Mets the World Championship as many baseball fans mistakenly believe.  There was still one game left to play.  Although it was scheduled for the following night, rain put a hold on Game Seven until the night of Monday, October 27.  Dennis "Oil Can" Boyd, who had been scheduled to start the seventh game for the Red Sox, was scratched from his start to allow Met killer Bruce Hurst to pitch.  But I'll leave that narrative for another night.

For now, think of the memories you have of that unbelievable Game Six.  Imagine how different things would have been if Jim Rice had not been thrown out at home plate in the seventh inning, or if Bob Stanley had relieved Calvin Schiraldi before Gary Carter, Kevin Mitchell or Ray Knight produced base hits in the tenth inning.  Mets fans who celebrated the 40th anniversary of the Miracle Mets during Citi Field's inaugural campaign might still be talking about that team as their only championship squad.

A miracle happened at Shea Stadium 30 years ago today, on October 25, 1986.  It is the single greatest Mets memory I have.  I'm sure for many of you reading this, it's your favorite Mets memory as well.  Do Mets fans believe in miracles?  If you watched Game Six of the 1986 World Series, the answer is a definite yes.

The Most With The Least: Tim Teufel (1987)

Sometimes a baseball player gets benched because he's not performing well.  This occasionally leads to the benched player asking how he's supposed to prove himself on the field if he's not allowed to take the field.  However, for some players, spending time on the bench helps them become more productive when they are given the opportunity to start.  Take, for example, the case of a former Mets player and current Mets coach who was an everyday player before coming to New York and then found himself as part of a platoon just as he was entering the prime years of his playing career.

For two seasons in Minnesota, he was the team's starting second baseman.  In his first full season with the Twins, he showed uncharacteristic power potential for a middle infielder, smacking 30 doubles and 14 homers in 652 plate appearances.  His efforts did not go unnoticed, as he placed fourth in that year's American League Rookie of the Year vote.

The following season saw a slight dropoff in his extra-base hit numbers (24 doubles, 10 homers), but nothing too serious to suggest that he was expendable.  However, the Twins struggled tremendously with their pitchers, finishing near the bottom of the American League in that department.  They needed to upgrade the team's pitching if they wanted to compete in their division and so they traded their young second baseman to the New York Mets for two minor league pitching prospects and a former first round draft pick.  The Mets now had a right-handed hitting platoon partner for Wally Backman at second base to take the place of Kelvin Chapman, who batted .174 in the role the year before.  Before long, it was clear that this former Twin wasn't going to be Chapman's twin in the hitting department.

Tim Teufel had many opposing pitchers on their knees in 1987.  (Barry Colla Photography)

Timothy Shawn Teufel had over 1,000 at-bats as the Twins starting second baseman in 1984 and 1985.  But as a second baseman for the Mets playing mostly against left-handed pitchers, he amassed just 279 at-bats in 1986, starting in 70 of the team's 162 games.  Despite the decreased workload, Teufel still managed 24 extra-base hits and 31 RBI for the Mets in 1986, which represented a tremendous upgrade from Kelvin Chapman's 1985 numbers against southpaws (.172 batting average, two extra-base hits, seven RBI in 128 at-bats).

In 1984 and 1985, Wally Backman was forced to hit against left-handed pitching more often than manager Davey Johnson would have liked because of Chapman's inability to produce much of anything against them.  Backman ended up averaging close to 500 at-bats in each season and batted .280 and .273 in the two years before Teufel's acquisition.  However, the switch-hitting Backman was even more futile than Chapman was against left-handed pitching, batting an anemic .122 (16-for-131) versus southpaws in 1985.  The trade for Teufel immediately allowed Backman to play exclusively against right-handed pitching and resulted in Backman's most productive season at the plate in 1986 - a year in which he batted .320 and struck out just 32 times in 440 plate appearances, an average of one strikeout every 13.8 plate appearances.  (Batting more often against left-handed pitchers in 1984 and 1985, Backman fanned 135 times in 1,073 plate appearances, averaging one whiff every 7.9 plate appearances in those seasons.)

While the two pitching prospects (Bill Latham, Joe Klink) and former first round draft pick (future Oakland A's general manager Billy Beane) struggled in Minnesota, Teufel found a home in New York.  The Connecticut native thrived in his new role as the team's part-time second baseman, and his arrival also brought out the best in his platoon partner.  Teufel's first season in New York ended with a World Series victory, one in which he was a healthy contributor at the plate, posting an impressive .444/.500/.889 slash line in the three games he started against Boston lefty Bruce Hurst.  Hurst allowed just two extra-base hits in the series, with both of them (a double and a homer) coming off the bat of Tim Teufel.

Teufel's fielding wasn't always the best, as evidenced by his costly error in Game One of the Fall Classic, but his hitting usually overshadowed his shortcomings on defense and allowed the Mets to be deeper on the bench, as seen in a game during the Mets' dominant summer run in 1986, when Teufel's pinch-hit grand slam off Philadelphia's Tom Hume gave the Mets a thrilling extra-inning victory.

The Mets followed up their historic 1986 campaign with a disappointing 1987 season.  In 1986, the quartet of Dwight Gooden, Ron Darling, Sid Fernandez and Bob Ojeda combined to start 128 games, with each starter making at least 30 starts.  A year later, the post-championship hangover affected the entire staff, with the four hurlers making just 91 starts between them and only Darling taking the ball more than 27 times.  Injuries and substance abuse curtailed the seasons of the once-dominant starting rotation, with each starter, including Darling, spending time on the disabled list in 1987.

With pitchers such as John Mitchell, Terry Leach, Don Schulze, John Candelaria and Tom Edens making unexpected starts for the Mets, it behooved the offense to carry the team even more in 1987.  Darryl Strawberry and Howard Johnson contributed greatly, becoming the first pair of teammates to produce a season with 30+ homers and 30+ stolen bases.  The newly acquired Kevin McReynolds also had a fine season, missing a 30 HR, 100 RBI campaign by just one blast and five ribbies.  But an unheralded hitting star of the 1987 season was not one of the big boppers, as Tim Teufel had one of the most productive campaigns ever produced by a part-time player in team history, shuffling his way into the hearts of Mets fans with his phenomenal performance.

YouTube video courtesy of CourtsideTweets

Once again, Teufel started in less than half of the team's games, as his name was in Davey Johnson's starting lineup just 71 times in 1987, but despite not reaching 300 at-bats for the second straight year (he had 299), Teufel managed to have the type of season he produced when he was an everyday player for the Twins.

Nine players had more at-bats than Teufel did for the Mets in 1987, including fellow second baseman Wally Backman, but Teufel still managed to finish fourth on the team in doubles (29), sixth in homers (14), sixth in RBI (61) and fifth in WAR (3.5).  He also led the team in batting average (.308), on-base percentage (.398 - tied for the team lead with Strawberry) and was runner-up to Strawberry in slugging percentage (.545), OPS (.943) and OPS+ (153).  In doing so, Teufel made team history by becoming just the third player with at least 350 plate appearances (he had 351) to produce an OPS+ higher than 150, joining Cleon Jones - who produced a 151 OPS+ in 1969 - and Strawberry.  Teufel also became the third Mets player with that many plate appearances to produce an OPS higher than .900, also joining Jones and Strawberry.

At no point of the season was Teufel hotter than he was during a two-month stretch from June to August, when the Mets went from being a fourth-place team with a .500 record to a second-place team, knocking on the door of the first-place Cardinals.  From June 9 to August 6, Teufel played in 25 games (22 starts), missing two weeks in late June with a strained right hamstring.  Teufel helped the Mets win 16 of those 25 games, reaching base 43 times and batting .348 with a lofty 1.118 OPS.  More than half of Teufel's 31 hits during his hot streak went for extra bases (10 doubles, 7 HR) and he drove in 22 runs in 89 at-bats, averaging nearly one RBI every four at-bats.

Perhaps the most incredible stat about Teufel's 1987 campaign is the following.  A total of 20 players with at least 350 plate appearances in a single season have batted higher than .308 for the Mets.  Likewise, ten Mets players have produced an OBP higher than .398 and ten players have surpassed a .545 slugging percentage.  But prior to 1987, no Mets player had ever produced a .308/.398/.545 slash line and only John Olerud (1998), Mike Piazza (1998, 2000) and David Wright (2007) have been able to match or surpass Teufel in all three categories since his spectacular 1987 campaign.

Betcha never thought you'd see Tim Teufel's name mentioned in the same sentence as these three Mets all-time greats.

Tim Teufel had 29 doubles and 61 RBI in a limited number of plate appearances in 1987.  Out of all the Mets players with fewer than 400 plate appearances in a single season through the 2015 campaign, no one has produced as many doubles as Teufel did in '87.  (Desi Relaford had 27 doubles in 340 plate appearances in 2001.)  And the only player in the franchise's first 50-plus years to surpass the 61 RBI produced by Teufel in under 400 plate appearances was Steve Henderson, who had 65 RBI in 398 plate appearances in 1977.  (Teufel still had a higher RBI/PA ratio, driving in a run every 5.75 plate appearances while Henderson had an RBI every 6.12 PA.)

Unfortunately, Teufel's amazing 1987 campaign has been mostly overlooked because that season is mostly remembered for the plethora of unexpected visits to the disabled list by the team's pitchers.  Teufel's campaign also occurred in a non-playoff year, as it took place in between the team's 1986 championship season and their 1988 division title.

Although Teufel remained on the team until 1991, his plate appearances dwindled following his breakout 1987 season.  He came up to the plate 309 times in 1988, had 254 plate appearances in 1989 and came up to bat just 192 times in 1990.  His 1990 campaign was reminiscent of his spectacular 1987 season as Teufel had 21 extra-base hits (11 doubles, 10 homers) despite not reaching 200 plate appearances.  But Teufel had just four hits in 34 at-bats through late May in 1991, and as a result, he was traded to the San Diego Padres for shortstop Garry Templeton, playing the final three seasons of his career as a part-time player with the Padres.

Teufel returned to the Mets after a few years away from the game and has served as an instructor, coach and minor league manager within the organization.  Since 2012, he has worked at the major league level, serving as the Mets' third base coach.  Just as his former manager, Buddy Harrelson, was the only man to be in uniform for the 1969 and 1986 World Series championship teams (Harrelson was the team's third base coach in 1986), Teufel is the only person to be in uniform for the 1986 and 2015 Mets teams that reached the Fall Classic.

(Getty Images)

"I'm so happy for these guys to get this feeling as a player.  Not everybody gets this chance.  I had it as a player, but as a coach I'm happy for these guys and I'm happy for the coaching staff."
 
--Tim Teufel, on reaching the 2015 World Series.




Tim Teufel's six-year tenure as a part-time second baseman with the Mets was solid, but unspectacular.  He never played 100 games in any of his half-dozen seasons in New York and only managed 35 homers and 164 RBI in nearly 1,500 plate appearances with the team.  But his acquisition solidified the second base position, providing the team with a high-average, base-stealing threat against right-handed pitchers in Wally Backman and a power-hitting presence versus left-handers in Teufel.  Whereas southpaws relished facing the Mets' second basemen whenever Backman or Kelvin Chapman came up to the plate in 1984 and 1985, they had to pitch more carefully against Teufel, who collected 83 extra-base hits in 810 at-bats against left-handers as a Met from 1986 to 1991.

Teufel reached the postseason twice in 1986 and 1988, but what he did in the year between his playoff appearances was the highlight of his career.  He turned a part-time job into a full-time nightmare for opposing pitchers.  And in doing so, he was responsible for one of the quietest career years by a Mets player and one of the most impressive full-season performances by a platoon player in franchise history.  Teufel made his way to the majors as an everyday player with the Minnesota Twins.  He stayed in the majors by accepting a role as a part-time player for the New York Mets who made the most of his sporadic playing opportunities.

And more than three decades after the trade for Teufel was consummated, he remains a part of the Mets on-field family.  Not bad for a player who spent a good chunk of his playing career on the bench.


Note:  The Most With The Least is a thirteen-part weekly series spotlighting those Mets players who performed at a high level without receiving the accolades or playing time their more established teammates got, due to injuries, executive decisions or other factors.  For previous installments, please click on the players' names below:

January 4, 2016: Benny Agbayani
January 11, 2016: Donn Clendenon