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Replacement Mets 1995

G-Fafif Dec 16 2008 02:41 PM Edited 2 time(s), most recently on Dec 16 2008 03:06 PM

In deference to West Michigan Whitecap coach Benny DiStefano, an article from the Times during the dark days of Spring 1995. ]George Steinbrenner, meet Bubba. And Marcus, the card dealer. And Chris Walpole, the third baseman who impersonated a Thunder Bay Whiskey Jack to get the job. Angry over the Yankees' two losses to clubs stocked with minor league talent, Steinbrenner, the team's owner, released six replacement players on Friday and called for a change from what Gene Michael, his general manager, termed "a true replacement team." Steinbrenner might not have been as miffed if his club had opened against the Mets. Looking for a true replacement team? Look no farther than Thomas J. White Stadium, where the Mets opened their spring season this afternoon. No Mets minor league players participated in the game against the Yankees. Instead, the roster was built solely from the club's replacement ranks. In center, the Mets played Marcus Lawton, who came to camp from a riverboat casino in Mississippi, where he dealt cards. At shortstop, they called on Tom Allison, a former minor leaguer who was working as an administrative assistant in their scouting department just last week. And at second base, the Mets started Bubba Wagnon, a Kevin Bacon look-alike who abandoned his job at B & B Landscaping in Alabama (that's B & B as in Bubba & Bubba, the other Bubba being his best friend) and arrived in camp last Sunday. It didn't seem to matter much to the fans. In comparison with other clubs, some of which have drawn fewer than 500 spectators, the Mets counted 2,323 through the turnstiles over the course of the afternoon, and more than 1,500 were still seated when the game ended with a 2-1 Yankees victory. The usual turnout for a Mets-Yankees spring training game is between 5,500 and 6,500, but, given the circumstances, the Mets were pleased by the turnout. "I think it will be different in different areas," said Fred Wilpon, the Mets' co-owner. "We might do better here where the community is built more around the team than in places where there are a lot of other distractions." The fans actually cheered when Lou Thornton, the Mets' left fielder, made a diving catch in the first inning, and there were no hecklers when Lawton dropped a fly ball to center in the second, an error that cost the Mets a run. And whenever Wagnon came to the plate, chants of "Bubba, Bubba" could be heard. "All the other Bubbas in Birmingham are sucking down brews watching me on TV," Wagnon said before taking the field for his three hours of fame. As amusing as it was at times, the two teams provided far from quality baseball, even by spring training standards. Todd Hundley, the Mets' regular starting catcher, was on a local golf course when Mike Eberle stepped behind the plate for the replacement Mets. Kevin Hickey, a relief pitcher, dressed in Bobby Bonilla's locker. And with Bret Saberhagen, the Mets' top pitcher, a mere mile away at his Florida home, the club started Doug Sisk, who is one of the top replacement pitchers in camp, but is better known for being a favorite target of fan abuse during his first incarnation as a Met in the 1980's. Sisk remained in the game for two innings, giving up one hit and one unearned run. The hit went to J. T. Kroeger, the Yankees' catcher. Two hours earlier, while facing a batting practice pitcher, Kroeger had failed to hit the ball out of the cage on six straight attempts. Never thrilled to lose, and certainly not this way, Dallas Green, the Mets' manager, acknowledged after the game that he had not enjoyed the experience. But Yankees Manager Buck Showalter -- whose team got its first spring training victory in three games -- was able to joke afterward about the whole situation. "Got to win the big ones," Showalter said. Green said afterward that he planned to bring a few of his minor league players to Sunday's game in Fort Lauderdale. The Yankees started three minor leaguers today, including the pitcher, Kevin Wallace, but still fielded primarily a replacement-player team. That is expected to change soon, though, with Steinbrenner's commitment to adding more minor league players to his club. For today, though, the Yankees' replacement players remained safe. "None today," Showalter said, when asked whether the Yankees had decided to release any more replacements. "We'll have to see what tomorrow brings." INSIDE PITCH Individual game tickets for all Mets regular-season home games will go on sale at 9 A.M. Tuesday and can be purchased at Shea Stadium. Prices have been reduced to $5 for box seats and $4 and $2 for reserved seats. Tickets can be returned for a two-thirds rebate if the club starts the season with replacement players. . . . In the veteran half of the Mets' clubhouse, only three lockers have not been assigned to replacement players, who moved in Saturday morning. Last spring, those lockers belonged to DWIGHT GOODEN, BRET SABERHAGEN and JOHN FRANCO. Asked whether there was a method behind that decision, one clubhouse worker said: "Franco's the godfather. I wouldn't want to mess with him."

G-Fafif Dec 16 2008 02:45 PM Edited 1 time(s), most recently on Dec 16 2008 02:57 PM

Another from the News, albeit Filip Bondy: ]PORT ST. LUCIE New York sports fan, pathetic, addicted creature of the night: here is the verdict you have been longing to hear. The Met scabs are better than the Yankee scabs! Shea Stadium could be nauseous from first-place fever in just a few short weeks, when the equally earnest Astros, Reds or Cards come to town. Admittedly, this is a preliminary diagnosis, based on lineup revelations and a few shabby warmup tosses. But for you big Yankee scab rooters out there, the news from Florida is very bad. The Yankees, it turns out, did not really embrace this replacement thing. They have only three players with major-league experience, compared with 11 for the Mets. Their manager, Buck Showalter, is wrestling with his conscience. The owner has called replacement baseball "an embarrassment," before calling it "not an embarrassment." For their reluctance, the Yankees are to be commended. They also might take a real pounding in the joke standings, until George Steinbrenner can bear no more and breaks with his peers. Here in Port St. Lucie, where waddling workouts began yesterday, it is another story. Met management is upbeat. Joe McIlvaine and Gerry Hunsicker are telling reporters to write nice stories about the replacements, who have such great tales to tell. The Mets are so serious about this stuff they gave Willie Mays' number away yesterday to Kirk Killingsworth, a 34-year-old righty and sales rep for an Austin, Texas, pharmaceutical company. Handed No. 24 right over to a former minor leaguer who hasn't played pro ball for six years. "I didn't even ask for it," Killingsworth said. "They just gave it to me." There is Stanley Jefferson working out on one field, looking eager and semi-healthy. There is Doug Sisk, mounting a comeback, still 15 pounds overweight after dropping 35 pounds since October. Sisk, a sincere man, is a glutton for punishment. He chugs 20 yards behind other players during wind sprints. He apparently did not hear enough boos from Met fans at the end of his career. "I almost feel like I have some unfinished business there," said Sisk, who is trying to start a sports complex business in Olympia, Wash. "I'm not going to give excuses. There were times when I stunk." And now he won't? "I want to play," he said. "Ask me about the repercussions. I don't care. I'm not taking anybody's job. It'll be there for them." The Mets manager is not happy, but he is not incensed, either. Dallas Green isn't walking away from camp like Sparky Anderson, who was wise and secure enough to say, "There ain't no place in baseball for replacement players." Green is not making that much noise yet. "Sparky's Sparky," Green said yesterday. "He's allowed to do what he wants. "I'm doing a job I'm required to do. I don't have any embarrassment. There are parts I hate and don't want to be a part of. But we're trying to preserve baseball in some form or fashion." For now, what is happening here in Florida looks the same as what happened during the football strike. The bad teams are trying harder, because this is their one chance to bully the bullies. The football Giants were a championship team in 1986, and George Young had worked very hard to build that roster. Like Gene Michael, he had some trouble with the idea of recruiting a replacement team. Young's scabs were a disaster, which said good things about Young and terrible things about the situation. "I looked at the Giants of 1987, and when they lost their first three games they couldn't recover," McIlvaine said. "We want to avoid that." Maybe he will. Maybe the replacement Mets will give the real Mets a jump start on the regular season. This is their mission. "We had a meeting for an hour and a half, and I told them, 'Take a look around. You've all got 'Mets' on your uniforms,' " McIlvaine said. "We're in this to gether." THEN THE METS took the field yesterday. The minor leaguers talked with the minor leaguers. The replacements talked with the replacements. McIlvaine said minor leaguers like Bill Pulsipher, the 21-year-old lefty who is snubbing the replacements, were simply confused by agents and union reps. McIlvaine must not have talked with Pulsipher very much, because the pitcher does not sound confused. In Florida, Pulsipher and Anderson are about the only guys who make any sense.

John Cougar Lunchbucket Dec 16 2008 02:46 PM

I could not have been any more tuned out to what was happening to the Mets while they went through this period. I really thought I had broken up with baseball for good.

G-Fafif Dec 16 2008 02:50 PM

Nice use of No. 24.

Centerfield Dec 16 2008 02:52 PM

="John Cougar Lunchbucket":170vo8hy]I could not have been any more tuned out to what was happening to the Mets while they went through this period. I really thought I had broken up with baseball for good.[/quote:170vo8hy] Yup. Edgy DC Dec 16 2008 02:53 PM Edited 1 time(s), most recently on Dec 16 2008 02:55 PM That Marcus Lawton in Matt Lawton's older brother, correct? OE: Yup. UMDB take note. Benjamin Grimm Dec 16 2008 02:54 PM This is interesting: ]Individual game tickets for all Mets regular-season home games will go on sale at 9 A.M. Tuesday and can be purchased at Shea Stadium. Prices have been reduced to $5 for box seats and $4 and $2 for reserved seats. Tickets can be returned for a two-thirds rebate if the club starts the season with replacement players. So they reduced the ticket price knowing demand would be low, with a possibility of an additional rebate. I didn't go to any games in 1995. In fact, I went to zero games between 1995 and 1998. But I guess some fans got a pretty good deal: field level boxes for $5. And they didn't have to see replacement players. Benjamin Grimm Dec 16 2008 02:55 PM ="John Cougar Lunchbucket":28qvk4n7]I could not have been any more tuned out to what was happening to the Mets while they went through this period. I really thought I had broken up with baseball for good.[/quote:28qvk4n7] I never thought I was done with baseball, but I did become a whole lot less interested. And still, 14 years later, my full interest hasn't returned. And at this point it's safe to say it won't. A Boy Named Seo Dec 16 2008 02:56 PM I'd forgotten or didn't know Sisk came back for that. Weren't Agbayani and Reed replacements? Benny was for the Mets, but was Reed also? OlerudOwned Dec 16 2008 02:57 PM http://www.nydailynews.com/archives/spo ... s__wa.html An article all about Bubba, written by current annoying NY Rangers studio host John Giannone. ]FANS ARE HITCHED TO METS' WAGNON LANDSCAPER STANDS OUT IN FIELD By JOHN GIANNONE Monday, March 6th 1995, 3:63AM PORT ST. LUCIE He is one of the poster boys for replacement baseball. Not the paunchy, worn-out former big-league version who is trying to capture one last moment in the sun. Rather, the freckle-faced, wide-eyed, diminutive ex-college player who couldn't help but leap at the chance to get one taste of the big time. Meet Marty (Bubba) Wagnon, ReplaceMet second baseman. Yes, Bubba Wagnon, a Birmingham landscaper who has energized the past week of an otherwise tedious Met camp with his spunky, thousand-miles-an-hour work ethic. "He has tremendous enthusiasm for the game," coach Frank Howard said. "Guys like that really lighten things up." How else can you explain Wagnon, 27, being offered a replacement contract on the very day he was picked off first base . . . and second base . . . and thrown out at home during a safety squeeze during a game-situation intrasquad scrimmage? "He's a pepper pot, I'll tell you that," coach Mike Cubbage said. "He might be a throwback, an old-time player. He can be a legend in this (replacement) league. You can't help but like the guy. He's a real fan-pleaser." It took the Mets' spring fans exactly one game to unofficially adopt the 5-9 whirling dervish. Chants of "Bubba, Bubba" were heard each time Wagnon came to bat or made a defensive play in Saturday's exhibition opener, a 2-1 loss to the Yankees. It didn't matter, at least for one game, that Wagnon struck out twice and stranded runners in scoring position. His exuberance won over fans, coaches, teammates and a contingent of media that came to Wagnon's side throughout the day. Saturday's game was broadcast on WWOR-TV, marking the first time Wagnon has been on television. And since the Wagnon family doesn't have that station on cable at home, the event provided the Wagnon family and friends an excuse to spend the day at a Birmingham watering hole. It was the first time Wagnon appeared in a uniform other than his landscaping garb since he graduated from Montevallo (Alabama) University in 1990. "I'm just having the time of my life, this is unbelievable," Wagnon said in an almost unintelligible Southern drawl. "I don't know if it has all hit home yet. It's just amazing being around everybody you've only heard about and everything they have here." Wagnon came to the Mets' attention through minor-league pitching coach Bill Latham, who attended the same high school as the co-owner of B&B Landscaping (Bubba and Bubba we didn't make this up). And with the shortage of infielders on the ReplaceMets, Wagnon and Met scouting assistant Tom Allison suddenly became hot commodities and now comprise the replacement double-play combination. "I've always wanted this," Wagnon said of his 15 minutes of baseball fame. "I went to a Dodger camp and a Kansas City Royals camp in Alabama but nothing came from it. So the past four years I've been in the landscaping business. "Believe me, this is much better than cutting grass." G-Fafif Dec 16 2008 02:59 PM One more from NYT: ]Joe McIlvaine had never heard of Chris Walpole. Neither had Gerry Hunsicker, the Mets' assistant vice president of baseball operations. More than likely, Manager Dallas Green still cannot match the name to the face. A 26-year-old third baseman, Walpole was never drafted by a major league club and has never played in any team's system. His professional baseball career is limited to 25 games with the independent Thunder Bay Whiskey Jacks, who play in the Class A Northern League. Still, he was signed to be a Mets replacement player, sight unseen. In Walpole's case, a contract was tendered at the recommendation of Drew Marino, his friend and a Mets statistician. Marino briefed the Mets on Walpole's abilities, his history and his health. And, in the end, the Mets probably know as much -- and, in some cases, more -- about Walpole than they do about the other 27 players they have signed to replacement player contracts. "It wasn't a really scientific process," said McIlvaine, the Mets' general manager. "We did not have the time." Of the 28 replacement players in the Mets' camp, four were signed by area scouts who gave them individual workouts. Eight came from the club's official tryout camps. Six more came to Shea Stadium and worked out for McIlvaine or another Met executive. Nine were signed sight unseen. And one -- Dave Jensen -- simply showed up on the first day of camp, banking on his past history in the Mets' minor league system. Jensen threw for Greg Pavlick, the Mets' pitching coach. Two days later, he had a deal. "Normally, when you sign somebody to a contract, what you do is all but live with that kid for a while," McIlvaine said. "You know everything about his family, his friends, his background. You do a detective's job. That wasn't possible this time." With barely a month to unearth and sign approximately 30 replacement players, the Mets did what most clubs had to do -- they gambled. Making a player's baseball experience their No. 1 priority, the Mets took players without knowing about their emotional makeup or personal background or, in some cases, physical condition. What the Mets ended up with, then, is one of the more experienced replacement teams -- 10 players in camp have played at the major league level. They also have a substantial number of players who were once in their own system, which means that someone in the organization generally knows a bit of their background. Like Walpole, though, many of the others can be virtual unknowns. And the lack of knowledge is often greater than the simple inability to tell Chris Walpole apart from Chuck Wacha, who was called "Chris" by one coach the first few days of camp. Until informed by a reporter, Mets executives were unaware that one replacement player had been facing child molestation charges when signed and was not acquitted until the day before he was scheduled to report to camp. That's an extreme case, of course, but the potential public relations damage risked by the Mets in that instance is just one example of how much clubs have gambled in the world of replacement baseball. The medical risks alone are enormous. After all, teams are depending on players who are, on average, older and in poorer physical condition than players the teams would normally have in camp, but they are still financially liable for any injuries a replacement player might sustain. "Certainly, when you have older players, the injury factor generally rises, so it's a big risk," McIlvaine said. "If something happens, we'd be responsible to fix it up and deal with any rehabilitation. And, believe me, Major League Baseball is not standing in line, waiting to reimburse us for the cost." INSIDE PITCH The Mets should not have to worry about sympathetic unions picketing outside Thomas J. White Stadium once they start playing spring training games. According to DAVE HOWARD, the Mets' general counsel, a St. Lucie County ordinance prohibits picketing on county property. The Mets' spring training facilities are built on county land. . . . Minor league position players report on Tuesday and should swell the number of players in camp to 90 or more. . .. Rain forced the club to cut short workouts Monday afternoon. G-Fafif Dec 16 2008 03:00 PM ="A Boy Named Seo":2bkvwmj9]I'd forgotten or didn't know Sisk came back for that. Weren't Agbayani and Reed replacements? Benny was for the Mets, but was Reed also?[/quote:2bkvwmj9] Reed went to camp with the Reds. Thought he'd be throwing for scouts, wound up in games. G-Fafif Dec 16 2008 03:02 PM ="Benjamin Grimm"]This is interesting: ]Individual game tickets for all Mets regular-season home games will go on sale at 9 A.M. Tuesday and can be purchased at Shea Stadium. Prices have been reduced to $5 for box seats and $4 and $2 for reserved seats. Tickets can be returned for a two-thirds rebate if the club starts the season with replacement players. So they reduced the ticket price knowing demand would be low, with a possibility of an additional rebate. I didn't go to any games in 1995. In fact, I went to zero games between 1995 and 1998. But I guess some fans got a pretty good deal: field level boxes for $5. And they didn't have to see replacement players. The Mets did two-for-ones early in the season once they came back. Buy a ticket to a game in May, get another for later in the season. Plus concessions (hot dogs, soda and such) were half-price. Everything felt very reasonable after the most unreasonable period in modern times. G-Fafif Dec 16 2008 03:06 PM Numerical tidbit from News: ]Numbers Game: Nine ReplaceMets claimed uniform numbers of striking Mets. They are: P Brent Knackert (28 from Bobby Jones); P Alex Coghen (31 from John Franco); P Doug Sisk (39 from Josias Manzanillo); P Kevin Hickey (33 from Kelly Stinnett); C Kevin Carroll (6 from Joe Orsulak); 1B Rich Wieligman (12 from Jeff Kent); IF Wagnon (9 from Todd Hundley); 3B Chris Walpole (25 from Bobby Bonilla), and Thornton (20 from Ryan Thompson). G-Fafif Dec 16 2008 03:09 PM Continuing to fill out the non-existent roster (courtesy of News): ]ReplaceMets fell to 0-8 yesterday and remain baseball's only winless team in spring training with 9-2 loss to Reds at Plant City. In an effort to try something new and give beleaguered subs a day off, Dallas Green started seven minor leaguers. Minor league P Eric Ludwig and truck driver Alex Coghen were tagged for eight runs in sixth inning as Reds batted 12 men. . Oft-injured ex-big league 3B Chris Brown was acquired from Tigers before game and went 2-for-4. . . . The total of Met minor leaguers who have committed to play in exhibition games stands at 27 of 61 (44%). When ReplaceMet 3B Chris Walpole headed home to Bronx three days ago, Mets weren't sure they believed his excuse about his boss demanding he return to work as special education teacher at Truman High. "He had no credibility with us from the day he arrived," said one member of Met brass. Walpole, remember, found his way onto Met roster after he fabricated story about stint with Thunder Bay Whiskey Jacks. HahnSolo Dec 16 2008 03:20 PM The same Chris Brown who last I heard was working for a contractor driving a truck in Iraq. Not the job to "sleep wrong on your eye". G-Fafif Dec 16 2008 03:25 PM This is far more interest in who played for the 1995 ReplaceMets than I had in 1995 when I looked away about as hard as I could (though I was back like a Pavlovian pup once the strike ended). Roster of sorts, based on the above articles and chat, of those who wore Mets uniforms and played in those games or at least were in camp as something approximating Mets: Benny Agbayani Tom Allison Chris Brown Alex Coghen Benny Distefano Mike Eberle Cliff Gonzalez Kevin Hickey Stanley Jefferson Dave Jensen Kirk Killingsworth Brent Knackert Marcus Lawton Eric Ludwig Doug Sisk Lou Thornton Chuck Wacha Bubba Wagnon Chris Walpole Rich Wieligman Fman99 Dec 16 2008 04:02 PM ="John Cougar Lunchbucket":3p5qotfb]I could not have been any more tuned out to what was happening to the Mets while they went through this period. I really thought I had broken up with baseball for good.[/quote:3p5qotfb] Yep. Same here, though I dropped out before the strike, when the Mets went in the tank in '92-93. I was in college, they weren't on TV up there and I had other priorities. Picked it up again for real in '96-97 when I moved to Watertown. There really isn't anything else to do up there besides watch baseball.