I was down at the Daytona 500 all weekend, so thanks to fellow Mets Policeman “Cyclones Fan” for minding the store.
Did Jerry really say he wants to bat OverReyes third? Jerry that’s the kind of thing that will get me back on the Lee Mazzilli for manager kick.
Anyways as I catch up on all thing Mets, my “Tom Seaver” google tracker caught this one. I know links are lame but I bet most of you didn’t read the Seattle Times over the weekend.
When Tom Seaver returned to the Mets in December 1982, he was treated like returning royalty.
Yet Seaver, acquired in a trade for three players, was coming off a dismal season for the Reds in which he had gone 5-13 with a 5.50 earned-run average.
No one knew quite what the Mets were getting — the greatest player in club history, or a vague facsimile.
“I don’t know what the public will remember or expect,” Seaver said at a crowded news conference at Shea Stadium. “I’m not going to go out next season with a sign saying, ‘It’s 1983 and I’m 38 years old.’ “
“When I pitch, I still have to get Pete Rose and Mike Schmidt out. … They want me to come back here and be Tom Seaver.”
Full story here. It’s an article about Griffey Junior returning home to Seattle…and brings up these not so great comebacks…remember these?
Other major stars who returned to their initial team for one last fling, albeit with less panache than the Babe, included Tony Perez and Pete Rose to the Reds (1984 for both, a dalliance that would not end well for Rose, brought in to be a player-manager with an unanticipated sidelight as a gambler); Reggie Jackson to the A’s (1987); Phil Niekro to the Braves (for one ceremonial start in 1987); Don Sutton to the Dodgers (1988); Gary Carter to the Expos (1992); Eddie Murray to the Orioles (1996, for a stint that included his 500th home run); Rickey Henderson to the A’s (the last time in 1998); and Tom Glavine to the Braves (2008).
Man that 1983 return was awesome. Doesn’t the SI cover just warm your heart? If only it had lasted. Imagine Tom on that 1984 team (my favorite Mets team of all time) – or would that have meant Gooden wouldn’t have made the team….and in retrospect maybe not hitting fame and fortune at 19 might have led a more mature Dwight Gooden not to let his demons get to him?
www.metspolice.com
