Comments on: Gregg Jefferies

By: lexrex2316

lexrex2316 — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 03:39:20 +0000

First, I HAVE that Classic game from 89! It’s in climate-controlled storage with a ton of other baseball cards and memorabilia from my 30-some years of collecting the markers from the game I love. I remember being excited to see “Hobbesy,” as he was known in the minors, come to play for my (then) Tidewater Tides in 1988. It was the summer after my first year in college ball, having spent almost the entire year in shoulder rehab, and I was looking forward to seeing the guys that would bolster a great Mets team in September of that year. He was a solid hitter but I could see that his fielding would be a concern as well as his odd body. He was closer to 5’9″ than his listed 5’11″ and slow, with heavy legs and a thick rear-end, reminding me when he walked of a pitbull. His astounding numbers upon being called up to the Mets in the fall only helped to ensure Met fans’ disappointment. I note that someone above thought he’d have been better off as a 1b/dh type but he simply lacked the power necessary for that position. By all accounts a great kid, Hobbesy joined a LARGE fraternity of really good players that never quite lived up to the hype. As injuries derailed my once-promising career in this great game I can only say that playing great for a short time in the bigs and being called a “disappointment” ranks a little higher on my list than being a somewhat successful lawyer and “never-was” ballplayer. Every spring brings the possibility of another Hobbesy, another Nolan Ryan, another Reggie Jackson or another Carl “Tuffy” Rhodes or Bob Geren (no offense meant to either). Hope springs eternal and I still love the game. I am happy I stumbled upon this site and look forward to reading all of it.

By: Josh Wilker

Josh Wilker — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 16:17:40 +0000

Somehow, Jeff Torborg and Bill Pecota and the Mets’ season were all doomed that day with these words uttered to the press with boy scout enthusiasm by skipper Jeff Torborg: “Just wait’ll you see Bill Pecota.”

By: shealives

shealives — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 14:28:38 +0000

Jefferies wrote an open letter to the fans which was printed in the NYTimes I think in ’91. This seemed to be the final straw in having the tide turn against him permanently with the fans. WFAN hosts read the letter on the air in a derisive fashion and made a mockery of Jefferies.

Also, any big mets fan will remember the excitement the day Jefferies, McReynolds, and Keith Miller were traded to KC for Saberhagen(the bleach master) and Bill Pecota.

By: johnq11

johnq11 — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 22:01:31 +0000

Here’s a good article by Rob Neyer about the Met habit of not establishing home grown players and constantly looking to the free-agent market to fill their voids.

http://espn.go.com/blog/sweetspot

The article brings out an amazing fact: since 1985 the Mets have only developed 5 players that would play in an all star game in a Mets uniform: Wright, Reyes, Hundley, Alfonzo, and Bobby Jones.

By: thunderfan24

thunderfan24 — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 18:35:56 +0000

Bjoura,
The Wilpons still aren’t prepared to deal with 24 hour all talk sports stations.

Blankemon,
I will never forget the look on Davy Johnson’s face during game 7 when it was apparent that the Mets were going to lose. He also could not understand how that ’88 team failed to win the NLCS.

By: Josh Wilker

Josh Wilker — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 20:59:54 +0000

“They’ve also had this bad habit of signing or trading for ‘former’ established stars in the hope that they will perform well for the Mets. Almost in the need for instant credibility. For every 1 that works out . . . there seems to be about 15 that never work out: Fregosi, Torre, Lolich, Valentine, Foster, Samuel, Bonilla, Coleman, Baerga, Alomar, Vaughn, Burnitz. . .) ”

Another name for the list?
http://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/redsox/extras/extra_bases/2009/12/report_bay_to_s.html

By: blankemon

blankemon — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 18:11:01 +0000

Let’s be honest, though – Bolivian marching powder and booze had as deleterious effect on the 80s Mets as bad roster moves did.

By: johnq11

johnq11 — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 16:38:35 +0000

sb1902,

The Mets are a very hard team to root for sometimes. To me they’ve always had a sort of indentity crisis because they’re the “new kid” in town even though the Franchise has been around for about 50 years. And they will never be as successful as their “big brother” in the Bronx. It’s kind of like having an older brother that’s won all these awards and championships and you’re just trying to keep up.

They’ve also had this bad habit of signing or trading for “former” established stars in the hope that they will perform well for the Mets. Almost in the need for instant credibility. For every 1 that works out like Keith Hernandez there seems to be about 15 that never work out: (Fregosi, Torre, Lolich, Valentine, Foster, Samuel, Bonilla, Coleman, Baerga, Alomar, Vaughn, Burnitz,) just to name a few off the top of my head.

Then the stars that work out for at least a few years, (Staub, Carter, McReynolds, Viola, Franco, Piazza) usually cost a lot of young talent in trades.

That 1984-1990 period reallly should have been more successful than just 1 WS and a division. To me there was far too much talent on those teams not to be more successful but it seems that for every good move Cone-Hearn they made about 15 bad moves or at best 15 neutral moves.

By: blankemon

blankemon — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 22:45:46 +0000

Sure, that’s true now (and has been for most of the time from 1962 until now), but there was that moment, from, say ’84-’92, when every bandwagon fan in the Metro area was a Met fan. The Yankees were even good through ’88, but it was Mets everywhere you turned. I think the ascendance of WFAN and 24-hour sports talk radio hurt and helped the Mets more than the Yankees for that reason. In 1991, no one was talking about the Yankees, so the non-stop ranting was almost entirely directed at the Mets.

I’ll still never understand how the ’88 Mets failed to win the NLCS.

By: sb1902

sb1902 — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 22:36:24 +0000

The Mets always seemed to be chasing hitters who ended up seeming like a disappointment because they played in a pitcher’s park. Now in a new park, it looks like it’s David Wright’s turn.

God, I didn’t realize how bad those 1990-era Mets were in the field. That’s quite a Murderer’s Row of gloves. Between all the bad vibes and the Gooden/Strawberry mid-air collision, it’s amazing the Mets managed to squeeze in winning it all in ’86. Take out ’69 and ’96–two very notable exceptions, granted–and that looks one very cursed franchise. Not a lot of warm-and-fuzzy stuff coming from the Mets organization.

That’s why I respect Mets fans, though; it’s easy to root for the Yankees, you have to be a real fan to root for the Mets.